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The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

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Students voice dissent at Sacramento rally

Around 1500 chanting and placard-waving students gathered before the state capitol building Tuesday Feb. 25 to send Gov. Gray Davis a message that his proposed budget takes an unfair share of funding from Basic Aid school districts. State legislators who addressed the rally, including State Senator Byron Sher and Assembyman Joe Simitian, spoke out against Davis’ plan to seize $126 million in local property taxes from Basic Aid school districts.

“I thought it went surprisingly well,” said Paly Student Body President Lakshmi Eassey. “It was inspirational to see students from all over the Bay Area come out and protest.”

Coming by car, chartered bus or train, students took time from school to protest the proposed state budget that school districts say will be harmful to providing a quality education. According to Mary Francis Callan, superintendent of the Palo Alto Unified School District, diverting $24 million in local property taxes from the PAUSD Basic Aid district to the state would be “devastating.” This funding loss plus other deficits could represent a total annual budget loss of 25% for PAUSD.

Under sunny skies, the diverse sea of protesters made a colorful sight with students dressed in cheerleading outfits, school shirts, and ethnic wear. Many held homemade signs, some of which read: “A Gray Future 4 $chools,” “S.O.S., Save Our Schools!” and “Teachers Need More than Apples.”
The students took to heart the words of Assembly Member Sally Lieber (D-District 22) when she told them: “You are within earshot of the Governor and legislature.” Speaking after a choir presentation, she said, “We need to do more, not less to prepare our students for the future,” and added that arts programs such as choir “are not extras for our students, these are necessities.”

Soon after, students enthusiastically joined Assemblyman Simitian (D-District 21) in his cheer: “Hey, Hey, Governor Gray, Basic Aid has got to stay!” and Sen. Byron Sher referred to the long-term value of education when he said, “We… need our young people to be well-educated to keep California’s economy strong.”

Former Assembly Member Ted Lempert, leader of EdVoice, encouraged students to use the EdVoice.net Action Alert System to electronically fax a protest to the governor’s office. Other legislators addressing the student rally included Assembly Member Gene Mullin (D-District 19) and State Senator Jackie Speier (D-District 8).

During the hour-long open-microphone program, several high school students spoke passionately about the need to retain teachers and student programs. A group of elementary students from Mountain View expressed their sentiments about the Governor’s budget by singing original lyrics to the tune of “Yankee Doodle,” ending with “ABC’s and 1-2-3’s are going in the trash.”

The high-energy student dance performances, cheers and sing-a-longs provided entertainment and kept the mood upbeat. Tables at either side of the rally gave students an opportunity to showcase their art, publications and other programs that could be adversely affected by school budget cuts.

A select group of representative high school students left the rally early to meet with individual state lawmakers at the Capitol.

There are approximately 60 Basic Aid school districts in California and many of the Bay Area’s Basic Aid districts were represented at the rally, including Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Mateo, Fremont, Los Altos, and Los Gatos.

“This is an amazingly well-behaved group of young people,” said Retta Koch, mother of two Paly students. As she listened to the student speakers, she added, “This event is telling Legislators that the students won’t sit by quietly. They are angry and mad.”

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