California education funding troubles

[Alerik the Fortunate]

From here

Cut to the tax

SACRAMENTO -- There was a familiar ring to the remarks of Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata, D-Oakland, today as he talked about the deep cuts to school funding in the governor's proposed budget.

The Senate leader said the proposal for a $3.4 billion cut could result in 67,000 fewer teachers, schools starting 30 days late, or increasing class size by five students.

Perata said the budget proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could drop California schools, already with per-pupil funding ranked 46th among states, to the level of schools in Mississippi and Arkansas.

For years, said Perata, advocates of improved education in California have been saying that "nothing gets better" until more funding is provided for the classrooms.

"I don't think people are buying that right now," he said.

Perata said a case has to be made for more school funding, which could emerge as legislative hearings in the weeks ahead put the spotlight on the impact of the governor's plan for the new fiscal year beginning July 1.

Similar remarks were made last December when Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, talked about Schwarzenegger's proposal for a 10 percent across-the-board cut to close a huge budget shortfall.

"Once people see the magnitude of the problem we are confronted with, I think you are going to have more willingness to look at creative options and, obviously, other options that put more revenue on the table," the speaker said.

What Perata did not mention is a plan by nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Liz Hill that could avoid deep school cuts. Her plan would keep funding at the current level next year, covering enrollment growth but not inflation.

Hill's plan for flat funding, or a freeze, would keep state and local funding for schools at $57.7 billion and require only a $800 million reduction in the Proposition 98 school-funding guarantee next fiscal year.

The governor's plan would provide $55.6 billion for schools, $2 billion less than current funding, and require a two-thirds legislative vote to make a $4 billion reduction in the Proposition 98 guarantee next year.

The first step in Hill's plan is reducing school funding in the current year to the minimum required by Proposition 98, which has dropped along with estimated tax revenue since the current budget was was signed last summer.

Hill argues that cutting to the Proposition 98 minimum can be done through a carefully targeted $1.5 billion mid-year cut, a kind of paper shuffle, that would have little impact on actual school spending this year.

Asked if Senate hearings will focus on the deep cuts proposed by the governor rather than the analyst's freeze, Perata said the analyst set priorities rather than applying the governor's broad 10 percent cut.

"That's much more consistent with what we will be doing," said Perata. "But we are going to look at both (the plans by the governor and the analyst).

In a first step toward closing a gap now estimated to be roughly $9 billion in next year's budget, legislation enacted earlier this month made a $506 million cut in school funding.

Hill had unveiled her school-funding plan in January calling for a $1.5 billion mid-year cut. But the Legislature chose to make only a third of the reduction.

In a committee, Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, broke ranks with his colleagues and unsuccessfully pushed for an additional $409 million reduction in the Proposition 98 guarantee next year.

Perata stripped Simitian of his chairmanship of the Environmental Quality Committee as punishment for nearly two weeks, then reappointed him. But Simitian lost his post on the Senate Budget Committee, replaced by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles.

As Democrats try to show the need for increased revenue, Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, R-Tustin, said Republicans remain opposed to tax increases and additional borrowing.

Ackerman said that the budget shortfall is the result of overspending. He said the state budget enacted in 2004, when adjusted for inflation and population growth, is $10 billion less than the proposed level of spending now.

"There is no justification for the additional $10 billion in spending," said Ackerman.

A handful of Republicans, at least two in the Senate and six in the Assembly, are needed for the two-thirds vote of approval required to pass a budget or tax increase.

I've heard a bit about this on campus, since I attend Cal State Northridge, but not much in the way of details. My fiancee's mother and aunt are elementary /junior high teachers, and have stories of drastic cuts including firing of all first year teachers, halving of salaries, closing of four middle schools, etc. locally. Though one school apparently cut almost their entire administrative staff before laying off teachers. I really don't know enough to put things into perspective, but it seems like quite a bad sign.

[Guardsman Bass]

From here

Cut to the tax

SACRAMENTO -- There was a familiar ring to the remarks of Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata, D-Oakland, today as he talked about the deep cuts to school funding in the governor's proposed budget.

