Schools

A Student's View on Budget Cuts

Castro Valley High School sophomore Emma Silver discusses the state budget cuts.

By Emma Silver

More than 250 students attended a lunch-time rally against school budget cuts Wednesday and signed letters to Gov. Jerry Brown sharing how their education has been affected by the reductions.

In the midst of signing letters, student speakers shared their experiences with budget cuts and what they think students should be doing to fight back against it. The rally was called “Put The Money Where Our Minds Are."

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My name is Emma Silver, and I’m co-president of a club on the CVHS campus called Students Taking Action Against Cuts, or STAAC.

We are a group dedicated to giving students a voice against cuts to public education. We were established a year ago.

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Organizing as an activist isn't easy. There’s getting the event approved, reserving a space somewhere on campus to host your event and then all the other collaboration and build-up that it takes to put on a rally or a protest.

And, don’t forget, there are all the people who are against your cause, ready to shut you down at any second.

So why do we do it in the first place?

Many people I’ve met don’t understand why I want to speak out for change, especially if it’s something that seems almost impossible to be altered. Why bother? Because, as my good friend and fellow student activist, Victor Hernandez-Vega, has said, “If YOU don’t, WHO will?”

When we were first getting established, my history teacher, Mr. Green, saw how passionate I was about this, and we began collaborating on how we could build a club at CVHS to speak out against the cuts.

Soon, we were having meetings, brainstorming ideas and exposing California’s government for what it really was — a bunch of scared politicians who neglected California’s students because they thought they could easily get away with it. As you can see, they were wrong.

State funding for public education is CRUCIAL for public schools to survive. Already, Castro Valley High has lost funding for the entire sports program. Last year we had to raise $250,000 to keep it going for this year. On top of that, athletes are asked to “donate” to their sports, although where the word "donate" is written on those pay-to-play forms, I’m not sure.

Teachers are losing jobs left and right. Extra-curricular programs that have been incredibly beneficial to students are vanishing.

While the rate at which cuts are happening increases, our students’ interest in school decreases.  Many kids thrive off of one specific elective class, sport or extra-curricular activity at school.

With that gone, what is keeping them at school? What is making them focus, stay determined and not turn to drugs or violence? Nothing.

Soon, California’s dropout rate is bound to be through the roof and our future will be ruined if we don’t do something to stop this now.

But what’s the solution? Where can we get the money to fund our schools without hurting anything or anyone else?

Our state spends tons of money each year on inmates in prisons, a significant amount more than are spent on students annually. As opposed to focusing on a person’s wrongdoings, let’s shift California’s focus to rewarding people for what they do right with the rebuilding of public education.

Also, let’s get people who are able to support funding for education to spread their wealth. 

If we tax the rich at a higher level than we already do, the money we end up with could go straight to education. That way, we would ensure that California’s students of today, tomorrow and the future get an incredibly good quality education and go out and change the world.

With an economy as vast and powerful as ours, it’s the least California can do.

Speak out, parents, students, teachers! Let’s make California’s government “Put the Money Where Our Minds Are!” Alone, you are one person trying to make a change, but together, we are a unit, a power, a movement changing California’s approach to public education.


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