October 19, 2012
Something’s got to give under this pressure
The cracks are already beginning to show
(Fish from early MARILLION)
The California Lottery began on November 6, 1984 (wasn’t this year prophetic?) with the passage of Proposition 37. I was all for it! As a high school teacher I believed (like most everyone else) that California Schools would get money “on top of” what they were already getting; making academic life better for all. New to California, I didn’t yet know how the game was played in Sacramento, with Sacramento merely maintaining a budget status quo by using money from the lotto to replace money that they would pull out from the General Fund. Schools didn’t profit — as Sacramento worked the tax payers’ dreams and got Peter to pay Paul.
After middle school and/or junior high school extra-curricular programs were gutted, because there wasn’t enough money for these critical, educational institutions; Californians were then forced to endure and participate in all-sorts-of-fund-raisers for California Schools (at least those of us with school-aged children); while high school athletes have had to “pay to play.” Californians with kids who are athletes are held hostage from K-12!
And now, California Education is again being held hostage by Sacramento and being threatened with Propositions 30, 32 & 38 (though I could have these numbers wrong – as the wording and infomercials on them have me totally confused). But one thing I do know is: educators and actors pretending to be educators are proselytizing Prop 30 as if the future of California education absolutely depended on it. There are even adds suggesting that the State Teachers Retirement Fund is bankrupt and one of the propositions is meant to replace lost monies for overpaid teachers (please note the sarcasm).
I, for one, am not buying it (though I often wonder how solvent Cal STRS is)! Adopting Proposition 30 will just kick-the-can-down-the-road for another year. The pig stickers just want to slit a few more throats; meanwhile, Hollyweird educates contemporary youth – and I blame Hollyweird run amuck for just about every social dilemma we currently face!
Whenever a colleague asks me if I’m voting YES on Prop 30 – I say “Sure.” Whenever I get a phone call from Cal Faculty as-to-whether I’m voting YES on this Proposition I reply: “Sure.” But sure as shit – I won’t be voting at all! It’s time that we let the-shit-hit-the-fan and let this crumbled wasteland of an education monument be completely demolished and allow something that works, to take its place!
I am tired of paying ransom to Sacramento: I already pay-through-the-nose for California Sunshine. The California Super Lotto persists, and our schools have become worse – as we continue to slide down the comparative State chart achievement scores! The California Lotto was supposed to benefit our schools for Chrissakes!
Fool me once, shame on you;
Fool me twice, shame on me!
Let the whole thing go in the shitter I tell you. Why keep paying for shit that doesn’t work?! Go ahead! Set off the education bomb!! Torch us!!! I already see the new education system emerging phoenix-like from the ashes…