Faces of the budget crisis

Here is our third installment in an occasional series looking at the stories of San Diego parents and students hurt by state budget cuts.

TINA SOLORZANO FLETCHER, San Diego State University Student and Parent

The budget cuts have consumed my life. I work for the San Diego Community College. I attend San Diego State University. My son attends University City High School. The SDCCD continues to update us on the state of California’s budget. My student fees at SDSU have increased more than $500 since I began and with the mandatory furlough days I receive less instruction. San Diego Unified has been hit extremely hard and the schools are struggling to give quality education to their students. Resources are being taken away from teachers and are desperately relying on parents to help reduce the gap.

I believe this is our opportunity to let our voices be heard and let California know we are not going to take it any more! Public education and public services benefit all of us!

KEITH ARMSTRONG, Student at San Diego City College

During my three years at San Diego City College, more and more intrinsic programs have been cut by the state under the banner of the “recession,” a term commonly used by state politicians and media outlets to justify the beheading of one of our most basic social rights: the right to knowledge. Each day, students and teachers are bearing the brunt of these attacks on our educational system, waged by the very people who are elected to use common sense and compassion when expressing the voice of all American’s, but especially the unheard.

These misguided cuts work in direct opposition to what is right for our State, which is to open the doors of opportunity through education, instead of narrowing them through ignorance. There is perhaps no better judge of this than myself. I am a 28-year-old student who entered college at 25. I also come from a low-income family and was raised in a community where the outcasts of our broken educational system are left in the shadows, and the doors of opportunity have long been shut.

Most of those who reside in my community are dependent on low-cost community colleges. They use the JC-system as a key to open those aforementioned doors of opportunity. This applies to me, so I can understand just how important education is in making it in our capital-driven world, where degrees and credentials, not merit, can often dictate the financial success of a person. And without these programs, grants, and high quality teachers that are frequently being cut, the chances of lifting up the people, particularly the lower classes, becomes slim, allowing the cycle of poverty and ignorance to persist, while creating a “recession” of the mind.

SANDY MATTSON, Parent of SDUSD Student

My 8-year-old daughter attends McKinley Elementary School, a relatively small neighborhood school near downtown San Diego, that is rich in diversity(both ethnically and economically) and a commitment to ensuring our kids receive an education that emphasizes critical thinking, diversity, respect, and a commitment to making the world a better place.

We were so fortunate a year ago to participate in a pilot program that capped our K-3 class sizes at 15. We watched as our children thrived and teachers could accomplish their best work by targeting their efforts to meet the needs of each child. This year our K-3 classes have almost doubled in size and we can see first hand what a devastating impact this is having on the quality of instruction. Not only are our teachers unable to spend the time to address each child's needs, they don't even have the time to really identify what each child really needs. It breaks our hearts, because these younger years really lay the foundation of a child's success in later years and, unfortunately, what's missed now can rarely ever be regained.

Please protect, nurture, and respect our children, and provide them with the opportunities to truly succeed, for all of our sakes!

KEVIN KELLEHER, Student at San Diego City College

Here is what my education means to me: It's a chance at a new life for both my family and me. I worked as a carpenter in California for 16 years, but since the recession hit I have been unemployed since November of 2008.

Being able to go back to school and start a new career has been a godsend for my family and me.

I am able to change my life, show my children that change is possible, and show them that through education one can achieve one's goals.
Cutting educational services cuts off an avenue, not just for people like me who are trying to adjust to an ever-changing economy, but also to the future generations of Californians. As more people who lose their jobs try to retrain themselves more will need the services of colleges in California. Cutting educational services hurts the very people who need the help the most to rebuild this economy. Investment in Californian colleges and education is an investment in our future.