Rally For Education Funding Set For Wednesday

Organizers are expecting to draw more than 100 advocates to press for adequate school funding in a rally at Todos Santos Plaza in downtown Concord, 2151 Salvio St., from 3 to 4 p.m. Wednesday.

There have been larger rallies in the last week in San Francisco and Sacramento. But Wednesday’s rally will have a little more information, since Gov. Jerry Brown’s May budget revision proposal was unveiled Monday.

The Brown revision “looks fantastic” with restorations of $1.6 billion from the general fund into K-12 schools and community colleges, said Craig Herrera, communications director for Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, a key organizer of the rally. Bonilla was an English teacher at Concord High School for 20 years. Bonilla heads an Assembly subcommittee on education finance.

A vote by lawmakers on Brown’s proposed revision is scheduled for June.

Educators and parents, students from Mount Diablo Unified School District, and representatives of the state PTA and Preschool California are expected at the rally, said Herrera.