[BHS etree] PTSA: Big Meeting! - Tuesday, March 25th

[bhs at idiom.com]

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY to the etree, contact Mark van Krieken
[mailto:markvk4 at comcast.net] 

As many of you are already aware, the state of California is facing a
$16 billion budget deficit, and Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed
$4.8 billion in cuts to the state's public education systems.  The
effects on every school district in the state, including Berkeley's,
will be devastating.  California currently ranks 46th in the country
in education spending and is $1,900 below the national average in per
student funding.  The governor is proposing to put us another $800
below the national average.  Parents statewide will have to become
active immediately if we are going to protect our children's education
and prevent these cuts from happening.

On Tuesday, March 25th, at 7:30 PM in the Little Theater, the Berkeley
High PTSA will be hosting a general meeting to discuss these issues
and how we can best move forward.  We strongly urge everyone to attend
and cannot stress enough the seriousness of what may happen to
education in both Berkeley and around the state.  We will have
multiple guest speakers present (hopefully representing the Berkeley
Federation of Teachers, State PTA, and Sacramento organizations and
representatives) to help fill everyone in on the latest information
and to help lay out what we need to do.  As well as defending
ourselves against cuts in education (by lobbying legislators to not
put aside proposition 98), this is also the time to discuss the
possibility of putting an initiative on the November ballot to force
the state to either make us 25th in per student funding or to mandate
a change in how the state budget gets passed (from a two-thirds
majority to a simple majority).  There's no better place to start this
effort than here in Berkeley, but we cannot do this without a
tremendous amount of your participation.  We look forward to seeing
you there!

Mark van Krieken
BHS PTSA President