School Rally Expected to Draw Thousands to Embarcadero

A major rally calling on Sacramento to maintain education funding is expected to draw thousands of teachers, school employees, parents and students to downtown San Diego on Friday.

The “State of Emergency” rally caps off a week of protests organized by the California Teachers Association that began on Monday at the state Capitol. Rallies in Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino will take place simultaneously on Friday.

The rally at Embarcadero Marina Park North begins at 4 p.m. with music and entertainment from the Lakeside Middle School Show Choir and San Diego’s Monarch School Steel Drum Band.

Speakers will take the stage starting at 5 p.m. Among those scheduled to make remarks are Bill Freeman, president of the San Diego Education Association, and Carolyn Doggett, executive director of the State Education Coalition by California Teachers Association, as well as representatives from the Parent Teachers Association, California School Board Association, Association of California School Administrators, California School Employees Association and California Faculty Association.

Gov. Jerry Brown has been trying to win Republican support for an election to extend a series of tax increases to avoid what he has described as the devastating impacts of an all-cuts budget. Teachers' union officials have said the cuts would slash $4 billion in state funding to education.

Republicans in Sacramento have opposed the idea, and that lack of support scuttled Brown's plan to hold a special election next month to put the issue to voters.

Several Republican and taxpayer groups will hold a counter-protest at Embarcadero Marina Park North “in opposition to the California Teachers Association using our children to demand tax increases and oppose reform,” an
organizer said.

California is facing $2 billion to $4 billion being cut from K-12 school funding and the loss of some 20,000 teaching jobs if the current tax rates expire in June. In the past three years, $20 billion has already been slashed from public education funding and 30,000 teachers have been laid off, according to the California Teachers Association.  

“The message is being sent loud and clear to lawmakers from all over the state—stop these cuts, extend current tax rates and stop decimating our schools and other essential services,” CTA Vice President-elect Eric Heins said.

Check the Metropolitan Transit System for information on public transportation available to the rally site.

City News Service contributed to this report.