During the month of May, we will have the opportunity to recognize the numerous contributions made by our dynamic teachers and skilled nurses. The purpose of Day of the Teacher and School Nurses Day is to acknowledge the tireless efforts and crucial role our educators and health care professional play in ensuring our students receive a quality education and are healthy individuals. Please take this opportunity to thank your teachers and nurses for the wonderful work they do all year long. 

 

In celebrating our teachers and nurses, it is difficult to think of the nearly 500 valuable teachers, classified staff, and administrators that we have had to lay off in the past five years due to State budget cuts. This month, Governor Brown will release his revised budget. Once again, we anticipate this budget to be rife with budgetary challenges for the education community. With the passage of Proposition 30 in November, school districts expected more fiscal stability. Instead, the Governor’s latest educational reform proposal – the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) – creates new challenges and potential negative budgetary impacts for forty percent of districts statewide, including TUSD. California severely lags behind in per pupil spending, ranking 49^th nationwide. The LCFF does little to bring California closer to the national average. 

 

California must invest in our students, in the future of our State. I recently wrote an Op Ed piece for the Daily Breeze addressing some of the issues with the Governor’s LCFF. The article can be accessed by the link below:

http://www.dailybreeze.com/opinions/ci_22997335/governors-new-school-funding-plan-pits-districts-againt?IADID=Search-www.dailybreeze.com-www.dailybreeze.com (if link does not work, please cut and paste it into browser).

 

Remember to thank your teachers and your school nurses this month for all that they do.