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State budgets are strapped and deep cuts to public programs continue, putting public education on the chopping block. On this edition, we continue our series, How We Survive with a look at the crisis in K through 12 education. While the Obama administration pushes states to “Race to the Top,” teachers, parents, and students are resisting budget cuts from the bottom up.
Featuring:
David Lyell, substitute teacher and participant in the ‘March for California’s Future’; Naomi Spencer, parent, Ypsilanti, M.I.; Marguerite Higa, parent, organizer of Save Our Schools Hawaii; Scott Paulin, principal, Potter Valley, C.A. school district; Keith Canova, music teacher, Potter Valley, C.A.; Kevin Paren-chini, parent and teacher, Potter Valley, C.A.; Maria Johnson, coordinator, Potter Valley Community Center; Lisa Oden, parent, Potter Valley, C.A.; Amy Silva, parent, Potter Valley, C.A.; Meredith Randall, vice president of education and student services at Mendocino Community College; Stan Karp, editor, Rethinking Schools.
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Parents, Teachers and Students Respond to Cuts in K-12 Education
Lately, it seems almost no state is safe from budget cuts to K-12 education. Furloughs, teacher layoffs, and school closings. Producer Pauline Bartolone gathered stories from those affected in Hawaii, Michigan and California.
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Rural School Districts Get Creative on Furlough Days
Furloughs aren’t just a problem for Hawaii schools… Districts in more than a dozen states have cut back to a four day school week. Some Rural districts are dealt a double financial blow from state cuts and declining enrollment. While parents in the story we just heard want to end furloughs – and fast – one small town in Northern California has come up with creative ways to supplement their new found free time. From Mendocino County, Christina Aanestad has more.
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Stan Karp on Rethinking Federal Policy
We’ve heard about the cuts and about how people are trying to rise above them. But what about the roots of the crisis? What are the policies that enable these hardships? To get some perspective, Making Contact producer Andrew Stelzer spoke with an Editor at the magazine Rethinking Schools.
For more information:
Center on Education Policy
Washington, DC
Civil Rights Project (UCLA)
Los Angeles, CA
March for California’s Future
Central Valley, CA
Philadelphia Student Union
Philadelphia, PA
Rethinking Schools
Milwaukee, WI
Save Our Schools Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Articles, Blogs, Films, Reports, Other:
Choice Without Equity: Charter School Segregation and the Need for Civil Rights Standards
A report by UCLA’s Civil Rights Project
‘School Reform We Can’t Believe In’
An article by by Stan Karp, Rethinking Schools, Spring, 2010
‘The Fight to Save Public Education’
An article by Shamus Cooke, Counterpunch, March 8, 2010
‘Detroit: A Model for Nationwide Assault on Public Education’
An article by Joe Kishore, World Socialist Web Site, March 19, 2010
Music:
Airs Above Your Station by Kinski
Warm Sound by Zero 7
P.S. by Chromakey
Plus more from Chromakey