Career and technical education may be facing deep financial cuts. A proposed federal budget could mean as much as a 20 percent reduction to funding for vocational programs in 2012, according to the New York Times. Obama instead seeks to increase funding for overall education by 11 percent.

The Times reports that these proposed cuts are a step toward the president’s goal of raising academic standards and ultimately have the highest share of college graduates of any other nation by 2020. But Dr. David Dabaco, a teacher at Lincoln High school Engineering and Construction Academy in Stockton, CA, disagrees with the president’s college-bound campaign.  “As a society we have to provide educational opportunities for all students, not just those college-bound,” he says. “If we can show these kids we can provide you with these skills and you’ll get your foot in the door, and you’ll make x numbers of dollars. That can break the cycle of poverty, and that’s an accomplishment.”

The Academy where Dabaco teaches is not a typical vocational program. It provides students with opportunities to choose from four unique career paths such as Architecture, Mechanical Construction, Construction Technology, and Cabinetry and Woodwork but at the same time exists within a traditional high school. 

Talking about sex may not be the most comfortable conversation for people, but it’s definitely something young people are talking about more than ever. Students of Wesleyan University created the “I Have Sex” video as their way to protest against the cuts that would target Planned Parenthood. The video shows young people holding a sign and admitting that they are sexually active and on birth control.

Planned Parenthood provides affordable forms of birth control and contraceptives, sex-ed programs, free cancer screenings, pap smears, gynecological exams, free STI and STD testing and other health services.

By: Ariel Edwards-Levy

The following was broadcast on NPR's Morning Edition on August 26, 2010

When Fahiya Rashid started college at UC Irvine, she thought she knew most of the financial traps to avoid. Chatting at an LA coffee shop, she says her father's experience taught her to watch her spending.

"When he was in college, he went crazy," says Rashid. "He had, like, 18 different credit cards. He took student loans. And now he's almost 50 and he's still paying that money back. And there's not a stop to it. So he taught me, just limit yourself to one or two cards, and spend very wisely. Don’t spend money you don’t have.”

But during her freshman year, Rashid says she faced an unexpected problem.

"When you start school, they give you a whole bunch loans. They're like, 'OK, take this, take that, take this.' I was under the impression that I needed all of that money, so I said yes to every single one of them, which is a bad idea, of course."

She returned as many of the unnecessary loans as possible -- about three thousand dollars worth. Rashid figures the less she borrows now, the better off she'll be after years of compounding interest.

Problems like hers are common, says financial expert Kathy Kristof, because students aren't taught about money. "Most of them are pretty clueless when they first start college, unless their parents have really done a great job of educating them about finance all along. We just don't get much financial education in high school, and then parents send their kids off to college kind of like pushing them out of the nest."

By: Rod and Rasam Aminzadeh

One of the most important issues that education is facing here in California, is Budget Cuts. Schools throu out the Bay Area are facing the possibility of being closed. California, the most-populous U.S. state, is going to lose an $18.6 billion budget through June 2011.

Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts are spread over many public programs, but the largest would eliminate the CalWORKS welfare program and do away with child care funding except for preschool and after-school programs, saving the state $1 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively.

Via The Christian Science Monitor

The upcoming cuts will affect Students. 16-year-old Karen Hu is one of those students who is going to be affected by budget cuts. She's a junior at Galileo High School. Hu says, "Learning is going to be a lot harder bacause they are going to lay off some of the teachers, classes are going to be crowded, and we are going to have less supplies to study with." Hu added, "It's not right bacause government is spending more money on wars than schools and education." Hu is trying to just make the best out of the situation, but others aren't as tough as she.

16-year-old Bao-An Voung, A junior at George Washington High School worries about how these budget cuts will affect his future. "I'm worried about cuts because it will affect my education and it will take out some after school programs that I'm interesting in," said Voung.

George Washington High School is one of the schools that won't be affected by California's budget cuts. Ms. Jackson, one of the principle's assistants at GWHS said the school is doing very well and has not been affected by the cuts. She credits the school's principle, Mrs. Lovrin for the work she has done to get the school's budget back during the summer from different divisions. George Washinton High School is looking forward to see nothing different compare to last year.

On the March 4th Day of Action, colleges around California and across America joined in solidarity with protests, walk-outs, teach-ins, and marches against major budget cuts in public education. This is far from just a California UC system march; k-12 schools and 4-year and 2-year colleges in New York, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota all participated  totaling in 33 cities and over 125 events across the nation.

