Los Angeles teachers are set to go on strike in

the coming week. Oakland teachers will probably go out in February. Both districts are under attack by the wealthy proponents of charter schools. Like teachers around the country who went on strike against all odds last year, the teachers in Los Angeles and Oakland are fed up and ready to fight back for their own livelihoods and for funds for the education of the public school students they serve.

The Crisis in Public Education, and How to Solve it was the title of a forum held by the Alameda County Peace and Freedom Party on Saturday, January 3. Among the speakers were the President of the Oakland Education Association (the teachers’ union) and three other Oakland teachers. Among the topics they discussed were the lack of services for students because of low funding, charter schools in Oakland and around the country, the roots of school privatization, possible sources of money in California, and the need to overturn Proposition 13 (a split roll property tax will be on the Nov. 2020 ballot).

You can watch this forum by clicking here for to link to a video made by PFP member and Oakland teacher Craig Gordon.

--written by Marsha Feinland