Four years ago, my eldest son entered first grade in a neighborhood public school in Saratoga , California . A couple days into the semester, we received two flyers asking for donations. One was from the school's PTA, the second one was from the Saratoga Education Foundation (SEF). Since this was our first child entering public school in Saratoga , my husband and I were not familiar with SEF. After doing some research, I found out that SEF helps pay for school programs, such as music, science, technology, arts, and library, for students in grades kindergarten through 8 th . Later on, I also found out from other parents about the reason behind the formation of SEF. Because every year, there is an inadequate funding for schools, including the Saratoga Union School District, Saratoga parents and community members founded SEF in 1982 to help pay for the various school programs. SEF is a non-profit, 100% volunteer-run organization, and its goal is to promote a quality and balanced educational experience for children in the Saratoga Union School District . I later volunteered to be a caller for SEF's yearly “Phone-athon” to call and remind parents to contribute money and time to SEF.

Saratoga has a great school district. In the real estate flyers I receive every week in my mailbox, I always see “Renowned Saratoga schools” as one of the highlighted bullet points. It's hard for me to believe that the funding in such a successful school district can be so limited. The success of the Saratoga school district has relied heavily on volunteering parents to assist our children's education at schools. Being a full time mom, I have had the opportunities to dedicate my time in various volunteering jobs at school, including math, art, and library classes. At first, I was amazed to find out that parents are serving as school instructors teaching our kids' art classes. Because of the lack of school funding, professional art teachers can only educate selective grades of students each semester. Art lessons for the rest of the students will have to be taught by volunteering parents. If there were no parents volunteering to teach arts, students will not have any art programs for the semester. One other surprise to me is that the school library is also open for a limited time every day, and the funding for a librarian is limited as well. These are just two examples of how the lack of funding in California public schools has been affecting our children's lives. I realized that the key reason Saratoga schools can still maintain its quality of education during these challenging economic times is that Saratoga parents have been very supportive of SEF. Parents are making donations and contributing their time. For over 25 years, these SEF funded programs have made up for the reduction in State education budget to Saratoga schools. SEF has helped Saratoga schools maintain and enhance education quality.

To my dismay, I learned that California ranks the 46th in US in spending per pupil . Due to the Governor's budget cut, most California school districts have lost $1500 per student over the past two years. Moreover, the Governor is proposing another $2.4 billion in cuts on public education. Because of the budget cut, California public schools, including ours are laying off staff, increasing student-teacher ratios, and eliminating some arts, after-school study programs, and summer schools. There are no more new textbooks. At my son's school, parents, including myself, are writing petition letters to the principal and the district's superintendent to express our objections in laying off one of the best first grade teachers. We hope to save the teacher's job. I have heard some public schools in Los Angeles have become so over-crowded where students have no chairs to sit and no tables to write on. Nowadays, given the increase in class size and lowered education quality, some families are even trying out home schooling, no longer sending their kids to schools.

On one hand, the Governor claims to “protect education funding.” On the other hand, the Governor proposes more than $2.5 billions in education cuts. The continuing budget deficit is limiting the State's ability to fund education. There are serious cuts in child development programs, county offices of education, the K-3 class size, and many others. The Governor did not live up to his promise that education is a priority.   Today, our school districts face many challenges without the needed funding to support quality education. Unless our State Legislation has the courage to reject the Governor's proposed cuts on our kids' education, California is in danger of depriving an entire generation of children of their rights to education.

Our children are amazing young people, and they should not be deprived of their rights to learn. The right to education is a basic, fundamental human right. Educating our children is paramount to our society's future. Education helps to improve a child's chance of success in life as he or she grows up. Knowledge is power, and if there is anything we should leave with our children, it is knowledge. No one can take away the knowledge that resides in their brain. As a mother of three young children, I believe we need to do our very best to deliver quality education for our children. Even though I do enjoy my volunteering time with school kids, I believe that education is an investment that we cannot afford to cut short on. Children are our future, and we need to invest in our children.