Every level of education has been affected by these budget cuts. K-12 schools are receiving less funding and firing more teachers. Community colleges will be turning more than 20,000 students away. Tuition has drastically risen at UC’s and California State Universities are crowing classrooms and furloughing professors.

Here are some reactions from every perspective:

Students have varied opinions. UC Berkeley’s the Daily Californian reports, "For me, it is about the symbolic statement-I don't expect anything to come out of this," said Jackie Moore, a UC Berkeley junior, as she marched to Oakland. "We need to say we value public education."

High school students explain how important it is for them participate. "I'm only 16, I can't vote, I don't really have a say in the politics of it all, as much as I would want to," said Hope Schwartz, a sophomore at Oakland Technical High School who joined the march. "This is the only thing I can do."

Elected officials responded to the protestors in California, “a spokesman for Schwarzenegger said he wanted a constitutional amendment guaranteeing that higher education received more funding than the state's prison system”. State Senator Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo said, “In all my 20 years in elected office, this is the largest rally I have ever seen; I've never seen a gathering where they just take over the entire Civic Center area"

A lot of the media perpetuates the negatives of the protest. The students who shut down the freeways in Oakland, CA and in Santa Cruz, CA. The window some students broke at a few universities and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee protesters who threw punches and ice chunks. UC Davis had some violent reaction from the local police, and arrest were made nationwide. The media raises the question, were these protests effective? And how do we measure an effective protest? Instead let’s look and the solidarity formed across the country on all levels of education. March 4th was a Day of Action, the multitude of support and media exposure. Let’s see if any politicians actually hear the thousands of student who screamed to “Save Our Schools”.

LOS ANGELES-  "Fight Back"

That was the chant that began the late afternoon rally in Los Angeles.  Students used bullhorns and drums to set the stage for a downtown march.  Hundreds of teachers, students and union leaders held signs, bemoaning the budget cuts to their schools.   Buses brought educators from all over the city.    Some teachers walked with their children.  Some college students walked, arm and arm, chanting over and over, "We're fired up."  Other protestors called specific attention to tuition hikes at the UC and Cal State systems.  The crowd sang along to music blaring from loud speakers.  But, at times, it was quiet enough to hear a simple guitar string.    

Here's a snapshot inside the rally.

(download mp3)

BERKELEY -- Parents, teachers, and students gathered at a rally in support of public education at Berkeley Unified School District administrative offices. Waving signs that read "No Cuts" and "Defend Public Education," the crowd of around 150 people included elementary school student Eliza Fosket Hyde, 7, who made a homemade sign "We want money for pableck shools."

WEB EXCLUSIVE

SACRAMENTO-- California colleges and universities have been hit hard by state budget cuts cuts. Fewer classes are being offered, pay cuts for staff and faculty have been handed down, and classes sizes are blooming. In response to all this, protesters against these drastic cuts have held numerous demonstrations across the state at various college campuses.

We spoke with California State Senator Loni Hancock, a member of the State Senate's Education Committee about the budget cuts. Senator Hancock discusses the root of the budget crisis and what steps are being undertaken in Sacramento to address the budget shortfall.

BERKELEY, CA—protesters gathered on Monday to protest against police overuse of power. Last week’s protests, where students took over Wheeler Hall, was due to a 32 percent tuition increase that will take place next semester. Three demonstrators are scheduled to appear in court in Oakland on felony burglary charges due to last week’s demonstration. A candlelight vigil is scheduled for Tuesday for the students.

Cal students aren’t the only ones facing charges. The 70 UC Santa Cruz students who took over the administrative building and locked themselves in for three days will face possible criminal or campus sanctions.

Damage to the building, particularly the second floor, involved trash and food left behind as well as electronic conference equipment ripped from tables, campus spokesman Jim Burns said Sunday. He estimated repairs and cleanup will cost "thousands of dollars." via Mercury News

SANTA CRUZ, CA-- On Sunday police officers ordered dozens of students who took over UC Santa Cruz' administrative building to come out. Students were protesting against the 32 percent tuition increase the University of California Board of Regents approved last week.No arrests were made and university officers say the operation ended peacefully. But videos taken by protesters tell a different story. The videos show officers pushing their way through a wall of students who were chanting “We are peaceful, what about you?”

UC Santa Cruz was not the only campus that was taken over by students and protesters.