Posted on 12/03/2003 10:00:11 AM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed spending cap faced sharp criticism Tuesday from education advocates who claimed it eventually would gut funding to public schools by $2 billion a year and strip their constitutional guarantees of funding.
Administration officials acknowledged the Proposition 98 protections would be weakened, but Education Secretary Richard Riordan insisted Schwarzenegger intends to fully fund education, even as he deals with the massive budget shortfall he inherited.
The criticism of the governor's fiscal recovery plan followed a report from the nonpartisan state Legislative Analyst's Office, which estimated that the Schwarzenegger spending cap could eventually cut $2 billion a year in guaranteed education spending by weakening the 1988 ballot measure intended to ensure growth in education funding.
To individual schools, that could mean cuts of $330 per student, or $10,000 per classroom, according to state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.
The Los Angeles Unified School District has about 746,000 students, meaning it could lose up to $246 million a year.
"This will have a drastic effect on the schools in California -- when we're already underfunded by any measure you can use," Barbara Kerr, president of the California Teachers Association, told reporters. "It would be drastic."
During the recall campaign, Schwarzenegger said he would not cut education spending, and Riordan said the governor's intent is to increase education funding next year.
"I can assure you they're not going to lose $2 billion," Riordan said in a telephone interview.
The Legislature has until Friday to approve Schwarzenegger's spending cap measure for the March ballot, as well as a plan to borrow up to $15 billion to fund the state's deficit.
During a Senate committee hearing on the cap Tuesday, some senators said they were willing to consider a spending limit but expressed concerns about the governor's specific proposal and the short time given to craft a permanent change in the state constitution. Others said they would prefer a shorter-term cap.
"There's something about caps that are forever that frightens me terribly," said Sen. Betty Karnette, D-Long Beach, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "My personal opinion is it's silly to have them forever."
Los Angeles schools Superintendent Roy Romer said weakening Proposition 98 would fundamentally harm schools, which in turn would hurt the state's ability to have an educated work force.
"It would be a very bad mistake for them to carve into Proposition 98," Romer said. "It would seriously damage this state's ability to educate its children. It would do serious damage to the ability to have a competitive economy in the next 25 years."
Romer said if there was to be a spending cap it would only last as long as it took to pay off the deficit bond that Schwarzenegger is planning for the March ballot. Ultimately, Romer said, he believes that the state needs significant reform of its tax system, including Proposition 13, the voter-approved measure that limits growth in property taxes.
The $2 billion in potential cuts is a result of the governor's cap proposal weakening an element of Proposition 98 called the "maintenance factor," whereby the Legislature can take money away from schools one year as long as it repays the money when the economy improves.
An alternate spending cap proposal by Assemblymen Keith Richman, R-Granada Hills, and Joe Canciamilla, D-Martinez, preserves the maintenance factor, according to Richman. His plan has elements similar to the governor's plan in that it ties spending growth to increases in state population and personal income, but differs in a handful of detailed elements.
Schwarzenegger's proposal grants the governor more power to make midyear budget cuts, a provision some legislators have criticized as tilting the balance of power between the two branches of state government. Richman's proposal creates a three-member commission, with the governor, legislative analyst and state controller, to work together to estimate revenues, rather than issue conflicting estimates.
Another spending cap plan has been proposed by Assemblyman John Campbell, R-Irvine, and Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Their plan ties spending growth to the cost of living and population and grants income tax rebates if the state reserve hits 10 percent of the general fund.
Uhh. Hellooo? They are not THE STATE'S children, you fascist.
At a minimum, I hope we can all agree that the children still need the fieldtrips to the State Capitol to lobby and protest education issues.
