Posted on 10/15/2005 11:30:08 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Nearly two decades after voters approved Proposition 98, the school-funding initiative has become a central target in the debate over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to gain greater control over state spending.
The landmark education funding measure, narrowly approved by voters in 1988, made a simple promise to schools and community colleges: They could depend on getting the lion's share of state spending - in good times and bad.
As California struggles with annual budget deficits, Schwarzenegger has argued that it can no longer afford the funding guarantee of Proposition 98. He said the funding mandate takes too large a slice of the budget and leaves the governor and lawmakers with too little control over spending. He also said it's one reason California faces multibillion dollar deficits even with a rebounding economy.
He has proposed a constitutional amendment, Proposition 76, to impose new spending restrictions on the state while giving the governor and Legislature the freedom to set spending priorities. It also would undo much of Proposition 98's guarantee to schools.
The state's powerful education lobby opposes the governor's plan, arguing that California still ranks near the bottom in per-pupil spending and that removing the pledge would hurt schools.
Since its adoption, Proposition 98's simple promise to provide stable school funding has become a tangled web of legal challenges, court rulings and regulations. Indeed, some experts say the doctrine's Byzantine nature may be the best argument for changing it.
"Proposition 98 is symptomatic of a whole maze of school finance laws that is immensely complicated," said Bruce Fuller, professor of education and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. "Its major downside is that only three or four people in Sacramento, who reside in interests groups, really understand it.
"It's completely disempowering for voters and even legislators that this is as complex as it is," he said.
It wasn't always that way. Until the 1970s, most money for public schools came from local property taxes. It was raised and spent by locally elected officials according to community needs and goals.
A 1971 civil rights case required the state to step in and repair the funding gap that existed between rich and poor districts. Next came the 1978 voter revolt that led to approval of the landmark Proposition 13, which rolled back property taxes and sharply limited increases.
The combination put Sacramento firmly in charge of school funding and left educators frequently feeling shortchanged.
"We've lost ground every year," said Kevin Gordon, a lobbyist for school districts. "Every year, the Legislature would find a way to shortchange schools, and at some point we finally had enough."
The result was "The Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act," or Proposition 98. Later amended by another ballot measure in 1990, Proposition 98 mandates that a minimum amount of funding be provided for grades kindergarten through 12 and community colleges.
That minimum is set by one of three tests. The method used depends on changes in the economy, student enrollment and state revenues.
Most of the time, schools receive an allocation based on the previous year's spending adjusted for inflation and enrollment growth. In hard times, when the minimum cannot be met, part of the funding to schools can be deferred, a process governed by a tangle of rules.
The law also contains a provision allowing the Legislature to completely suspend the Proposition 98 guarantee and give schools whatever amount lawmakers decide is adequate.
Despite its intent, Proposition 98's greatest failing is that it has not significantly improved classroom spending. According to the National Education Association's rankings for the 2003-04 school year, California was 30th in the nation in spending per pupil at $7,244, while the national average is $7,920.
Every time the minimum funding is exceeded, the additional money becomes part of the permanent guarantee and thus raises the minimum in future years, The result is that lawmakers and governors have become wary of funding schools any more than required, out of fear the threshold will be raised too high in the future.
"It was supposed to be a floor, but it became a ceiling," said Kerry Mazzoni, a former assemblywoman and Gov. Gray Davis' education secretary.
Lawmakers' focus on the minimum guarantee also has meant that more meaningful questions about how much money schools actually need have not been adequately addressed, said Jon Sonstelie, an economist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
"The basic problem is that it has taken our eyes off the ball," said Sonstelie, who co-wrote a 2003 study about California school financing and test scores. "Instead of looking at what schools need to be successful, we have this arbitrary figure we are concerned with."
Budget managers also complain about the way the guarantee works. Increases in the Proposition 98 guarantee are tied to increases in per-capita income and enrollment growth, meaning education gets more state money than other programs whose funding is tied to cost-of-living formulas, said Tom Campbell, the state finance director who is on leave while he helps promote Schwarzenegger's agenda.
Spending on schools will undermine funding for other programs over time, Campbell said.
In this year's budget, the governor allocated $61 billion for education, a record amount that is $3 billion more than a year ago. Education spending accounts for about 52 percent of the state's budget.
Supporters of the funding guarantee counter that Proposition 98 increases school spending only until the state is in the top 10 of average spending nationally.
"They've got no data that can show that schools are overfunded. It's sophistry," said John Mockler, a former state education secretary who helped write Proposition 98.
This is as well balanced a resource document as any in quicky net format.
I agree.
A rarity indeed, it provides a good snapshot of how we got where we are today.
It's too bad all those who drank the koolaid so willingly in the past aren't as dedicated to looking at the wires for educational or supportive information re: the initiatives.
I have a feeling most of them are more concerned with advancing GLBT and GReen issues in the guise of being moderates, it is where the big money is these days, imo.. ;-
Review wire stories?
If this forum is an example of reasonably interested and moderately informed voters then we're a long way from researching wire stories. I'd venture to guess that only a very small fraction of our participants have scanned beyond the Official Title and Summary in the voter guide they received.
In many ways this forum is similar to Sacramento. A great many folks relying on the opinions of a handful of semiretired, partisan, war horses for their information just as legislators rely on lobbyists.
No disrepect intended Norm :)
None taken, lol.
I put them out there, I don't write them.
The day I am told to stop, then it will truly be time to just MoooveOn and leave the herd behind. :-)
And put them out there we do.
If you've ever wondered why there are so many interlopers on the California Topic just take a peek at other state topics. The answer is boredom.
On the California Topic a list of the most recent 50 posting goes back two days. On many other state topics that same list of the last 50 postings includes articles posted back in August.
Interesting to note: no mention of the (non-material) education funding by lottery proceeds.
It's all in the keyword placement. ;-)
(Denny Crane: "I like nature. Don't talk to me about the environment".)
And will continue to struggle until the illegals are booted back over a secure border.
Norm - I know this is three years old but do you have any access to this original article. I’d like to use a piece of it in a paper I’m writing. The link is expired.
Any help is appreciated. I’ll try to find on my own too.
Good luck.
I tried to see if the original site had an archives option to retrieve an article for a fee, no luck.
checked the yahoo news search , no luck.
this was an ap piece so ap.org might be another place to check for the old story. the internet wayback machine didn’t have this date archived for this paper, unfortunately
It was really sweet of you to go to all that effort. Thanks.
No problem, let me know how you make out. There may be other sites that have some more info. Good luck.
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