The California Budget

California finally passed its state budget and every single person will feel the sting of the budget cuts that were made. Our sales tax is going up, the amount we can claim for dependents has been drastically reduced, and worst of all . . . it's going to cost us almost double to register our cars in California (and I thought it was already expensive). But the most difficult cuts (in my opinion) were made in public education.

I teach in a public school . . . not in the K-12, but in the adult school. These do not exist in most states, but they are schools that really have an impact on the community they serve. Our particular adult school offers all kinds of classes, but mostly we serve the immigrant community by offering ESL classes. I teach the GED preparation class, helping to prepare people to earn their GED and go on to get better jobs or higher education.

In the past few weeks, we have seen a dramatic increase in our enrollment because people are losing their jobs and need GEDs or better language skills to get a new job. In our particular school, we have taken a 15% cut this week. And next year another 5% will be cut from our budget. This means that several people have lost their jobs, me not being one of them (thank God!) But it also means that the filtered water that's available to the staff is gone. It means that once the copier paper is gone, it is gone. We will have to buy our own paper. It also means that if I need staples or dry erase markers, I can only hope that there are some left in the supply closet, because there will be no more purchasing for the rest of the year.

So I am thankful to still have a job and am serving the people of our community, but it's not a pretty picture for many in California.