Barbara E. Kerr, President
State Council Speech
October 25, 2003Good morning and welcome to our first State Council meeting of the year. Welcome new Council membersAnd what a start it is.I've got to tell you, after these first few months, it's a comfort to look out and see all of you because we are all in this together.So what are we doing together?Since we last saw each other, not only did we finally pass a state budget, end one school year and start another, and move into a new hotel. How do you like all the available seating?We've participated in an historic election that captured the attention of the entire world, as California voters recalled one Governor and elected a movie star to replace him.What a time to be the new president of CTA. I've now embraced the truth that my first year as CTA President is going to be a challenging one. I'm going to spend a lot of time talking to politicians and "educating them" about exactly what students, teachers and our public schools need. But you know, I've still got my "teacher look" guaranteed to stop any first grader or wayward elected official dead in the their tracks at 30 feet…and I'm not afraid to use it.I'm also not afraid of a challenge. We've all been here before. We've worked through tight budgets. We lived through 16 years of Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian. We defeated two school voucher attacks. We silenced those who wanted to silence the voices of teachers and working families. Yes, not only did we survive those hard times, but, we grew stronger. I know all of you - our Chapter Presidents, the CTA staff and the collective strength of 335,000 teachers across the state - can do anything. In fact, we're going to lead the charge to make sure our students and classrooms get the resources they need to succeed.Before I talk about what lies ahead and our new Governor, I want to take a few minutes to thank you and to celebrate an important victory for CTA, our students and all Californians in this month's special election – that's the crushing defeat of Proposition 54.Despite a strong early lead, voters rejected Prop 54 by almost two to one. It was your hard work and the efforts of CTA that made the difference in beating back this deceptive initiative. Not only did we send the message that discrimination – no matter how they try to dress it up - will not be tolerated in this state, but we also let Ward Connerly know that he can be defeated.Connerly, who led the charge for Prop 209 and supported Prop 187, is already promising to come back with a similar initiative. All I can say is, BRING IT ONWARD. We'll be here waiting for you.We should also celebrate the defeat of Proposition 53. This initiative, which would have drained valuable resources away from our schools, was also rejected with 64 percent of the vote.For many of us this recall election didn't go as we hoped, but I don't regret our position. I still think the California recall process is flawed and sets a dangerous precedent for running state government.We didn't always see eye-to-eye with Gray Davis. High-stakes testing and grading schools have not improved learning in our classrooms. But Gray Davis served in public office for more than 20 years and did many things to benefit students and teachers, including signing the largest increase in teacher retirement benefits in state history.However, a majority of California voters has spoken and Arnold Schwarzenegger is the 38th Governor of the state of California.I have said that as teachers we can work with anyone who supports public education. And I believe we can do that. During the campaign, Governor Schwarzenegger said that kids should come first in the budget process. I'm going to hold him to that promise. We've already started running radio ads – I recorded them in English and David in Spanish – that explain to the new governor that public education funding has been cut by more than $4 billion over the past two years, and that California's 8 million students in pre-k, k-12 and higher education, must remain the top priority as he develops the state budget for next year.As you may have read or heard on the news, CTA is already influencing the new Governor's move into office. CTA Associate Executive Director John Hein is on the transition team. He's the only union representative that was invited to serve on the team. This is very important for all of us and recognizes the high esteem in which CTA is held within the political arena. It also means the voices of educators are at the table.And we've made our voices and our priorities for the new Governor pretty clear:One: It's all about the budget. Forget instigating new initiatives and policies during the first year, just take care of the budget and protect classroom funding.Two: CTA is a problem-solving organization – WHEN you involve us in the process. If you try to leave us on the sidelines, we'll be your biggest nightmare.In addition, we've had a few other recommendations:· Put partisan politics aside.
· Hire a finance director that understands school finance.
· Never fund public schools below the Proposition 98, minimum-funding guarantee or below prior year per-pupil funding.
· Reject proposals for a permanent spending cap, which would prevent the growth of education funding.
· Always work with teachers to define any cuts in education spending, should they have to be made.
· Support the state school bond on the March ballot.
· Forget any ideas about allowing colleges, universities and mayors to license charter schools.
· And finally, if you really want to get rid of a useless bureaucracy that does nothing for teachers or students, eliminate the office of the Secretary of Education.We have our act together and Governor Schwarzenegger has a tough job ahead of him. The state budget is still a mess. We're starting out $8 billion in the hole.I told you this was going to be a political year.· There are more than 1,000 local school board elections in November.· I hope all of you have already voted for CTA-endorsed candidates Dana Dillon and Gary Lynes as your teacher representatives to the State Teachers Retirement System Board. That ballot was mailed to your home. If you haven't voted, the deadline is December 1. Remember to tell others to vote as well.· In March, there are two important CTA-supported initiatives on the ballot:A $12.3 billion state school bond finishes the work that we started in 2002 to provide adequate school and college facilities.And the Budget Accountability Act will reform our crazy state budget process. Carolyn will give you more details tomorrow.· Also, that primary election could very well determine whether we get rid of the "ALL Children Left Behind Act" and the man who forced it on us. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act is compounding the testing mania that has taken over our state and country. It is sucking the "joy of teaching" from our classrooms and the joy of learning from our students.At this Council meeting you will decide whether to endorse Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. I believe Howard Dean is the best choice in this election. He shares our concerns about grading schools based solely on standardized test scores. He supports full funding of special education and promises to provide health insurance to all children under the age of 18. David, Dean and myself, and the CTA Board of Directors encourage you to vote YES tomorrow.
