CSBA in the news
CSBA has been proactively working with the media to communicate its message to protect Proposition 98 and protect students. Immediately after the governor’s State of the State address and budget proposal announcement, CSBA issued several news releases and media advisories to the media. CSBA President Paul H. Chatman and CSBA Executive Director Scott P. Plotkin have become top education sources for journalists across California. Below are just a few of the articles that include CSBA and its message:
The education community will not agree to anything until and unless the governor and the Legislature put all of their cards on the table, including a debate about revenues as well as expenses,” said Paul Chatman, president of the California School Boards Association.
Schwarzenegger’s budget imposes 10% spending cut Bloomberg
January 10, 2008
Paul H. Chatman, president of the California School Board Assn., called the cuts "the worst California's students and schools have ever faced in the history of our state." He said the governor's budget plan "reveals a shocking lack of recognition of the real needs of kids and schools."
Proposal called devastating
Los Angeles Times
January 11, 2008
But schools already are stretched thin, said Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Association. "It may very well be catastrophic," he said. "There are no big-ticket items in any single school district that are going to be available to make up that kind of money."
Cuts at schools could be 'catastrophic'
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
January 11, 2008
“The teachers are teaching, the bus drivers are driving, the students are in the classrooms. I don't know where the money comes from” for midyear cuts to education, said Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Association.
Schwarzenegger to bring tough budget choices into focus
Associated Press
January 10, 2008
Although neither Democratic leader specifically called for increasing taxes, education leaders said that would be a far better alternative than either another round of cuts for schools or a budget reform proposal that essentially locks in the status quo.
"That makes no sense," said Paul Chatman of Oxnard, president of the California School Boards Association.
The way to improve California and enhance its future, Chatman said, "isn't by keeping $48 in your pocket, shrugging and saying, That's all I have.' That mentality of no new taxes is going to keep the state right where it is. We've got to keep up with our competitors in other states and the rest of the world. They're investing, and we're not."
Governor warns of sharp cuts in budget
Ventura County Star
January 9, 2008
Still, Scott Plotkin, director of the California School Boards Association, said the governor's proposal sounds too much like the 2005 initiative.
"It sounds like it's Proposition 76 all over again, and that's a big problem," Plotkin said. "If the language of the initiative he is talking about looks and feels like Proposition 76, then he is talking about unilaterally suspending the Proposition 98 guarantee and cutting school funding in the middle of the school year, up to three times a year."
Deficit shoves strategy to the right
Sacramento Bee
January 9, 2008
They're the worst cutbacks that students and schools have faced in the state's history, according to California School Boards Association President Paul H. Chatman.
And local educators say they're hoping the Legislature won't support Schwarzenegger's proposed reductions as they stand now.
Right off the bat, the governor is calling for midyear cuts of $360 million for K-12 schools - something Chatman calls "unrealistic and unacceptable."
Budget cuts are the worst
Whittier Daily News
January 13, 2008