Hoping to stave off the layoffs of nearly 60 full-time teachers, some Palos Verdes community members have launched an intensive fund-raising campaign dubbed Save Our Teachers Now.

Banding together for the two-month effort (the campaign goes through the end of May), a coalition consisting of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, the Peninsula Education Foundation, all fifteen units of the PVPUSD council of PTA’s and Booster Clubs from many of the individual schools aims to raise $1.2 million.

From the press release:

"As a result of the budget proposed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the PVPUSD faces an annual budget reduction of $3,700,000. The district will be forced to adopt a budget for the next school year, which after many other cutbacks and the prudent use of reserves, will still lead to the lay-off of 59 full-time teachers. A loss of this number of teachers, which would be added to approximately 20 retiring teachers not being replaced, will cause the district to face an “absolutely unacceptable increase in class sizes," according to Walker Williams, Superintendent of Schools for PVPUSD.

If the campaign succeeds in reaching its goal, a large portion of the involuntary lay-off notices which went out on March 15th will be rescinded. Save Our Teachers Now is soliciting donations to the campaign from individuals, organizations, and foundations. The campaign was launched with lead gifts totaling $250,000 from the Peninsula Education Foundation, and several of the PTA units, and is asking all district parents to make a tax-deductible donation to the campaign of at least $200 per student enrolled in PVPUSD.

Among the programs in the district to be lost, in the absence of a successful Save Our Teachers Now campaign, are Option 1 kindergarten, 3rd grade and 9th grade class-size reductions (20:1) put in place over the last several years by the district. In addition, personnel such as counselors, librarians, nurses, and technical support specialists, as well as elementary music, will be cut back from current levels. In a recent on-line survey completed by the Peninsula Education Foundation, 952 respondents stated preserving smaller class sizes was the number one priority at the elementary and intermediate schools levels, and the second priority at the high schools, behind only academic and College counseling.

Dave Wagman, President of the Foundation commented, “We feel that this campaign addresses the powerful concerns of our district’s parents for their children’s education. This campaign gives them a positive and meaningful way to deal with their frustration with the state of education funding in California.”

The group has also established a website: www.saveourteachersnow.com.