Schools: An investment we can’t afford to cut 

As local opposition grows to the drastic spending cuts Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed in the 2008-09 state budget, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill’s detailed scrutiny of the governor’s proposal provides a fresh starting point for legislative deliberations.

“The California School Boards Association agrees with the Legislative Analyst’s Office that a state budget proposal that looks at cuts alone is not a real solution. We cannot talk about spending cuts without putting all the cards on the table, including increasing and stabilizing revenues,” CSBA President Paul H. Chatman said after Hill released her “Analysis of the 2008-09 Budget Bill” Feb. 20.

“School board members across the state stand united against education funding cuts, including the suspension of Proposition 98. The increasing budget deficit illustrates California’s underlying problem of inadequate and unstable revenue sources,” Chatman added.

Local boards are backing Chatman’s words with action, passing resolutions opposing Schwarzenegger’s budget plan and urging the governor and Legislature to consider all options for resolving the budget crisis. Nearly 100 have already adopted resolutions modeled on a sample CSBA has posted in the “Spotlight” section of its Web site (www.csba.org), and many more continue to be faxed in to CSBA’s West Sacramento headquarters.

Governance teams at school districts and county offices of education are also mounting grassroots campaigns to educate their communities about the threat the state budget crisis poses to Proposition 98’s funding guarantee for public schools. CSBA Region 18 Director Barbara Tooker, a board member in the Temecula Valley Unified School District, was among the speakers at a recent Riverside County Office of Education presentation.

“We know people went to the polls and said, ‘We want to have a floor’” when voters approved Proposition 98 in 1988, Tooker said. “This is a floor, not a ceiling, for funding public education.”

LAO analysis
In an analysis of Legislative Analyst Hill’s budget critique, CSBA Assistant Executive Director Rick Pratt wrote, “Hill’s analysis rejects the notion that the budget shortfall should be resolved through cuts alone and instead provides a list of tax exemptions, credits and loopholes that can be reduced or eliminated to generate $2.7 billion in additional revenues. The LAO also opposes the governor’s proposed across-the-board cut of 10 percent, since it would result in programs being operated in a less than optimal manner and treats all programs the same without regard to the state’s priorities.”

While the legislative analyst rejects across-the-board spending cuts—and recommends a billion dollars more than the governor’s $56.7 billion for K-14 education in 2008-09—she also calls for Proposition 98 to be suspended in the new budget year.

“The funding level recommended by the LAO would still require suspension of Proposition 98, just as the governor’s budget proposal would. It would also result in a permanent loss of some $400 million in one-time settle-up funds that are currently used for prior year mandate reimbursement claims,” Pratt wrote.

“The LAO recommends that the additional $1 billion in year-to-year revenues be used to restore ongoing funding for programs that were funded with one-time dollars this year and for enrollment increases in community colleges and child care programs. Accordingly, it would not result in an increase in allocations to school districts and county offices of education. Instead, funding would remain flat.”

“It is important to note,” Pratt wrote in another section of his analysis, “that Hill’s recommended level of funding for K-12 is dependent on the Legislature and governor adopting the LAO proposal for $2.7 billion increase in revenues. If those revenue increases aren’t adopted, then the level of funding the LAO proposes for schools would be at risk.”

Related link:
Find Pratt’s analysis and many more budget resources—including the sample resolution opposing the governor’s budget proposal—by clicking on the “Schools: An investment we can’t afford to cut” icon @ www.csba.org