I have no idea what could have possessed Arnold Schwarzenegger to run for California governor. But now that our state's dealing with a $41.6 billion budget crisis, everyone hates him and he has to wrangle all the people up in Sacramento to help get the state out of this mess. I don't envy him.
This has been on my mind lately because being that deep in the hole at a state level has deeply affected school districts across California, including in Barstow. Tonight I got back from close to six hours of back-to-back meetings about potentially closing three schools in one of our districts because there simply isn't money to keep the doors open and pay teachers.
Sure, this isn't the first time talk of shutting down schools has cropped up, but there's a palpable desperation in the air when person after person stands before the school board and pleads - all with different causes (teachers, parents, principals) - to spare their school. It's such a cruel situation.
So what can be done? People write letters and send emails to legislators in Sacramento. Sixth graders compile lists of how they think the district can cut the necessary $5 million from next year's budget (their ideas range from changing the cafeteria food to installing energy efficient bulbs, all cute and not nearly enough). Teachers write letters to my editor, parents call me to vent, principals ask me to cover a story about their school, eager to cast any positive light as the inevitable axe gets ready to fall.
But mostly, we wait. The state, and hence the district, is in so deep that not much can be done at this point, besides swallowing hard and waiting for the school board to hand down its decision. I anticipate there'll be a firestorm upon announcing which schools will be shuttered. I already have an inkling which one's they'll be, and I'm already dreading writing that story.
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