Students excel primarily because of creative, dedicated, hard-working teachers. Since I am a teacher myself (in Los Angeles), this may sound like a self-serving statement, but people know from their own school days that it’s true.

Teacher morale in the SMMUSD is low right now. Since last fall teachers have

·   Taken a pay cut in the form of 10 furlough days
·   Seen 58 of their colleagues laid off
·   Had their class sizes (workload) increased
·   Been transferred to other schools involuntarily
·   Been ordered to remove all refrigerators and microwaves from     their classrooms
·   Had the keys to their classrooms confiscated for the summer     (with no explanation)
·   Seen the books and materials budget item shrink by half (guess     who makes up the materials part—with their own money?)

This is not the way to treat well-educated professionals with years of service to the district. It’s not fair to the teachers, and it diminishes the education students receive.

To add insult to injury, with about $6 million of the $7 million cut in 2010-2011 directly affecting students and teachers, the 2010-2011 General Administration Budget increased by 4.5%. Something is wrong with this picture.