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San Francisco is facing a $116 million funding shortfall, leading to larger class sizes, fewer resources, and limited support services in California schools. Lack of funding has negative effects on both students and teachers, with strikes occurring in Oakland and teachers having to spend their own money on supplies. Students also notice the lack of basic resources like soap and toilet paper. The lack of funding also leads to a shortage of trained professionals in schools. The underfunding crisis in Bay Area schools is becoming more apparent each day. According to CalMatters.org, San Francisco is currently facing a $116 million shortfall in funding. This is a concerning number that has huge ramifications. In fact, California schools have larger class sizes, fewer counselors, stripped down course offerings, and fewer support services than most every other state in the country, as reported by Children Now, a leading non-profit, reports. We are Lillian and Vivian, two students who have attended both public and private schools in San Francisco, so we are interested in the effects lack of funding has on students and schools. As high school juniors, we care about receiving a good education and having the resources necessary to set us up for the future so we can live successful and well educated lives. Oakland Unified School District, OUSD, has faced budget problems for years now. In Oakland, public schools have gone on strike twice in the past four years, the most recent one just coming to an end after a week and a half of no school. Kevin Erspalmer, both a teacher and a father, shares his concern for his children's education. I don't want to send my kid to a school where it's going to strike them again. Liz, a public school teacher in San Francisco, strongly agrees with this. She sees how, you know, kids are going to public schools where every year they're not getting the quality experiences that they should be getting. After interviewing teachers within the Bay Area, we thought it best to get the perspective of the student experiencing these ramifications firsthand. Isabelle, a junior at Oakland Technical High School, has noticed the effects lack of funding has on her school's environment. We kind of lack some basic resources that other schools have as well, like sometimes there's no soaps in the bathrooms or we run out of toilet paper. Liz sees the same problems at her school. I've been at schools where we have to spend our money to get supplies needed. This is because the school does not have the funds for necessary resources. According to the National Education Association, more than 90 percent of teachers spend their own earnings on school supplies and other resources for their students' needs. In fact, just before the pandemic, statistics showed that educators on average spent around $500 of their own money on classroom supplies over the course of the year. During our interview with Kevin, he shared some of the restrictions he felt back when he worked within the public school system. You weren't taking the field trips or doing the field program. Although these opportunities are not necessary to learn, learning outside of the classroom in non-traditional teaching ways allows for students to explore their passions and to be able to learn hands-on while moving around. Liz shares her perspective on yet another issue that comes from a lack of funding, which is a lack of trained professionals. The first few years I was teaching, I thought, oh, we need to be paid more. As time went on, I realized, you know, I don't even really need a raise as much as I would want another qualified teacher in my classroom so I could meet all the needs of the kids. Public schools in the Bay Area are facing a crisis of underfunded classrooms, which can be felt by both the educators as well as students. With not enough funding, teachers are taking from out of their own pockets and students are facing a more difficult environment to learn in. While there have been recent strikes, the overall lack of funding for schools in the Bay Area becomes more and more visible each day. For the California Report, I'm Lillian Prouty. And I'm Vivian Prouty reporting from San Francisco.