Students Vent Their Anger Over Cutbacks : Education: Youths attending forum at Birmingham High are urged to voice their unhappiness to elected officials.

With the blessings of school officials, nearly 1,000 students at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys gathered on campus Wednesday to air their grievances over education cutbacks to teachers and administrators, who urged them to take their case to lawmakers.

The morning assembly--part rally and part question-and-answer session--was convened as a forum for youths who have grown increasingly anxious in the wake of deep budget cuts by the state and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Students attending the gathering were excused from their third-period classes after checking in with teachers.

Several teen-agers at the assembly said they lay the blame for overcrowded classrooms and outdated materials squarely on state and federal lawmakers, whom they accuse of depriving public education of necessary funds.

“I blame Pete Wilson, I blame George Bush and the Reagan Administration,” said senior Nicole Miller, 17. “I really don’t think Pete Wilson cares about education.”

“Bush has an Education 2000 plan,” said 15-year-old Ilya Kurinets, referring to the President’s educational blueprint. “What about Education 1992?”

Other youths trooped onto the outdoor stage to plead with teachers not to boycott extracurricular activities or other after-school functions.

United Teachers-Los Angeles, battling proposed pay cuts of up to 17.5% this year, has asked its members to spurn after-hours work as a way of highlighting their discontent.

One youth said he feared teachers would decline to write the recommendations needed by students for their college applications. English instructor Carole Rosen-Kaplan, Birmingham’s union representative, told the boy that teachers hoped to avoid such drastic measures but warned of an even greater threat: the possibility of a strike.

“We’re trying to avoid a strike,” Rosen-Kaplan said. “A strike could be vicious. Your whole semester could go down the tubes.”

She drew the students’ attention to the financial predicament of teachers as the cash-starved school district seeks to slash the pay of its 58,000 employees to help close a $400-million budget gap. Rosen-Kaplan encouraged students to channel their energy into “the democratic process” by voicing their unhappiness to elected officials.

“What we’re asking you to do is to look into the facts, read the newspaper, call the Board of Education, write letters,” she said, surrounded by television cameras and flanked by handmade posters imploring “Save Our Schools.”

Students clapped, laughed and shouted, “No!” as Rosen-Kaplan asked the crowd, “Anybody have a new textbook? Has anybody seen a new textbook?” Other students distributed flyers advertising a march on City Hall planned for this morning that will involve 20 to 30 high schools throughout the district, according to the handout.

Over the past two weeks, hundreds of students across the district have staged walkouts to protest the budget cuts and the potential curtailment of extracurricular activities. Although teachers have been accused of inciting the unrest and using students to further their agendas, the youths maintain that the demonstrations are their own doing.

Students at Birmingham staged their own walkout Friday, as dozens skipped class to register their opposition to the cuts. Principal Henry Gradillas said the school’s decision-making council, including teachers and parents, later acceded to student requests that an assembly be held to address their concerns.

Gradillas told the gathering that sports, clubs and other campus activities were “continuing to function” at Birmingham thanks to the generosity of the teaching staff. But he cautioned that those activities may be jeopardized if budget woes drag on.

The Los Angeles Board of Education is meeting every day this week to finalize its $3.9-billion spending plan and decide the level of pay cuts it will attempt to impose.