Budget cuts more painful at inner-city LA schools

By CHRISTINA HOAG Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) - When state budget cuts imperiled city schools, a group of parents fought back by enlisting Hollywood stars to spread a message targeting one of their own, Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggar.

While the video was filmed in the affluent hills above Hollywood at Wonderland Avenue Elementary School, the cuts are more deeply felt at an inner-city school like Markham Middle School, which has also been a focus of media attention during the budget slashing.

But as Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second largest, has grappled with $1.5 billion in budget reductions and nearly 3,000 teacher layoffs during the past two years, almost every school is feeling the knife to some extent.