User:Beasley Reece/25 teachers' salaries

Sent to the Oakland school Board on Wednesday, January 12, 2011. Need to work this into a whatchamacallit.

Also include the Enterprise column from December 12, 2010.

As we begin 2011 and look at the school funding situation in California one thing is clear; we must find a long term, reliable source of funding for the K - 12 public schools.

There is a solution, a long term source of funding available. A small but experienced group in Davis has started a grassroots campaign called 25 TEACHERS' SALARIES. We have designed a solution and we are asking you to join us in making it a reality.

We believe that if we manage our money well, America can have both the necessary defense and a strong, healthy, fully funded public school system to give our children the knowledge, skills, and development they need to succeed in the world. But America has not been managing its money well. It is time for those directly affected by the disparity between military spending and education spending to step up and make our voices heard.

THE KEY FACTS THAT INSPIRED OUR CAMPAIGN ARE:

* In California the average starting Teacher's salary is $40,000 per year. It's less in other States.

* The Department of Defense buys many bombs and missiles that cost $1 million each.

* Each $1 million bomb costs the equivalent of 25 Teachers' Salaries.

* The DOD financial statements have not been audited since 2001.

We begin with our analysis of the funding options at the state and federal government.

THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

The State of California does not have sufficient money to fund the schools. Regardless of the political will, the money is just not there. No matter how effectively we lobby the legislature, they are not able to provide the money that the schools need. We cannot squeeze any more blood out of this turnip. Economic forecasts for California see the economy getting worse at least through 2015. More budget cuts are coming soon.

Unlike Congress, the state legislatures actually must balance a budget. Despite the delays, California's legislature passed a balanced budget (albeit based on rosy economic forecasts). Our legislators in Sacramento are very familiar with the real impacts of cutting education funding year after year.

CONGRESS

In the absence of a massive nationwide campaign for public school funding Congress is not going to provide either. They clearly do have the money, as we will explain below, but not the political will to spend it on teachers' salaries. Congress appears to be unreachable on the subject of war and peace based on the last 9 federal budgets.

The federal government has spent over $1 trillion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. President Obama's proposed budget for FY 2011 allocates over $700 billion to the the Department of Defense. Yet surprisingly, the DOD's financial statements have not been audited since 2001. All of this happens in an era when the Soviet Union collapsed 21 years ago and our greatest alleged enemy, al Qaeda, has no army, no navy, and no air force.

We are not directing this campaign at Congress, although we have contacted Rep. Mike Thompson about it and will meet with him early this year.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

All politics are local. The school Board has a voice. The Board is not only the voice of the schools in the District, it also has a responsibility, pursuant to Board policy 1160 on political processes, to adopt legislative positions. BP 1160 says that, "The Board's responsibility as an advocate for the district may include lobbying at the state and national levels." Furthermore, "The Governing Board has a responsibility to actively advocate fiscal and public policy that supports the district's schools and the children in the community."

OUR STRATEGY

This makes for a perfect situation for a nationwide movement. Our approach is this; we are building a statewide grassroots campaign to make millions of people aware of our campaign and the core facts. Millions of people organized and taking action translates into political power.

Our Resolution and AWREA are non partisan. For many, they are not even controversial.

When enough of the School Boards, city councils, boards of supervisors, PTAs, teachers unions, chambers of commerce and individuals make their voices heard, you can move the California legislature to action. When the California legislature passes our Resolution the mass media will cover it, bringing nationwide publicity. Because all 50 states are in a budget crisis and a school funding crisis, people in the other states will begin grassroots campaigns to persuade their own state legislatures to pass a Resolution similar to ours. When enough state legislatures make their voices heard by asking Congress to pass AWREA they can cause Congress to take action.

PROPOSED SOLUTION

Beginning with these 3 facts about local, state and federal government, on behalf of 25 Teachers' Salaries, the grassroots campaign for public school funding, we propose a solution.

We ask the Board to consider, as an agenda item at a regular meeting in April or May, adopting a resolution in favor or the "trading bombs for teachers" campaign. 25 Teachers' Salaries has written a Resolution that we are asking the California Legislature to pass. This Resolution asks Congress to pass America's Weapons Rebate to Education Act (AWREA) which will re-allocate a percentage of the Department of Defense weapons budget back to the states earmarked for hiring teachers and other K - 12 educators.

On our website www.25TeachersSalaries.org [1], under "Campaign Documents [2]", you can find our campaign documents:

The first 2 are our proposed legislation for California and for Congress.

1) Our Resolution Draft October 1 2010, for the California legislature

2) Americas Weapons Rebate to Education Act December 2010 (AWREA) written for Congress

3) Our Petition November 2010, for individuals to sign

4) Flyer December 8 2010

5) Board Policy 1160 on political processes, used by many school Boards in California.

This one is from Elk Grove USD. Many school Districts have their Board Policies stored at gamutonline.net. The Oakland USD's Board Policy on political processes is very similar if not exactly the same.

6) BP 1160 Political Processes proposed coordinated plan for carrying out the advocacy agenda

The last document is the proposal, written line by line along with the Board's policy. Our proposal shows step by step what we ask the Board and the Superintendent to do. Ultimately the goal is for the Board to recommend to the California legislature that it pass our Resolution.

The 25 Teachers' Salaries campaign offers a solution to the public school funding crisis affecting California and the nation. It will bring tens of millions of dollars from Washington D.C. back to California and enable school districts to hire thousands of educators laid off in the last 4 years. By taking the financial stress off the schools it will improve the quality of K - 12 education. We hope that the Board will support our campaign in keeping with its responsibilities and Board Policy 1160 by recommending the passage of pass our Resolution by the California Legislature.

We also ask the support of the teachers, administrators, parents and students in the Oakland Unified School District, including the Oakland Education Association.