Jobs and education, not criminalization!

The author is the Party for Socialism and Liberation candidate for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor, District 4. Click here to learn more about her campaign. Click here to learn more about PSL candidates running in national and local elections around the country.

Marylou Cabral

This year’s proposed budget for Los Angeles County includes enormous cutbacks in education. The L.A. Unified School District, California’s largest school district, is likely to have a $560-million deficit, an amount that will greatly affect classroom programs.

These cutbacks are the district’s biggest shortfall ever—the equivalent of closing 22 high schools, firing 5,750 employees or instituting an 8-percent pay cut for all its employees. This pushed the Long Beach Board of Education to vote for the closing of Tucker Elementary to save the district $1 million.

Meanwhile, the county budget calls for $1.4 billion to be spent on building more jails, probation camps, juvenile halls and police stations; $17.3 million to hire more deputies and law enforcement personnel; $20.9 million to “restructure” juvenile wards; $6.4 million for the L.A. Sheriff’s Department, District Attorney’s Office, and Probation Department to “combat gang violence”; and $429.4 million to “improve security” at probation juvenile halls and camps.

Why is there so much money for racist oppression and nothing for social programs?

L.A. County is the world’s 17th largest economy. Yet, the County Board of Supervisors is spending billions on filling up jails and prisons with working-class people, particularly those from communities of color. By 2012, California will spend $100 million more on prisons than on public universities. It is clear that the real needs of the people of Los Angeles are not on the priority list of this administration.

As a socialist, community organizer, student and aspiring teacher, I believe our tremendous resources should be channeled into free, high-quality education for everyone from pre-school through college, job training and free, universal health care. The minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour.

My campaign for L.A. County Supervisor is dedicated to unmasking the real interests of those who control the wealth of L.A. County and to giving a voice to the people. Together, we can build the kind of multinational, working-class unity that is necessary to create a society where people’s needs come first.