Just the facts

     Well, it happened. I got my RIF notice. (Reduction In Force, an innocuous acronym for getting fired). Here are the facts:    
     LAUSD is about $640 million in the hole for next year. We don't know if we are getting any help from the federal government and it seems as if we won't get any help from Sacramento. We, the people, have the power to change that with our voices, letters, emails, websites, blogs, civic actions, votes, etc. Politicians will do what we want, but only if they feel the pressure. It will be up to us to bring that pressure in the coming months if we have any chance of saving public education as we know it.
     I am not exagerating that last statement. If we, the unions and the district and the voters, don't come up with a 'shared sacrifice' solution (large paycuts and furlough days from the teachers, district personel cuts and a publicly endorsed parcel tax) then the only alternative the District and the Board has is get rid of close to 2,500 teachers by raising class sizes (29 to 33 to 1 in K-3; 38-44 in 4,5,6), cut the Arts program, all library aides, 20% of custodial, Assistant Principals, and on and on. I have the specifics that I will share with you later, but suffice it to say, it would be catastophic for the learning environment for all students in elementary and early Middle school. Even with this 'shared sacrifice' it will not be enough to save all the jobs. For that, we need help from Sacramento and Washington.
     Personally, it feels like the abandonment of public education by our state and federal government. It is a very short sighted solution that will come back to haunt us in the coming years when we are unable to intellectually compete with China, Korea, India, Japan, Germany and others.

     How is it that we can spend billions to bail out Wall Street but we can't fund education?

     There is no money to cut this time. There is no trying to convince Superintendent Cortines to spend the stimulus money and cut staff at the downtown office. The stimulus has been spent and most cuts have been made. There is no money. Only Sacramento and Congress can save us now. Our voices must be heard or surely we will lose a generation of learners. Let the movement begin.