How budget cuts hurt students and parents

San Diego City College instructor and marcher Jim Miller collected letters from students and parents about how budget cuts have impacted their lives. Here is the first installment in an occasional series that will share their stories.

TARA MAYO, San Diego City College Student

My name is Tara Mayo. I’m in your English 211 class on Monday and Wednesday. I have been a student here at City for the past four years. The budget cuts have affected me personally as well as my friends. It will set us all back and leave us more broke than we already are. I think when it comes to getting an education that it should not get worse for you, but it should only get better. As important as an education is, we want to get our money's worth. Our time is also very important. Because the tuition costs more, that means that we have to put more money back for a longer period of time, which means more time spent saving for the tuition. To put it simply - it will cost us more, but take us longer to get into the workforce.

CATE PIETRO, Parent of child in K-12 San Diego Unified School District

My daughter is in elementary school in San Diego. She’s in a Charter School where fundraising has been able to fill in the gaps left by the 2009-2010 budget cuts to education. Parents donate a lot of money and time to keep things afloat and the school staff has sacrificed to keep programs and classes active – science, PE…just regular classes that really need to remain in the curriculum. The administration cut full-time staff positions to keep these programs for the kids active. The burden to make up the lost bodies falls on the remaining teacher’s and staff’s shoulders. They work tirelessly to keep things afloat…for now. The impact on the upcoming school year is unknown. The dedication of the teachers is breathtaking … they are stubborn and refuse to give up on our kids and California – all the while California is giving up on our kids.

I talk to the teachers about the impact of these cuts. Their income is down, houses are being lost, credit card bills are increasing…they sustain layers of stress to keep themselves afloat in the midst of the budget crisis in California. They work all day at school then at home at night just to be prepared for the curriculum. I am grateful for these teachers – just how long they can withstand this is unknown and it puts our entire educational system in jeopardy. It is a crime to be continually cutting funds from education. It needs to stop and lost ground needs to be made up for the sake of our children, families, teachers and state in general. We are in trouble now and continuing to cut from education will make things worse. At some point, our leaders need to stand up and say, ENOUGH!! That time is now.

My sister teaches in Los Angeles. Her room is plastered with posters to hide the crumbling walls. Kids are constantly clearing their desks of debris that falls from the ceiling. Some days, there aren’t enough desks for the kids. This is a poor school where children fall through the cracks at home and now, they are falling through the cracks at school. I shudder to think about the long term psychological impact of these cut-backs on these children who are in crisis in all parts of their lives. These cuts are creating long-term damage and I fear there will be no coming back from where we are today, let alone with more cuts under way. The state of our education system in California is turning our children into debris. This is unconscionable.

DANNY MULLEN, Student at SDCC

The current budget cuts have affected me in many of the ways that every college student is experiencing. My tuition has shot up, the classes I need are becoming harder and harder to get into, and I have a smaller pool of teachers to choose from. The biggest problem I am facing, however, is my options to transfer into a four-year university. As the price tag of an education rises, students who qualify for UC schools may have no choice but to attend state schools, and students who qualify for state schools may now only be able to afford community college. Because of this decrease in affordability, schools such as San Diego State University have become incredibly crowded. As a student who had always planned on attending SDSU, I now fear for my place in the institution. UCSD is out of my price range, meaning I may be forced to leave my home in San Diego to find a good education.