Placer Union HS Board votes against education, students

Our high school district recently passed a resolution to oppose Prop 50, the Election Rigging Response Act, on the November ballot. I was a career educator, including time as a local school board member and president. I also trained other board members. As such, I know this move by the PUHSD Board is extremely unusual. I've only seen a board make a resolution on an election matter when it directly related to an educational topic. This resolution did not meet that criteria, it was a political move. In fact, to oppose this proposition is to go against education and students. If Prop 50 passes, it will hopefully curtail the anti-education policies of the present unfettered administration. The Department of Education is to be eliminated by its own Secretary of Education. The Trump Administration has proposed and enacted significant budget cuts to education with a $12 billion cut in 2025 alone. Locally, this could result in reduced staffing and higher class sizes. The administration terminated hundreds of grants for programs that support teacher effectiveness, student mental health and academic enrichment. Grant consolidation in 2026 would consolidate 18 K-12 programs into block grants, reducing funding by 70 percent. Will specific student populations needing support still get it? Federal funds have been shifted toward private school initiatives and voucher programs. This will divert funding away from public schools. In states with voucher programs, 75 percent of voucher users are already enrolled in private schools. They are not new students looking for choice. Religious schools are a large percentage of the vouchers. Hence, your tax dollars would go to support religion schools. Generally, voucher schools have not been shown to boost student achievement in cost-effective ways. In fact, voucher programs have ended up putting new demands on state and local budgets and increases the cost of educating the students remaining in public schools. Without thoughtful regulations for vouchers, private schools will not be required to accept students with special needs or from minorities. Targeting diversity, equality and inclusion in education has meant withholding of funds and dismantling programs that help some of the most vulnerable students. This includes removing some of the protections of the Title IX program. The elimination of the SNAP program and school lunch funds will hurt many students in need. Recently, this administration is under discussion with the ultra-conservative groups Heritage Foundation, Moms for Liberty, Turning Point, Prager, Hillsdale College and others to produce a civics curriculum that meets their world view. It is to be taught in our schools. Though schools are to be governed by local boards, this administration has withheld funds until compliance in a number of areas. A way to uphold the standards of public education, constraints on this administration can be done by a more balanced Legislature; being a true check and balance. That is the primary motivation for Prop 50. It is a temporary fix to balance out the redistricting done in Texas by request from the president to give him more supporters in Congress. By supporting a resolution to encourage a NO on Prop 50, this district has voted against its own interest as educators and endangers a quality education for its own students. This is not why I was an educator and, I had assumed, was not the motivation for people to be on a school district board. I am dismayed by this turn of events and priorities.