OAKLAND – Faced with the prospect of an estimated $4.8 billion in cuts to education across California, teachers, superintendents, elected officials, students and parents vowed to protest the Governor’s plan to balance the state’s budget with across-the-board cuts.

The Governor’s budget proposal would mean about $800 less per student, or $24,000 less per classroom, and laying off more than 100,000 teachers.

State Sen. Pro Tem Don Perata said the state should look at raising revenue, such as new taxes, or the possibility of reducing monies sent to cities and counties.

"There is too much talk about cities, counties, and special districts and not enough talk about children and parents," Perata said at a news conference on March 12 at Peralta Elementary School in Oakland.

State Sen. Majority leader Gloria Romero noted that it costs about $10,000 a year to educate a child, while the state spends about $178,000 per year to incarcerate a young person in a state youth correctional facility.

Fourth grader Kierra Rieves asked the Governor to leave school funding intact. “Our education is the most important thing to us,” Kierra said.

Also attending the news conference were Superintendents from local school districts (Berkeley, Newark, Oakland, San Lorenzo, Hayward, Castro Valley, San Leandro and Emeryville), and State Sens. Tom Torlakson, Ellen Corbett and Carole Migden.

Although she was unable to attend the news conference, Alameda County Schools Superintendent Sheila Jordan has said that students did not create the state’s budget problem, and their education should not be undermined because of it.

“Whether it is the $37 million cut for class size reduction, the $22.4 million reduction in preschool and child care, $1.6 million for pupil testing or the tens of millions in funding stripped from other parts of the education budget, it all adds up to a disinvestment in public education,” Jordan said.

“2008 was designated to be the year to begin a serious conversation about greater investment and reform in public schools. More than two dozen studies confirm the pathetic investment California makes in education,” Jordan said.