Community Corner

Polish Those Apples — It's Back To School Time

The students, teachers, administrators and parents in Martinez are facing a very interesting year when it comes to funding.

This week begins another school year for students (and parents) of the For those in the , their summer break ends next week. It is going to be an interesting time for school districts all over the state this year, as the state budget relies on money that may or may not materialize just to keep last year’s funding intact.

Gov. Jerry Brown and the state legislature agreed that it was likely, since the economy is slowly (very slowly) recovering, that tax revenues from the wealthier citizens would swell the state coffers. If that occurs, our schools should be all right through this fiscal year. If, however, the projections are wrong, then more cuts will have to be made — very significant cuts, which will include school days.

Martinez Patch will keep its eye on the situation and let you know what is happening on the ground here in town. School Board President Vicki Gordon put it very well earlier this year when she said the situation “is just insane.” It’s almost impossible to plan for the short-term needs of a school district, let alone prepare for the enormous needs of future education requirements, when the funding source is so unstable and uncertain.

Find out what's happening in Martinezwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Meanwhile, kids all over town are recalling all of a sudden what it means to get up early again and prepare for a day when they can see all their friends, and peers, and teachers, all in one place, every day. Most of them secretly glad that the endless days of summer are gone, and that there will at last be something to do.

Meanwhile, parents and teachers are remembering just how expensive and exhausting it is to get their kids ready for another year of homework, PE and band practice. And many parents are secretly relieved to know that their kids will be somewhere else, well cared for, Monday through Friday, through the middle of next June.

Find out what's happening in Martinezwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

For all its age and creaky bureaucratic wheels, the idea of public education is still one of the best America has had. And here in Martinez, thanks to the efforts of everyone involved, it works like a charm, despite the insanity of finances and politics.

EVENTS:

TODAY IN HISTORY (from Wikipedia):

565 - St. Columba reports seeing a monster in Loch Ness, Scotland.

1851 - The first America's Cup is won by the yacht America.

1864 - 12 nations sign the First Geneva Convention. The Red Cross is formed.

1952 - The penal colony on Devil's Island is permanently closed.

2003 - Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is suspended after refusing to comply with a federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court building.

2004 - A version of The Scream and Madonna, two paintings by Edvard Munch, are stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Oslo, Norway.

2007 - The Texas Rangers rout the Baltimore Orioles 30–3, the most runs scored by a team in modern MLB history.

2007 - The Storm botnet, a botnet created by the Storm Worm, sends out a record 57 million emails in one day.


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