Legislative Action delivers message: ‘Save our schools!’  

CSBA’s annual Legislative Action Conference drew school board members and administrators from all over the state to Sacramento May 18-19 for a first-hand, expert analysis of the state budget crisis, to learn strategies for engaging their local communities in support of public schools and—most important—to lobby their legislators on behalf of education funding.

More than 200 enthusiastic school leaders—joined by parents and schoolchildren—marched to the Capitol on the conference’s second day, waving placards and proclaiming, “Save our schools!” CSBA President Paul Chatman, Immediate Past President Kathy Kinley and President-elect Paula Campbell led the way, carrying resolutions adopted by 325 school boards around the state opposing cuts in school funding. They hoped to deliver the thick stack to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The crowd was kept waiting outside the governor’s office for over 30 minutes before being told that no one would accept the resolutions, even though collectively they reflect the official position of local boards responsible for the education of 60 percent of the state’s public school enrollment.

‘The cuts are serious’

An activist tone and energy dominated the two-day proceedings.

CSBA Executive Director Scott P. Plotkin exhorted conference participants to “convince the skeptics in the Legislature that the cuts are serious” and that both the governor and the Legislature need to consider “the entire pipeline—meaning revenues and expenditures” In resolving the state’s budget woes.

Rick Pratt, CSBA’s assistant executive director of Governmental Relations, gave a detailed briefing about the governor’s May budget revision—released just days before the conference—to prepare participants for meetings with legislators. While the governor had dropped his January proposal to suspend Proposition 98’s minimum school funding guarantee, Pratt said, the governor’s revised plan still fails to fully fund the workload that schools are performing now, Pratt said.

“Pratt and the Governmental Relations staff fully prepared conference participants for appointments with their legislative representatives. Their points included:

• The governor’s budget proposal would still result in massive layoffs and cuts in programs and services crucial to meeting California’s high academic standards.
• The impacts would be long-term, lasting well beyond 2008-2009.
• Polls show that voters consistently oppose cuts to schools.
• The governor’s own solutions clearly show that the state budget cannot be balanced on cuts alone.

‘Devastating impact on public education’

Participants were also briefed on Schwarzenegger’s related proposals: the Budget Stabilization Act and leasing of the state lottery. The first would eliminate any hope of ever securing adequate funding to achieve California’s high academic expectations, and it would give future governors unprecedented power to make midyear cuts; the second would jeopardize lottery funding that schools currently receive, and it would be at best a short-term fix that wouldn’t address the imbalance between the services Californians want and the revenues that fund them.

Independent perspectives were offered by two Sacramento-based speakers: Daniel Weintraub, a Sacramento Bee columnist and the author of “Party of One: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of the Independent Voter,” and Jean Ross, executive director of the nonprofit, nonpartisan California Budget Project.

“It really is pervasive, and it really is devastating,” Ross said of the shortfalls in needed funding for essential services, “especially when it comes to the impact on public education.”

Ross pointed out that schools are already expected to do so much and to play so many critical roles in the lives of their students. Cutting support services—such as Medi-Cal coverage for children and their families, CalWORKS programs for unemployed parents and other health and human services programs—would only increase the intense pressure schools are already facing.

“The cuts would touch every aspect of children’s lives,” Ross said, and would have major impacts on their ability to learn.

Related link:

To find essential resources for defending local schools’ interests in the ongoing state budget debate—including updated talking points on the governor’s May budget revision—by clicking on the “Schools: An investment we can’t afford to cut” icon at www.csba.org.