Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/85441
YES ON 30 2012 ELECTION SPECIAL | VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 30 The Ghost of Education PAST "Who are you?" asked Scrooge. "Ask me who I was," said the spirit. "Who were you then?" said Scrooge, raising his voice. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, California's schools were once the envy of the nation because schools were well funded. In 1972, Cali- fornia ranked 12th nationally in per-pupil spending (as opposed to 47th now). From the 1950s through the mid '70s, the major- ity of California's schools had sports, music, art and vocational education. Even summer school — offering a variety of high-end enrichment classes — was free. The state's Master Plan for Higher Education, adopted in 1960, mandated that all eligible students would be admitted to college. But things changed in 1978 when voters passed Propo- sition 13, which slashed property taxes by nearly 60 percent and made it almost impossible to pass new taxes by mandating a two-thirds supermajority to do so. Within a few years, California went from being first to worst in school funding. Below are some recollections from CTA members at three districts reminiscing about the "good old days." Books, after-school sports "You used to be able to call down and order 100 books for your classroom, and those books would rotate through school libraries," recalls Pam Baugher, a teacher in Bakersfield City School District from 1969 to 2009. "When I started teaching, every school had a counselor who was BAKERSFIELD CITY: FROM TOP: School librarian David Bogardus in the school library, Pam Baugher holds a class photo from the past, Dean Colombo shows off awards won by students. 30 California Educator October 2012 actually allowed to be a counselor. We took a few field trips every year without any problem. In better times, all of the elementary schools had after-school sports programs open to all students. We had adequate supplies. Rooms were cleaned five days a week. There were lots of electives at the middle school, like shop and home economics. It was fun to be a teacher, and we were creative in our teaching. The former president of the Bakersfield Elementary Teachers Associa- tion, now retired and a school board member, says "everything changed" for the worse when Proposition 13 passed. " "We had everything we needed," Joyce Miller remembers of teach- POMONA UNIFIED: A nurse at every school ing elementary school in the district beginning in 1968. "Our cup- boards were full of supplies, and we could go into the office and pick up anything else that we needed, such as art supplies. We had art teachers at the elementary schools and counselors at every school. We had a nurse and a nurse's aide at every school. I had a classroom aide in my room every year. Miller, an Associated Pomona Teachers " (APT) member, now works for the dis- trict offering professional development to school employees in technology. District librarian and APT member David Bogardus recalls that every secondary school had its own librarian to help teachers develop curriculum and help with research projects for students. There was ample money for library books, field trips and enrichment activities for students, he recalls fondly. He now works at two high schools and, one day a week, at the district office. Free of worries "Field trips were funded upon request. The district paid for band uniforms. Teachers and school staff never worried about lay- offs, cuts in programs or having to forage for supplies. Each school in had a grounds crew. The district paid for bus transporta- tion to school. There were school nurses. They put lights on the football field, JOHN SWETT UNIFIED: Dean Colombo, reminiscing about when he was a student in the '70s in John Swett Unified School District, serving several Contra Costa County communities. The high school had four full-time " says counselors and a full-time school librar- ian. There were classes in French, Ger- man, Spanish and Latin. The district later added AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), a program to help stu- dents "in the middle" succeed in college, says Colombo, now a teacher at John Swett High School.