Public education faces tremendous challenges.
As we enter the new century, California has too few classrooms. Too few of these are wired to the InterNet, too many teachers spend hundreds of dollars out of their own pockets for supplies, and unacceptable numbers of students come to school without adequate levels of nutrition and health care. More than one in ten California teachers has not met the minimum requirements, and we will need a hundred thousand new teachers by the end of the decade. While the California Federation of Teachers supports efforts to reward student achievement, we are concerned about raising the performance of all students in California. Resources need to be provided for all students and especially for schools which need them most.