Santa Maria Sun / News

Local schools band together in defense of education funding

BY AMY ASMAN

Protect your education! Dorine Mattieu, an Allan Hancock College classified staff member, spoke out about state cuts to education funding at an on-campus rally on March 4. Mattieu talked about the contributions part-time staffers make to college campuses. The event was part of a statewide protest against cuts to primary, secondary, and higher education. PHOTO BY JEREMY THOMAS

Local members of the California Teachers Association held signs and passed out informational pamphlets to parents as they dropped their children off at several Santa Maria and Orcutt schools, and asked them to contact their legislators to tell them “students and schools have suffered enough.”

“Elected officials are cutting resources from our students while acting like well-meaning stewards of our kids’ education,” Mark Goodman, president of the Santa Maria Joint Union District Faculty Association, explained in a statement to the media. “They hope parents do not notice.”

The events were part of a statewide “March Forth for Students” day of action by the California Teachers Association and higher education and labor unions to show the “pain unprecedented budget cuts are causing students and schools,” according to the social networking site, standupfor-schools.org.

At Allan Hancock College, the Associated Student Body Government held a “Rally ’Round the Money” event where students, faculty, and administrators could discuss how budget cuts to education affect how the college serves its students.

“We want to make sure students are informed about the budget cuts … and understand that it is not the college making those cuts, but lawmakers in Sacramento who are making the decisions,” Associated Student Body Government representative Rob Forest said in a press release. “We want students to understand what has happened, what is coming, and what they can do about it. We need to rally to action.”

The college is facing more than $2.1 million in budget cuts for the 2011-12 fiscal year. This comes on the heels of a $4.5 million cut the college sustained in 2010-11. According to college officials, class sections have already been reduced, part-time faculty members have been laid off, and counselor hours and support services have been slashed.