VALLEY REPORT SCHOOL LAYOFFS : Expressions of Fear and Frustration : Three reactions to the Los Angeles school district’s plan to balance the budget by cutting teaching jobs. : A Student: Josh Baca, 17, is a senior at Valley Alternative Magnet School in Van Nuys. He aspires to be a writer.

For me, it’s a disappointment. After people have said for so many years that we need to do so much for education, that we need to have schools that are better, now they are talking about cutting all this money.

I have to make up some credits to get my diploma because I am a few credits behind. I was thinking of going to Pierce to make them up, but now I don’t know if I will be able to. If they have to cut money for certain things, I may not be able to go to Pierce as a non-graduated high school student. In that way, it can affect me.

I don’t think that Gov. Pete Wilson has a very strong commitment to education. It’s just kind of put on the back burner, not on the priority list where it should be.

I haven’t always taken my education very seriously, but I don’t think they should compromise somebody else’s education just because it will lighten the deficit.

The people of the state want to have a strong commitment to education, but I just don’t think they are speaking up enough. It just so happens, though, that the future of the country may be the loss. The country cannot be as complacent as it is now. It has to speak in voting and stuff.

For my friends, the people I go to school with, this could make the difference between them working in a Chevy factory or working in a law firm or being a doctor.