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Estudiantes contra recortes escolares
By MARTÍN E. MARTÍNEZ / Vida En El Valle
(Published Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 09:18AM)
SACRAMENTO -- Like any other young girl, María Soto has dreams and aspirations for a better future through education.
And nearing her high school graduation, the 17-year-old Guatemalan native is gathering information on what she needs to attend college to study medicine.
But she faces two significant obstacles to achieving her aspirations: She belongs to a low-income family, and she is an undocumented immigrant.
Soto was among several hundred students who gathered last week at the Capitol to protest cuts in education.
Soto has applied for scholarships and a student loan, but because of state budget cuts to education, obtaining such assistance has become more difficult, she said.
"I applied for several scholarships, but the vast majority have rejected me, because there are a lot of applicants," said Soto, a senior at Renaissance High School in Long Beach. "I could only get a $200 scholarship."
Soto blamed the state government for the situation. In recent months, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced $11.5 billion in cuts to education over the next 14 months. That has led to layoff notices for many teachers.
"In my school, several teachers have already received a pink slip, which is terrible because that means a bad-quality education," Soto said. "Instead (of) the government provide more resources to education, they do the opposite, and with this they are killing the dreams of many who want to go to college just to get a better future.
For her family, she said, it is very important that she go to college because she would be the first one in her family to graduate with a professional degree.
"My parents had no access to education in Guatemala," Soto said. "They only studied up to elementary education, so it is very important to my mother that I graduate. This has been the dream of her life and something which we have struggled toward for many years."
Soto's mother, María, works in a fish-packing plant and is a single mother. Since she arrived from Guatemala, she has fought hard to raise three children and has always instilled the interest and importance of education, Soto said.
"My mother is very sad now because she sees that her dream could not come true," Soto said. "For years she always has investigated ways we might go to college, but suddenly everything is changing, and now it is increasingly difficult to get help."
Her mother's wages, Soto said, are not enough to help her daughter's college expenses. That means she must depend on financial support such as scholarships.
"I've been a good student -- I have very good grades," Soto said. "But that does not really help now because education is very expensive -- especially for me, because I am undocumented, and I have to pay as an international student, which means that I have to pay double tuition."
The protest was organized by the Campaign for Quality Education. Latino and black students were dominant at the rally.
After marching, the students handed more than 5,000 cards, which asked lawmakers to not make further cuts. Some students went to the offices of lawmakers to solicit support for their demands.
They also requested support for Assembly Bill 8 by Assemblymember Julia Brownley. The bill would create a team to review the funding of education to make it more transparent and re-examine existing funds to see if they can be put to better use.
Send e-mail to:
mmartinez@vidaenelvalle.com
Estudiantes se oponen a recortes educativos
Como cualquier joven de su edad, María Soto cuenta con sueños y anhelos para lograr un futuro mejor a través de la educación.
Casi ya a punto de graduarse de la preparatoria Soto, de 17 años y originaria de Guatemala, se encuentra recopilando información sobre lo que necesita para acudir a la universidad en donde quiere estudiar la carrera de medicina.
Pero ella enfrenta dos obstáculos para lograr sus aspiraciones: su familia no cuenta con los medios económicos para pagar por sus estudios y además es indocumentada.
"He aplicado por varias becas pero en la gran mayoría me han rechazado porque hay muchas personas aplicando. Tan solo pude obtener una beca de 200 dólares," comentó Soto.
Soto culpa al gobierno estatal de esta situación, el cual en los últimos meses ha anunciado recortes al presupuesto a la educación por 11,500 millones de dólares para los próximos 14 meses.
Entre las medidas que el gobierno realiza para ahorrar recursos se encuentran el despido de 165,000 maestros y 290,000 empleados escolares.
"En mi escuela varios maestros ya han recibido la notificación de su despido lo cual es malo porque eso significa que la calidad educativa bajará. En vez de que el gobierno aporte más recursos a la educación hace lo contrario y con esto están acabando con los sueños de muchos que no contamos con los medios para acudir al colegio," aseguró Soto.
Soto fue una de los cientos de estudiantes que se congregaron la semana pasada en el Capitolio de Sacramento para protestar por los recortes a la educación anunciados por el Gobernador Arnol Schwarzenegger.
La protesta fue organizada por The Campaign for Quality Education y en esta participaron estudiantes Latinos y Afroamericanos de todo el estado quienes con pancartas se pronunciaron en contra de los despidos de maestros y recortes a la educación.
Después de marchar, los estudiantes entregaron 5,000 tarjetas en donde pedían a las autoridades no hacer más recortes. Además se formaron grupos de estudiantes quienes acudieron a las oficinas de los legisladores para pedirles personalmente el apoyo a sus demandas.
También pidieron el apoyo de los legisladores para la aprobación de la propuesta de ley AB 8, de la asambleísta Julia Brownley, la cual consiste en la creación de un equipo que examine los fondos educativos para hacerlos más transparentes y fáciles de manejar y re-examinar los actuales fondos para un mejor aprovechamiento.
