SAN JOSE (BCN) -- Education leaders gathered in San Jose Thursday with the singular  message that further budget cuts could have perilous effects on California's  classrooms.

"While other states are celebrating American Education Week, we're  here grasping at final straws of funding in California," said Scott  Shulimson, a former fourth-grade teacher at McKinley Elementary School and  president of the Franklin-McKinley Education Association.

At a news conference held Thursday morning in the Meadows Elementary  School library, Shulimson and other members of the Santa Clara County  Education Coalition discussed how schools in California are coping with $17  billion in statewide budget cuts to education.

The Education Coalition released a report compiling accounts from  various students, teachers, and superintendents on the direct impacts that  budget cuts are having on schools and students.

Mary Oshima, a teacher with the West Contra Costa Unified School  District, said the budget cuts have been devastating to her school.

"One teacher has waited for over two months for heat in her  classroom," she said. "Several of her students were sick with colds and one  was hospitalized for pneumonia due to the cold classroom."

Fabio Gonzalez, a counselor at San Jose City College, said  community colleges have suffered a 16 percent funding cut, resulting in fewer  courses being offered and students being turned away.

"Unless our state's leaders close corporate tax loopholes,  generate more revenue and stop trying to balance the budget on the backs of  California's students, we will rob generations of students of the quality  education they deserve now and into the future," Gonzalez said.

(Copyright 2009, Bay City News, All rights reserved.)