State Budget Crisis & Parcel Tax Reality

This e-mail went out to members on Friday, January 30. If you are not receiving these e-mails from MDEA, please let us know and give us your e-mail address so that we can include you in future communication.

Dear Members,

As you know, we still don’t have a settled State budget, and if the Governor’s proposed budget is passed as is, public education will be taking catastrophic cuts. His plan would reduce funding midyear for 2008-09 by 2.1 billion dollars. His plan would reduce funding in 2009-10 by 2.8 billion dollars, for an overall cumulative revenue limit deficit that will climb to over 16%.

We also are anticipating a significant increase in the number of layoff notices this year with the strong possibility that tens of thousands of May 15 layoff letters will be sent out by districts statewide. In past years, Mt. Diablo has had a lot of March 15, notifications go out, but relatively few actual layoffs. That may not be the case this year. MDEA will be holding informational meetings for our members who receive a layoff notices to inform them about the process and their right to a hearing.

There is a statewide campaign being developed to educate our members and to plan actions to publicize the devastating impact of the state budget on public schools and the students we serve. Attached are names and contact numbers of state legislators we need to lobby, and talking points on what to say. These legislators need to hear teachers’ stories of the effects these cuts would have on our students and our families. Please make some calls. You will also be receiving a hard copy of the contact information next week.

A lot of our members don’t believe there is a real crisis. There is! The solutions our legislators have used in the past, won’t work anymore. We have a revenue problem. The massive cuts to education are real. We need to act now; we have not faced a situation like this since the 70’s when Prop 13 was passed.

Parcel Tax in MDUSD

There is a committee looking into the possibility of putting a parcel tax on the special election ballot when the Governor calls one, possibly in June. MDEA’s Executive Board has already recommended that the Rep Assembly endorse a parcel tax, if one is brought forward.

Currently, polling is being done to help identify for which purposes, and in what amount, MDUSD's communities would support a parcel tax. After analyzing this data, a specific proposal will be prepared. This process requires completion by Feb 15; therefore, we will not be considering whether to endorse a parcel tax at the February Rep Assembly. MDEA doesn’t want to rush this issue until we know the specifics. We want all our members to fully understand the proposal, because it will require everyone’s hard work and support to pass a parcel tax.

MDEA will ensure that our members are fully informed of any new information on the parcel tax, as we receive it. Discussion of a parcel tax will be on the agenda for the February Rep Assembly. We will be asking our Reps to listen to any concerns or questions that come up from sites, and report out at our March R.A. MDEA has been highly involved and included in all aspects of the parcel tax process thus far, and that involvement will continue if the R.A. votes to endorse a parcel tax effort. Attend your site’s MDEA meeting next month to learn the latest.

Mt. Diablo has not had a parcel tax in many years but, in the current economic crisis, we will need one to preserve a quality education for our students.

Mike

Great Rresources from Conferences

I spent the past two weekends at conferences, paid for by MDEA. The first conference was the Good Teaching Conference (also attending was Lisa Caballero, math teacher from Mt. Diablo High School) and the second was the annual conference of the California League of High Schools (also attending was Liane Cismowski, English teachers, from Olympic High School). Both conferences were excellent, and served to rejuvenate and motivate. I appreciated the opportunity to hear what other schools and districts around the state are doing to exit Program Improvement, motivate and support their teachers, and truly work as a team to provide a 'successful' learning environment for their students.

I've listed some resources below. Some of the resources are for tools to help in the classroom. Others are for inspiring change on campuses. Some of these EVERYONE knows about, some are completely new. Please add more suggestions of resources that you have found helpful.

1) www.zamzar.com those awesome video clips on youtube or google video that our district blocks? Copy the URL to the zamzar site, it will convert it for free, and then you can drop it into your powerpoint.

2) http://guerrillalearning.wetpaint.com/ great resource for overview of internet tools out there, PLUS explanations on how to use them. Gems are hidden on left side of the home page under ‘site pages’.

3) ‘In Plain English’ are quick videos on YouTube that plainly explain things like blogging, RSS feeds, social networking, google documents, etc. Just go to YouTube and type in “In Plain English”.

4) www.edublogs.tv apparently not blocked by district filters. A moderated video sharing site of stuff submitted by educators

5) www.cooliris.com it’s a free download. Not sure how to describe what it does, but it has to do with displaying pictures differently and it looked really cool when the presenter used it.

6) www.nextvista.org a moderated video sharing site—I like the way this is organized better than edublogs, but not as much stuff on there (as of now).

7) www.280slides.com and www.sliderocket.com students ever say that can’t do a powerpoint because they don’t have the program? Both these sites have free powerpoint type programs. Students build the presentation online. Sliderocket is more commercial than 280slides, but it still gives you a free option.

8) Richard DuFour's handout on his presentation on Professional Learning Communities at the CLHS conference Transforming The High School.

9) A Powerpoint to Regina Owens' presentation on Collaboration can be found at the CLHS website.

10) Do you like Facebook? Here's a professional network just for high school teachers.

Parcel Tax

We need a parcel tax to improve funding for our schools. As teachers, we know that we don't have the resources we need to do our jobs properly. Now is the time to ask voters to approve a parcel tax so that local businesses and residents can support schools in our community. I'm willing to do what it takes to develop a sensible parcel tax and get it approved by voters. The key is identifying the critical components that will make our schools more effective for our children. I think that means more funding for music and art, more counselors, and more programs where high school students can learn marketable skills if they are not going to college.