Back-to-School Webcast covers state budget cuts, other recent legislation and NCLB
Published: September 27, 2011
The threat of midyear state budget cuts is “on everyone’s mind,” CSBA Assistant Executive Director for Governmental Relations Rick Pratt said at the outset of the association’s annual Back-to-School Webcast last week.
K-12 schools face as much as a $1.7 billion cut in the middle of the school year if state revenue collections continue to fall short of projections. Pratt summarized the scenarios that could play out, which are outlined in the July 12 budget update posted on CSBA’s Legislative News page.
Pratt also noted a Sept. 15 letter from CSBA and other education allies “regretfully” asking Gov. Jerry Brown to either give school districts one-time emergency authority to lay off certificated personnel or to exempt schools from midyear cuts. Layoffs and emergency furloughs are “the last thing school districts want to do,” Pratt said, but school boards’ options are sharply limited by budget restrictions.
Many of the problems are caused by Assembly Bill 114, enacted at the end of June’s budget maneuvers, which required school boards to adopt their 2011-12 budgets assuming they would receive the same level of funding they did in 2010-11 and prohibited teacher layoffs.
Other budget provisions would trigger automatic cuts if state officials confirm revenue shortfalls in November and December. A $4 billion shortfall, for example, would “zero out” $248 million for home-to-school transportation, effectively ending the program at midyear.
“It really is the most inequitable formula that I’m aware of in all of state government,” Pratt said. “Some districts will be hit much harder than others,” because school districts that that provide transportation will be impacted more severely than those that do not. Districts can try to find funding elsewhere to make up for state cuts, but “The less support you get from the state, the more you have to take from the classroom.”
Pratt and his team of legislative advocates also reviewed other bills at the midpoint of the two-year legislative session. The October California School News will have a report on a number of especially prominent measures, such as proposed changes to California’s Academic Performance Index, charter schools and student fees—the topic of a recent “Education Insights @ CSBA” webinar that’s posted on CSBA’s website.
Other issues
Other Back-to-School topics included implementation of the state’s Parent Empowerment and Open Enrollment acts and the impact on the 2010 U.S. Census on school district elections and governance. No Child Left Behind, as the 46-year-old federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act is currently known, also ranked highly among webcast concerns. Speaking just a day before President Obama outlined a long-anticipated plan to waive significant components of the law for states that agree to specific conditions (see related story on page 6), the Back-to-School panelists appeared skeptical.
“In order for us to get flexibility for one set of rules, we’re going to have to follow a new set of rules,” observed CSBA Executive Director Vernon M. Billy, who moderated the panel discussion.
The 90-minute Back-to-School Webcast is now archived on the association’s website for viewing online anytime. Other online resources are also coming, such as guidance on federal stimulus funding and accountability as American Recovery and Reinvestment Act deadlines draw near and additional webinars on how to deal with midyear cuts if they appear likely.