Teachers and students from throughout the state gathered May 8th in the Sacramento Capitol building to protest the impending passage of Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget-cut proposal to close the $26 billion deficit.

Last week, the California Teachers Association called for a state of emergency and planned a week-long protest in the state capital. The union urged local teacher unions to organize and join the protest. The livelihoods of thousands of teachers throughout the state are in danger. Brown’s budget-cut proposal is threatening the public education system. This means pink slips, furloughs and larger class sizes for the future workers of California.

Michael Madden of Skyline Against the Cuts answered the call of California Teachers Association and Educators for a Democratic Society. He joined a group of activists from City College of San Francisco who went to Sacramento to support the teachers unions.

This state of emergency is a campaign of both teachers and students uniting to stop the third round of budget cuts to California schools.

“We’re not just here to lobby, but we’re here to raise some help because (the state legislators) just don’t seem to care,” said Betty Olson-Jones, president of Oakland Education Association, in a speech.

According to Madden, the California Teachers Association has planned a radical movement to take place in the Capitol’s rotunda while another organization, Educators for a Democratic Union, was intent on making the protest a real occupation of the government building, Wisconsin style.

“We believe that the only way to stop these cuts in its tracks is to have mass actions. . . . (I)t is better than lobbying,” Madden said.

The fury of Wisconsin teachers has been the spotlight of the mainstream media since mid-February. The attacks on teachers unions in the current economic crisis have been the focus of every state legislator’s budget proposal throughout the country.

City College of San Francisco student Brian Cruz expressed his concerns regarding the urgent need to take action to stop these budget cuts. He said that throughout history, only mass movements were able to force those in power to meet the demand of the people.

“Frederick Douglass said that ‘power concedes nothing without a demand,” Cruz said. In order to express that demand, Cruz added, the students and teachers throughout California need to organize together and force the local government to “provide us what we need.”

Charmaine Yamaguchi of New Haven Teachers Union said during a speech, “We’re going to be in a worse place next year. I watched (the education system) last year, and it’s just going to get worse. Your children are at stake. There’s not much we can do but fight.”

While the federal government has extended the Bush-era tax cuts to the rich, the public education system’s budget has been shrinking. The California Teachers Union was demanding the extension of sales, vehicle and income taxes that are set to expire on June 30.

Calls for the taxation of the rich was a motto for many of the protesters, who chanted, “Tax, tax, tax the rich,” throughout the rotunda.

“In the short run, we are in favor of passing the tax extension; put it on the ballot. But in the long run, we have to look at where the money comes from,” Olson-Jones said.

“The children are important. These are resources we can’t squander,” Yamaguchi said.

As the protest went on until closing hours, the presence of police officers in the building increased. Some of the protesters left the building to avoid arrest. The ones intent on sitting in with the teachers stayed in the rotunda.

About 65 protesters were arrested. Most of them were students. The union-backed teachers were released. Skyline’s own Michael Madden was among those arrested.

According to Community College of San Francisco student Eric Blanc, Madden was break-dancing as he was apprehended.

The protesters were kept for eight hours in a holding tank and were charged with trespassing and a questionable “skiing without a license.”

“You cannot expect a first-class education on a third-world budget,” Yamaguchi said. “California needs to speak up. It’s going to take more than 100 of us here in this rotunda.”