Now, I want to talk to you about the most important thing we are going to ask you to do this weekend.We've suffered through…and continue to suffer through…education reforms thought up by politicians who have never stepped foot in a classroom.But when it comes to meaningful improvements that have truly made a difference in our schools, they have always happened because of teachers like you.· Class Size Reduction in the early grades
· Proposition 98 to guarantee minimum funding for education
· The two largest statewide school bonds in California history
· Additional resources for our Schools of Greatest NeedAll of these improvements happened because we are in this together. WE took charge. After all, if not us, who?That's why this Council directed us to explore an initiative to provide substantial new funding to public education. Since last January we've been researching ways to raise additional money for public schools. It's taken a lot of time, but we've come up with a solid proposal that voters will support and that will really benefit teachers and kids.The initiative establishes a special education fund. Two-thirds of the money is for K-12 education and may only be spent for:· Reducing class sizes – strengthening the current K-3 CSR Program and reducing class sizes BEYOND third grade
· Buying up-to-date textbooks and materials
· And improving teacher compensation and training.The remaining third will be used to establish a system of voluntary, universal access to preschool for children one year prior to attending kindergarten in the public schools.In order to ensure that all dollars raised go directly to the classroom, the initiative includes strict annual audits and prohibits the use of any funds on administrative overhead. These audits must be put on the Internet and if administrators misuse the money they can lose their credential or face fines and jail time.We added preschool to this initiative for a very good reason. It's the right thing to do. As Rob Reiner reminded us last night, students who attend preschool do better in math and English throughout their school careers and are more likely to graduate from high school and attend college.Adding preschool to this initiative has also brought us an important ally. Because of this strong support for public education and universal preschool, Rob has offered to join us and lend his considerable resources to this effort. And we are going to need his help.Here's why: The new revenue to fund these programs is generated by raising the tax rate on business property from 1% to 1.55%. The tax rate on homes will not change. But since residential property taxes will remain the same, we are creating what is called a "split roll." In most other states, businesses pay a higher property tax than homeowners. In fact, California businesses pay some of the lowest property taxes in the nation. But that doesn't mean that they are going to be happy about the increase.
I'm going to be honest with you. Passing this initiative is not going to be easy. We expect strong opposition from some in the business community. But again I say – we are in this together and I ask you…if not us…who else?We must continue to be the voice of our students. With your approval, we will file this initiative in the next two weeks and start collecting the signatures we need to place the initiative on the November 2004 ballot. And we're going to need your help to collect these signatures.
To win this battle we are going to have to stand together. As I travel the state I am constantly reminded that our greatest strength is often what our enemies try to use to divide us – our diversity.We're preschool and elementary teachers. We're counselors, librarians and nurses. We're middle and high school teachers. We're Community College and CSU faculty. We're special and adult education teachers. We're social workers and education support personal. We're different races and ethnicities. We're Republicans, Democrats and Independents.But most importantly, we are all CTA, and united, we will win! We'll win for our students. We'll win for every teacher in every classroom across the state. And we'll win for the future of California.We are all in this together
Strip the LAUSD of it's ability to mine the property tax base of other counties.
Let it go broke. Force the legal residents of the district to examine why the system has failed; something they know for years but won't face or even publically discuss.
Not exactly or directly but there are two facts that substantially support your contention.
1) These same children also place a drain on other public saftey nets (health and the legal system) and cumulatively they do make a substantial difference
2) If you include the consequences of illegal immigration since 1950 that would amount to almost 35% of the K-12 public school population in California and in the cumlatative, almost 40% of the public saftey net expenditures in California. That would indeed balance the budget and provide a 12% surplus.
afterall, don't we hear all the time how poor the young teachers are....( actually, Iagree with this....but they move up so quickly and their benefits are divine)...
well, it seems that by giving the newer teachers special raises it "interferes" with the bargaining of the NEA....
LOL......
Annual Cost for Ineffectual Instruction in schools co-run by juvenile hoods/sluts-in-training and braindead PC school staff: $8-10,000
One burly U.S. Marine to force them all to sit down and shut the hell up: Priceless
More seriously, as with many things in today's society, the problem here has nothing to do with money - but a complete and utter lack of discipline at all levels and appendages of this "education" system.
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