School Funds

In a community that has experienced little--if any--labor strife, the Beverly Hills teachers’ strike has provided a cold lesson in labor economics. In strikes, no one wins, there are no victories, everyone loses.

There was never a question that the teachers are underpaid. This is a nationwide problem. But, in terms of funding, Beverly Hills is no different from any other public school district in California.

When it became clear that there was no money available to meet contract demands, some parent groups started soliciting funds to help meet salary increases. It is the fortunate community that has the resources to do this.

Now we must begin the difficult process of healing our wounds. We need to give our respect to people who acted upon their beliefs, even if we disagreed with their position. Locally, the Beverly Hills community must put its energies into passing a parcel tax. But we cannot take an elitist position and forget the broad picture of the state of public education throughout our nation. I challenge the Beverly Hills parents and teachers to join with other school districts in California to demand more funds from Sacramento. Then we need to unify with school districts across the nation to demand from our “education President” the monies to make our country’s schools the best in the world.

LILLIAN RAFFEL

Beverly Hills