The Senate leader said the proposal for a $3.4 billion cut could result in 67,000 fewer teachers, schools starting 30 days late, or increasing class size by five students.

Perata said the budget proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could drop California schools, already with per-pupil funding ranked 46th among states, to the level of schools in Mississippi and Arkansas.

For years, said Perata, advocates of improved education in California have been saying that "nothing gets better" until more funding is provided for the classrooms.

"I don't think people are buying that right now," he said.

Perata said a case has to be made for more school funding, which could emerge as legislative hearings in the weeks ahead put the spotlight on the impact of the governor's plan for the new fiscal year beginning July 1.

Similar remarks were made last December when Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, talked about Schwarzenegger's proposal for a 10 percent across-the-board cut to close a huge budget shortfall.

"Once people see the magnitude of the problem we are confronted with, I think you are going to have more willingness to look at creative options and, obviously, other options that put more revenue on the table," the speaker said.

What Perata did not mention is a plan by nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Liz Hill that could avoid deep school cuts. Her plan would keep funding at the current level next year, covering enrollment growth but not inflation.

Hill's plan for flat funding, or a freeze, would keep state and local funding for schools at $57.7 billion and require only a $800 million reduction in the Proposition 98 school-funding guarantee next fiscal year.

The governor's plan would provide $55.6 billion for schools, $2 billion less than current funding, and require a two-thirds legislative vote to make a $4 billion reduction in the Proposition 98 guarantee next year.

The first step in Hill's plan is reducing school funding in the current year to the minimum required by Proposition 98, which has dropped along with estimated tax revenue since the current budget was was signed last summer.

Hill argues that cutting to the Proposition 98 minimum can be done through a carefully targeted $1.5 billion mid-year cut, a kind of paper shuffle, that would have little impact on actual school spending this year.

Asked if Senate hearings will focus on the deep cuts proposed by the governor rather than the analyst's freeze, Perata said the analyst set priorities rather than applying the governor's broad 10 percent cut.

"That's much more consistent with what we will be doing," said Perata. "But we are going to look at both (the plans by the governor and the analyst).

In a first step toward closing a gap now estimated to be roughly $9 billion in next year's budget, legislation enacted earlier this month made a $506 million cut in school funding.

Hill had unveiled her school-funding plan in January calling for a $1.5 billion mid-year cut. But the Legislature chose to make only a third of the reduction.

In a committee, Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, broke ranks with his colleagues and unsuccessfully pushed for an additional $409 million reduction in the Proposition 98 guarantee next year.

Perata stripped Simitian of his chairmanship of the Environmental Quality Committee as punishment for nearly two weeks, then reappointed him. But Simitian lost his post on the Senate Budget Committee, replaced by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles.

As Democrats try to show the need for increased revenue, Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, R-Tustin, said Republicans remain opposed to tax increases and additional borrowing.

Ackerman said that the budget shortfall is the result of overspending. He said the state budget enacted in 2004, when adjusted for inflation and population growth, is $10 billion less than the proposed level of spending now.

"There is no justification for the additional $10 billion in spending," said Ackerman.

A handful of Republicans, at least two in the Senate and six in the Assembly, are needed for the two-thirds vote of approval required to pass a budget or tax increase.

I've heard a bit about this on campus, since I attend Cal State Northridge, but not much in the way of details. My fiancee's mother and aunt are elementary /junior high teachers, and have stories of drastic cuts including firing of all first year teachers, halving of salaries, closing of four middle schools, etc. locally. Though one school apparently cut almost their entire administrative staff before laying off teachers. I really don't know enough to put things into perspective, but it seems like quite a bad sign.

I'm sorry for you guys. To be honest, though, California's essentially shot itself in the foot on the funding issue for the past 20-30 years, when you guys made raising taxes preposterously difficult.

That said, haven't they dipped below Proposition 98 before? I seem to remember reading an Op-Ed in the LA Times saying they did it in 2004, so it wouldn't be a precedent (not that that's any comfort for those involved in education who lose their jobs because of this).