Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,
I am a mother of two elementary-school aged children. I spend an inordinate amount of time and energy participating in my children’s public education. I’m not the most active person at my children's schools, nor the least. Nevertheless, I spend a huge amount of my time helping at the schools, in many different capacities. I am not alone.
We, the parents who participate in this protest, intend to bill you for our time, Governor Schwartzenegger. You will hear from us in June. Be prepared.
It is a commonly held belief that there is no money for education. This is because tax money is not being raised for this pillar of our society, and it is sad, and it is wrong. Our children deserve at least the education we received as children. At least. In protest of the fact that our politicians are not willing to pass legislation that makes everyone pay his or her fair share, we intend to keep a record of the time and energy the parents of my daughter’s schools contribute.
Parents now have considerable experience at fundraising, not because we were trained at doing non-profit work, or because we are fabulously wealthy and are invited to expensive $1000/plate dinners; no, it is because we have children in public elementary school. We labor long hours in whatever way we can, out of love for them, and also love of the other children in the school district. We do it because it must be done, and children are the future of our country, all children, rich and poor.
Know this, however; we resent every minute we contribute to the school that goes unnoticed by the powerful men and women in the legislature. Fundraising and educational support in many capacities, constitute another full-time job for most of the mothers (and many of the fathers) I know. It is sad, and wrong. Our labor is valuable, and is unpaid. The schools lack nurses, psychologists, gym teachers, art teachers, administrative assistants, custodians, music teachers, librarians, and so many more positions. It’s all been cut. There is nothing left to cut.
Our children deserve so much more.
In June, we will present a bill to you, Governor Schwartzenegger. We will bring the bill to Sacramento, and it will be very large. We expect an accounting. This bill will be figured in a fair manner, according to generally accepted remuneration for the jobs that we take on, from minimum wage envelope stuffing right on up to the actual teaching of classes and administrative work that we willingly do.
This labor should be done by hired professionals. We don’t want the money ourselves. We want the money to hire professionals to do this work. Enough is enough. Raise taxes, and raise them now. You’ll need the money when the bill comes due.
Sincerely, the Parents of http://billable-hours.blogspot.com/
posted by PTA @ 5:18 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
We should totally do this in Seattle. You people are brilliant.
Hi there. This is my first time visiting this blog and I feel the need to comment. Before I do, please understand that I know the reality is that most commenters on most blogs only say really supportive things and those commenters that disagree with the original post run the risk of being a big party-pooper. That said, I don't mean any disrespect here (and I don't mind being a party-pooper, especially if a good discussion can come from it), but. . .
Obviously things are very different in California than in Maine where I teach. At my school, there are 4 community volunteers for every student. Not because we depend on them, but because they passionately believe in my little public school and want to be involved with the students, whether they have children in the school or not. I'm sad for you that you feel like your time spent in your children's school needs to be reimbursed in some way other than knowing that the kids are better for it. I was surprised to see that you and the others involved in your campaign are apparently members of the PTA. Is your PTA a volunteer group like it is at schools I am familiar with? I suppose the alternative to doing "work" without getting "paid" would be to quit the PTA.
On the other hand, your frustration is probably just a symptom of a bigger problem in education. Yes, schools are underfunded. Yes, they need all the help they can get. I suppose your children's school is lucky they have you and other parents helping out at all, even begrudgingly. I sincerely wish you luck in making positive change in your community.
Amy, I'm not in California and I'm not part of Billable Hours, but I've been following it for a while, and we have similar issues where I live, and I think you may be misinterpreting this blog.
The point isn't that volunteers begrudge the time contributed to the school, or don't want to be an active part of their children's education, but that they feel they are cynically being taken advantage of by the local and state governments so that said governments don't have to adequately fund schools.
I have friends with kids in school in Maine, and yes, the situation is very different there: in spite of the general poverty of the state, there are small class sizes and in general enough money in schools: volunteers are there because they *want* to be there, as you say, not because the schools would fall apart without them.
In California, school budgets have been gutted, partly due to limitations on property taxes. Because parents do care passionately about the schools, they have taken up more and more slack, with their own money and countless volunteer hours, as Jackie details in the above post, trying to keep the schools decent for their kids and other kids in the city. This allows the city and state to cut funding even more, confident that parents with resources will step in to fill the gaps. And where there are no parents with those resources of time and money, the schools just get worse and worse.
At what point do the schools stop being "public" and become parent co-ops with buildings provided by the city? What does the state owe to the public good? That seems to be the issue this blog is addressing. Note that the letter to the Governator doesn't ask him to give the parents the money, but to *hire professionals* to do the jobs. The billable hours concept is just a concrete way to show the extent to which the state is balancing its budget on the backs of already-overextended volunteer parents.
I hope this answers some of your concerns, and that it's fairly accurate. Billable Hours folks, please correct if it's not.
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