TEACH-IN! Public Education and the California Budget Cuts; Save Cañada College

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

8-10am-(Bldg. 3-room 142) – Librarian Dave Patterson on the History of Community Colleges/Open Forum.

10am-12 noon-(Bldg. 3-room 142) — Next Steps: College Students and Workers Speak Out. This panel will include students from the budget cuts movement at SFSU, workers at Cañada, Prof. Robert Ovetz on the attacks on public services, and Cañada Strikes Back.

12 noon-2pm-(Quad) — Flyering on the quad

2-3pm-(Bldg. 3-room 142) — Police Brutality in the Black Community:

Presentation and discussion. Facilitated by Dr. James L. Taylor, Associate Professor of Politics at USF. Event sponsored by the BSU and the SAO as part of Black History Month

6-9pm-(TBA) — Chuck Carlson on the Privatization of Education

 

Thursday, February 4, 2010

8:10-9:25am-(Bldg. 13-room 113) – Robert Ovetz, David Patterson, and Cañada Strikes Back! A panel on neoliberalism, the history of community colleges, and student activism.

10:00-11:30am-(Theater) – Estamos Aqui! with an introduction by Javier Garay, a participant in the April 2005 UCSC strike.

12 noon-2:00pm-(Theater) – Walkout!, a 2006 HBO film based on the 1968 East LA High School walkouts in response to inequality in education.

8am-the end-(Theater) — Open assembly to discuss and plan action to Save Cañada College (gather in front)

Thursday, March 4, 2010, Statewide Strike and Day of Action

 

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Save Our Colleges! Stop the Budget Cuts!

 
State Budget Cuts

• $60 billion has been cut from the state’s budget in the last two years.

• $16 billion was cut from social programs, health care & education in 2009. 

• $2.4 billion will be cut from K-12 education and community colleges in 2010-11.

 

Cuts to Education

• $10.6 billion will be cut from public & higher education in the next 2 years.

• These cuts will make California the last state in the US in terms of funding-per-student.

 

The Community Colleges

• $840 million has been cut from the community colleges in the last 2 years.

• Student fees have been increased, taking another $80 million dollars out of students’ pockets.

• Enrollment is up by 5% at the community colleges (9.5% at SMCCD) due to cuts denying entry into the CSUs & UCs.

 

San Mateo Community College District

• Lost $25 million in cash and bond investments in Lehman Brothers when it went bankrupt in 2008 ($250 million was lost countywide).

• $15-20 million in cuts are planned take place between 2009-2011.

• $5.4 million was cut from the San Mateo Community College District’s (SMCCD) budget in 2009.

• SMCCD students will pay a total of $250,000 in extra fees this year.

• About 3.4% fewer students will be allowed to enroll.

• CSM Coastside campus will be closed in Spring 2010 after being open only 4 semesters.

• KCSM TV station will be privatized.

 

Cañada College

• $1-$1.6 million cuts are being planned for 2010-2011.

• 3/4th of the cuts are to faculty and counseling.

• 45% of Counseling staff will be reduced by 2011.

• 121 sections/3,000 seats will be cut.

• 33% of Basic Skills & ESL classes will be cut by 2011.

• 76% cuts to faculty, staff and counseling but only about 7% to administration.

 

Stop the Cuts!

The state government is taking money away from education to subsidize tax cuts for the rich and corporations in California totaling more than $20 billion a year—the same amount cut from the state budget last summer. In fact, corporations received an additional $2.5 billion tax cut in early 2009.

Education and public services including bus, trains, health care and parks are being slashed while the government continues spending money on war and destruction ($6,700 per family in the San Jose region in 2007), and bailing out the big banks and corporations. California is the 8th largest economy in the world with a $1.8 trillion economy. The money is there for all of us to receive the education and services we need.

Help us organize together to demand our right to an education. We have to get our money and our colleges back. We demand:

• Community colleges be made free again

• Property tax increases for the wealthiest property owners in San Mateo and statewide • Income tax increases on Californian households making $250,000 or more • Corporate tax increases • Close the tax loopholes for corporations and the wealthy • Polluters be taxed for their greenhouse gas emissions • Raise royalties on oil drilling in California

No cuts to classes and student services! Cut at the top, not in the classroom!

Tax the rich and corporations, don’t destroy our colleges!

Education is a right not a privilege!