There are signs that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed huge cuts to education funding may be having an immediate impact in the classroom. There have been numerous reports in the media of attempts by other states to lure California educators away from the Golden State.

It is certainly understandable that any teacher or administrator who received a March 15 notice might look at what other states have to offer. The proposed evisceration of Proposition 98 has forced schools to plan for the worst, and thousands of hard-working educators received word that their enormous efforts to educate the nation’s most diverse student population may not be enough to save their jobs.

With that kind of uncertainty, recruiters from such other states as Texas, Nevada, Virginia and Hawaii, recognizing an opportunity, have descended on California in efforts to lure away educators. This is a full-on recruiting effort, including billboards and newspaper ads, all selling their particular state as a better environment in which to work.

What does this mean for California? Numbers don’t lie. As more and more promising young teachers are lured away to other states, and as an increasing number of teachers reach retirement age, the pool of qualified candidates to replace those retirees will dry up and leave schools in dire circumstances.

The Education Coalition is stating that if the Legislature doesn’t act quickly to resolve the education funding crisis and reject the proposed budget cuts, it’s California’s students who will suffer the consequences. They are asking everyone interested in a better education for California students to write their legislators a letter today to tell them “No Cuts to Schools and Students.”

For more information, please visit www.protectourstudents.org.