‘No more cuts’

Wednesday morning (July 21), amid the loud clatter of a nearby crane, Chico Unified School District personnel and parents gathered at Chico High School to discuss the financial problems facing education.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to cut another $4 billion out of the education budget is unfathomable, said Kelly Staley, CUSD’s superintendent, who explained that cuts over the past two years have already eliminated jobs and programs and lowered the value of public education.

“Our educational programs have been bitten down to the core,” said Connie Altman, president of Chico High’s Parent Teacher Student Association, while showing a picture of a hand holding a tiny apple.

Staley, Altman and others spoke on behalf of the Education Coalition, which has launched a campaign to endorse the Jobs Budget Plan, an Assembly proposal that would protect schools from further cuts.