Proposed California budget slashes education (tags)
Amid looming budget deficits, school districts across California are preparing to fire teachers, close schools, cut programs, and increase class sizes, to cover reduced state funding. Like Democratic and Republican governors across the country, Democratic Governor Jerry Brown is trying to force workers to pay for the economic crisis, while corporations make record profits. Within the state the richest Californian, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, has a net worth of $27 billion, more than the entire state deficit.
Education crisis in California (tags)
After several years of continuous budget cuts, California’s schools are in dire straits. The state superintendent of public instruction, Tom Torlakson, went so far as to call it a “state of financial emergency.” Newly re-elected Democratic Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed budget, however, includes widespread cuts to higher education and social services in an attempt to close the $25.4 billion deficit. Inequality in California is so staggering that the wealth of the richest Californian, Lawrence Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, estimated at $27 billion, would eliminate the entire state deficit.