Ed Coalition calls on governor, lawmakers to pay up 

Arguing that the state has both a moral and legal obligation to keep its promise, the Education Coalition called upon the governor and state lawmakers to repay the more than $3 billion in Proposition 98 funds owed K-12 schools from previous budget years.

Speaking at a Feb. 8 press briefing in Sacramento, representatives from the Education Coalition explained why it’s crucial that schools get the full amount due them under terms of the budget agreement between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the education community ratified by state lawmakers as part of the 2004-05 budget.

Bob Wells, Executive Director of the Association of California School Administrators, said that voters have made it clear that they want the governor and lawmakers to honor Proposition 98 minimum funding guarantees for schools.

“This money is owed schools,” he said. “While we appreciate that the governor proposes allocating $1.67 billion to bring us back to where we should be, it’s only a third of what we’re entitled to. We’re going to press them to pay their debts.”

The dispute between the governor and the education community stems from the 2003-04 budget year, when schools agreed to a $2 billion suspension of the Proposition 98 guarantee to help the state balance its budget. In return, the governor promised that K-12 education would get its share of new revenues (if any) that came in that year. This promise was ratified by legislation that was passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor.

The Education Coalition contends that the state violated terms of its this bill, when it shorted schools by $1.7 billion in 2004-05 and by $1.4 billion in 2005-06. The governor tried to permanently cut Proposition 98 guarantees by backing Proposition 76 on the November ballot, but voters overwhelmingly rejected the measure.

Wells said it’s clear that Schwarzenegger got the message, and the coalition was cautiously optimistic when the governor proposed increasing education by $1.67 billion in his proposed 2006-07 budget. The proposal would restore the Proposition 98 base to where it should be under terms of the 2003-04 budget agreement, but does not restore funding the governor promised, but refused to allocate to schools in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

In an interview published in the San Jose Mercury the week after the Education Coalition press briefing, the governor indicated that he has always intended to repay schools $3 billion owed them under terms of the agreement. The dispute, he said, has to do with when the money will be repaid.

While members of the education community may disagree with the governor’s interpretation of his past statements about Proposition 98, they say they welcome the governor’s acknowledgement that the state owes schools additional Proposition 98 allocations.

Members of the coalition, including CSBA, still disagree with the governor on several other key issues.

They argue that the governor erred in this year’s budget proposals when he proposed using some $428 million to finance Proposition 49 after-school programs to “repay” a portion of the state’s Proposition 98 debt in future years. When voters approved Proposition 49, a measure sponsored by Schwarzenegger before he was a candidate for governor, they were promised that funds for after-school programs would supplement, not supplant Proposition 98 money.

The coalition also noted that in this year’s proposals the governor called for increasing spending on non-education programs by 9.6 percent, while real increases in education spending total only 6.7 percent.

“We are not whining,” said Lynn Faulks, Legislative Relations Manager for the California Teachers Association. “We are asking for what the Constitution and statute requires. It’s a legal and moral obligation.”

John Mockler, former Secretary of Education who helped write Proposition 98, said the issue is “not as complicated as some people would make it out to be.”

He said the governor’s refusal to restore some $3.1 billion to the Proposition 98 base in fiscal 2004 and 2005 is like a boss who cuts an employee’s salary by 10 percent for two straight years and then realizes he’s made a mistake and needs to start paying the worker his (or her) entire salary again.

That’s what the governor has done with education, Mockler said. He’s restoring the Proposition 98 base but failing to acknowledge his past debts.

“When he bumps me back to my original salary, he’s still stiffed me 10 percent for two years,” Mockler said.