Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/85441
2012 ELECTION SPECIAL | VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 30 YES ON 30 IS IT TIME TO STOP PLAYING SCROOGE WITH OUR CHILDREN'S EDUCATION? SUPPORT PUBLIC SCHOOLS: VOTE YES ON PROP. 30 By Sherry Posnick-Goodwin Photos by Scott Buschman Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. –Charles Dickens OVERCROWDED CL ASSROOMS. Dilapidated schools. No money for art, music, foreign language, libraries, counselors, sports, textbooks, technology, paper or pencils. Bah! Humbug! If Ebenezer Scrooge were alive today, he might utter those words when asked to pay crowded, run-down and struggling to provide a well-rounded education to students — especially in low-income communities. his fair share to support students — especially poor ones — whom he callously referred to as the "the surplus population." Our state, alas, has been playing Scrooge to students for decades. Schools are over- October 2012 www.cta.org 27