By Sally Sung Min Choi, Beverly Hills High School, Grade 10
May 23, 2011
The State’s growing debt has driven the California Department of Education to the mass layoff of many teachers. The city of Beverly Hills, one of the wealthiest cities in the nation was no exception to the education budget crisis of California.
The collaborative efforts of BHEF, PTA, BHEA, ASB and BHUSD led to the “One Campaign,” which was a joint emergency fundraising effort to raise 1 million dollars in 1 week to pay for positions which had been cut recently due to lack of funding.
The one-week campaign asked parents to donate a minimum of $365 per child in family to help restore the 13 positions that were eliminated due to the budget cuts—including: instrumental music, performing arts, journalism, counseling, and special education. This reduction of teachers would cause an increase in the small class sizes of the schools and withdraw the option for students to choose their extracurricular classes.
Eun Kim, sophomore at Beverly Hills High School states “I can’t imagine our school to not have those elective classes that were available to us. They are the classes where we are able to explore our passions and develop our dreams…” Although not all of the students and their families were able to participate in the donation, the student body placed emphasis on the community-wide effort to preserve the education system of BHHS.
The One Campaign involved the whole city of Beverly Hills from May 1 to May 7 including the Saks Fifth Avenue, Urth Café, Porta Via, Saffron, Ruby Room, The Nosh, Sharky’s, Bombay Palace, and The Princeton Review. As the result of generous donations and the community effort to save BHUSD, the ONE Campaign successfully raised $624,000.
Thanks to all the parents, students, teachers, and local establishments that helped save the education system in Beverly Hills, it looks like Beverly Hills Unified School District will not be affected as severely by the education budget cuts.
