Teachers rally in support of Props 55 and 58

Teachers and professors were at the California Teachers Association headquarters and on sidewalks in Salinas Sunday urging people to vote yes on Propositions 55 and 58.

“There’s definitely a potential for students to fall behind,” said Estela Mercado-Rodriguez, a kindergarten teacher in the Alisal School District. “My district in particular would stand to lose $11 million dollars.”

Proponents of Proposition 55 said the measure would prevent $4 billion in cuts to public education funding by continuing to tax the top two percent of California earners for the next 12 years. This, they said, would help fill in the gap created by cuts to state funding brought on by the recession.

“We got about a quarter of a million dollars in funding in Monterey County over the last three years,” said Susan Midori-Jones with the California Teacher’s Association. “It’s very important that the funding continue.”

Educators said the money from Prop 55 would go directly to schools to help pay for everything from hiring additional teachers to maintaining health care coverage for children.

“The loss of funding would definitely mean teacher layoffs. It would mean furlough days, workdays lost,” said Rodriguez. “It would also mean classroom increase and the loss of afterschool programs.”

Opponents say the tax was only meant to offer temporary support, and will kill jobs and hurt the economy by raising taxes on small businesses.

Teachers also rallied in support of Prop 58, which would allow school districts to implement a variety of programs to help students learn English and expand opportunities for students to learn a second language.

“The United States will be far more competitive if people in the United States use the languages that they already have and the knowledge of culture,” said CSUMB Professor Rafael Gomez. “The world is connected and even though English is a very important language of the world, you have to speak the language of your customer.”

Opponents say current English language education has produced positive results, and immigrant students are being admitted in record numbers to universities.

Teachers said they will phone bank and walk to voting precincts at least five nights a week.