School Cuts Protested at $50,000 Rally

California teachers and union leaders spent $50,000 and a month of preparation to stage a rally Wednesday at the state Capitol to protest Gov. Pete Wilson’s plan to trim $2 billion in education spending next year.

An amiable crowd of several thousand turned up in the warm sunshine of a late afternoon to hear the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Cesar Chavez, president of the United Farm Workers of America, and more than a dozen other speakers.

During a 30-minute speech that touched on everything from “gay bashing” to U.S. policy in the Middle East, Jackson said California should spend more money on schools, less on prisons.

“Schools at their worst are better than jails at their best,” Jackson said.

Former Democratic Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. said “the money is there” to provide full funding for California schools but “it’s the political will to bring it into the schools that is lacking.”

Though the rally went as planned, the question remained afterward: Will this have any effect on the governor’s budget decisions? It did not seem so on Wednesday. As Jackson spoke just outside Wilson’s office window, the governor was inside going over budget figures.

“I think it’s the wrong tactic,” said Maureen DiMarco, Wilson’s secretary for child development and education. “After all, that $50,000 the CTA is spending would pay for a classroom for half a year.”

Wes Apker, executive director of the Assn. of California School Administrators, said, “Our concern all along has been to make sure this didn’t become an absolutely partisan event.”

But the goal of bipartisanship seemed to have eluded Apker by the time of the event. Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) served as master of ceremonies and the speakers included Jackson, Chavez, former Gov. Brown, Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti and California Teachers Assn. President Ed Foglia, all identified with the Democratic Party.