200 Teachers Protest School Budget Cuts : Education: Many of the demonstrators at the government center say the public is not aware of the magnitude of the problem.

About 200 teachers rallied on the lawn of the Ventura County Government Center Thursday to protest budget cuts to the state’s public schools.

A dozen of the teachers carried brightly colored signs that read “Crisis in Education” and “Ventura Schools Need Your Support” and waved to motorists, many of whom honked and waved back.

Other teachers spread blankets on the grass at the corner of Victoria Avenue and Telephone Road to participate in a “read-in,” perusing books, magazines and newspapers to demonstrate the importance of reading and education.

Many said they believe that the public is not aware of the magnitude of school funding problems.

“We’ve got to make it clear that it affects everybody, whether they have children or not,” said Suzan Estrada, a teacher at Ventura’s De Anza Middle School. “The children are our country’s future.”

Gov. Pete Wilson has proposed suspending Proposition 98, which guarantees 41% of state revenue to public schools. Wilson’s proposed cuts to public schools amount to more than $2 billion statewide.

And Ventura County’s 20 school districts may have to make more than $20 million in cuts next year to balance their budgets.

“I think the public may not know about the dire straits we’re in,” said Joan Marra, a Spanish teacher at Ventura High School, who carried a sign that read “Thanks for Supporting Proposition 98--Keep Writing Letters.”

The demonstration was organized by the Ventura Unified Education Assn. Most of the teachers were from the Ventura Unified School District, which faces an estimated $3.2-million deficit in next year’s $57-million budget. Last month, the district voted to lay off 41 non-teaching employees, including clerks, bus drivers and custodians.

Some teachers at the protest were from other school districts, including Ojai Unified, Oxnard Union High and Conejo Valley Unified.

“I think schools have been suffering for years,” said Linus Raibys, president of the Ojai teachers union and a teacher at Topa Topa Elementary School. “Proposition 98 was the best hope we had for some base school funding. Hopefully a lot more awareness will come out of this before things get really bad.”

A group of teachers from Ventura’s Sheridan Way Elementary School said teachers have been forced to dig more deeply than ever this year into their own pockets to pay for basic supplies, field trips and student incentives, including cash awards.

Fifth-grade teacher Renee Sutton said she spent about $2,000 of her own money this year in her class, including cash for three $100 motivational scholarships. Others said they spend an average of about $500 of their own money on their students each year.

At a table set up near the intersection, teachers filled out postcards to be mailed to state legislators, urging them to support Proposition 98.

Others wrote postcards to Ventura Unified board members, asking them to delay voting on an extension of Supt. Cesare Caldarelli’s contract until after the November elections, when the board’s composition may change. Earlier this week, leaders of the Ventura teachers union also urged a delay, expressing unhappiness with the management of the district.

Teachers said they hoped that the protest would encourage the public to write to state legislators and would motivate more parents to become involved in the schools.

“I love being a teacher, and I hope I can be a teacher forever,” said Kathy Sedillow of Sheridan Way Elementary, looking up from a book called “Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World.”

But, Sedillow added, “Something has got to be resolved. I don’t want to be forced to leave a profession I love.”