Posted on 01/06/2005 4:36:21 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposal for education will call for a second year of shorting schools the money they're owed under Proposition 98 - the voter-approved funding guarantee for public schools, the state's top education official said Thursday.
"Prop. 98 is being gutted," said Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, who was briefed on the budget proposal on Wednesday. "We simply cannot afford to take more money out of classrooms and this budget would raid money from classrooms."
The governor's proposal, laid out in part during his state of the state address Wednesday, calls for a constitutional amendment to make it impossible to suspend Proposition 98 in future years.
But in the meantime, O'Connell said, the governor is proposing to give less money than they're due and also rely on midyear, automatic cuts under a new budget process.
Voters approved Proposition 98 in 1988, requiring that about 40 percent of the state general fund be spent on public schools and community colleges. The Legislature and governor can suspend the minimum, but if they do, the money that's deferred must be repaid.
Education officials said they're worried that Schwarzenegger's plan to reform the budget process would leave schools vulnerable to midyear cuts if lawmakers didn't meet the constitutional deadline to pass a spending plan, or if revenues were falling short of projections.
The state owes several billion dollars to education that Schwarzenegger has now proposed to pay back over 15 years.
But under the governor's plan to reform the state's budget process, any across-the-board cuts would be automatic, and schools wouldn't be repaid.
"Why would you need a governor? You could use a computer," O'Connell said.
Education advocates are bracing for more bad news when Schwarzenegger releases his 2005-06 budget proposal on Monday.
The administration is facing a deficit next year of $8.1 billion and with a promise not to raise taxes to solve the problem, Schwarzenegger has limited options.
Finance Director Tom Campbell said some of the $3.5 billion in bonds that voters approved last March will be used, leaving spending cuts to close the rest of the deficit. Details of where the other cuts will come have not been released.
Last year, when the state was running an estimated $17 billion deficit, lawmakers and the governor used more than $7 billion in borrowing and one-time solutions - much of it coming from accounting gimmicks that papered over the problems. Campbell said his budget will be void of sophistry.
A big piece of the puzzle is how to handle about $1.1 billion in unanticipated tax income last year that schools said they are due under Proposition 98. Campbell said schools cannot claim the extra funds because the Legislature suspended the funding guarantee last year.
The result on the budget deficit is more than a $2 billion swing because not only does the state save on the money as part of the 2004-05 budget but also in the upcoming 2005-06 budget.
In November, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst estimated the amount of money in dispute to be closer to $1.4 billion. But Campbell said his office has newer information.
Education lobbyists complained Thursday that they felt betrayed by the governor, who a year ago had struck a deal with them to protect schools from future cuts in return for schools forgoing $2 billion.
"That was the solemn promise he made to schools," said Kevin Gordon, executive director of the California Association of School Business Officials. "We're in a state of shock that the governor would back away from a historic agreement with schools."
Schwarzenegger's Secretary of Education Richard Riordan said schools will see an additional $2.9 billion in the next budget year. But education advocates said that money will be offset by another of Schwarzenegger's plans, which would shift state contributions for teacher pensions to local school districts.
Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Association, said there was no plan to help schools pay for that by adjusting the funding guarantee, so local districts would have to absorb that cost.
"This is just shifting the burden onto local schools," O'Connell said. "That means even less money going into classrooms."
---
Associated Press Writer Tom Chorneau contributed to this report.
**The state owes several billion dollars to education that Schwarzenegger has now proposed to pay back over 15 years.**Schwarzenegger's Secretary of Education Richard Riordan said schools will see an additional $2.9 billion in the next budget year. But education advocates said that money will be offset by another of Schwarzenegger's plans, which would shift state contributions for teacher pensions to local school districts.
Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Association, said there was no plan to help schools pay for that by adjusting the funding guarantee, so local districts would have to absorb that cost. ---
How'd you like to be Captain of the Titanic? lol
not that I'm predicting ahything, mind you. ;-P
>>How'd you like to be Captain of the Titanic? lol
Wasn't he the wimp that shot himself? Nah... not my style, LOL.
Tragedies that could have been avoided are the worst.
It isn't like folks weren't warned in California FRom the FR Crow's Nest. :-.
Yep. And that's what galls me.
Many need to see the iceberg before acknowledging the course we are on.
Where are you located? I'm trying to get a San Jose ping list.
The San Jose Unified is trying to close schools. I don't have a problem with closing schools except that San Jose Unified is trying to close my kids school. It's a National Blue Ribbon with the 6th highest (out of 31) scores in the district.
The district will not take test scores into account when they close schools.
Anyway, this has spurred a grassroots effort to split San Jose Unified. We're going to be a local grocery stores this weekend gathering signations for a petition to split the district.
If I can get a San Jose ping list, then I can kepp freepers updated.
You have freepmail. :)
During the recall election spending cuts were a major emphasis from the Schwarzenegger camp. After the election, California, under Schwarzenegger, was going to review its basic government structure to reduce waste and "blow up the boxes" to stop excessive spending. After all that promotion Schwarzenegger, instead ,borrowed money and raised spending by 6% and I suspect he'll repeat his performance.
Could it be the Schwarzenegger is a well polished, ill equipped pretender? Of course he is and he lacks conservative convictions with which he is willing to challenge on the run away legislature (eg. veto the budget, emergency budget cuts, etc). Just keep your eye on the budget that passes next summer, not the rhetoric of this slippery, Austrian citizen. A guarantee that spending will again rise above this year's budget.
lol.. aRnie, a Trojan Horse? :-o
Noooo Waaayyyy!
Politics sure is a dirty business so you can never put anything outside the realm of possibility, <');-).
The CalPERS and CalSTRS dismantlings would be one hell of a fight to watch tho. ;-)
1) Reduce state employement including elected officials
2) Reduce state employment compensation
3) Reduce state employee retirement benefits.
4) Tighten the elgibility requirement for the social saftey nets.
5) Reduce benefits for the social saftey nets
6) Reduce the number of social saftey nets.
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