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David Sanchez, California Teacher's Assocation president, visited the Tahoe Truckee Unified School district community on Thursday for the first time as president of the statewide union.
TRUCKEE, Calif. — Sacramento doesn't take public education funding seriously enough. That's a message that David Sanchez, president of the thousand-plus chapter, 300,000-plus member California Teacher's Association, shared this week with local educators.
However, despite his view that Sacramento lacks leadership, Sanchez said he is amazed by the state's teachers making the best of the situation.
Sanchez on Thursday toured the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District and answered a few questions from the Sierra Sun on the state of education in California.
Sierra Sun: David, when you take these site tours, what concerns do you hear? What positives do you see?
David Sanchez: When I do the site visits I get a pulse for what's happening around the state. I've been in a lot of classrooms and can tell you a lot of good teaching and learning is taking place. Our folks are doing an incredible job despite tremendous pressures. Some of the joy has been taking out of the profession with the massive budget cuts from the state.
SS: During the budget downturn over the past few years, what trends have you seen that have affected teachers?
DS: Well, you're seeing class size reduction eliminated in most school districts, you're seeing veteran teachers, people who have been on the job for 20-plus years losing their jobs. There are cuts to music, arts and (vocational) ed courses. Sometimes they've been eliminated under the guise of budget cuts. We've lost 20,000 teachers statewide, and if the economy doesn't improve, we'll see more. Not to mention the fact we've got no idea how many instructional aids we've lost. It's a big loss for the classroom.
SS: What concerns does the CTA have about education funding in the state?
DS: We want to change the process in Sacramento ... the term limits idea, you get an assembly speaker in office only six years and then they're gone — there's very little continuity. At individual districts we've seen some whose priorities are in the classroom and keep their cuts away from the classroom as much as possible, and some districts really aren't worried about it. I've seen districts pink slip the entire district, and there really is no reason to put teachers through that stressful process. We're also seeing districts with reserves over 10 percent making cuts to teachers and saying they want to hold onto that money. In case they haven't looked, it's pouring out there with the economy.
SS: What's your impression of the TTUSD?
DS: It's my first time coming here, and I was very impressed by both the learning and teaching I saw — you've got a top-rated education which matches the beautiful area you live in. It's an extremely challenging situation right now, but the teachers are doing well trying to do more with less.
However, despite his view that Sacramento lacks leadership, Sanchez said he is amazed by the state's teachers making the best of the situation.
Sanchez on Thursday toured the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District and answered a few questions from the Sierra Sun on the state of education in California.
Sierra Sun: David, when you take these site tours, what concerns do you hear? What positives do you see?
David Sanchez: When I do the site visits I get a pulse for what's happening around the state. I've been in a lot of classrooms and can tell you a lot of good teaching and learning is taking place. Our folks are doing an incredible job despite tremendous pressures. Some of the joy has been taking out of the profession with the massive budget cuts from the state.
SS: During the budget downturn over the past few years, what trends have you seen that have affected teachers?
DS: Well, you're seeing class size reduction eliminated in most school districts, you're seeing veteran teachers, people who have been on the job for 20-plus years losing their jobs. There are cuts to music, arts and (vocational) ed courses. Sometimes they've been eliminated under the guise of budget cuts. We've lost 20,000 teachers statewide, and if the economy doesn't improve, we'll see more. Not to mention the fact we've got no idea how many instructional aids we've lost. It's a big loss for the classroom.
SS: What concerns does the CTA have about education funding in the state?
DS: We want to change the process in Sacramento ... the term limits idea, you get an assembly speaker in office only six years and then they're gone — there's very little continuity. At individual districts we've seen some whose priorities are in the classroom and keep their cuts away from the classroom as much as possible, and some districts really aren't worried about it. I've seen districts pink slip the entire district, and there really is no reason to put teachers through that stressful process. We're also seeing districts with reserves over 10 percent making cuts to teachers and saying they want to hold onto that money. In case they haven't looked, it's pouring out there with the economy.
SS: What's your impression of the TTUSD?
DS: It's my first time coming here, and I was very impressed by both the learning and teaching I saw — you've got a top-rated education which matches the beautiful area you live in. It's an extremely challenging situation right now, but the teachers are doing well trying to do more with less.
