California Governor's Race

 I need to lay it all out on the table, Duane.

A new poll shows us tied with MAGA-backed Republican Steve Hilton, and right behind him is our other Republican opponent, Chad Bianco, waiting to take the second spot and advance to the general election.

Xavier Becerra 

Here’s the cold and hard truth: if we lose even an ounce of momentum now, less than a month from the primary, then both of my Republican opponents are not only going to lock me out of the general election, but lock ALL Democrats out of the Governor’s office. 

They will virtually guarantee that California is governed by a Republican who is ready to slash benefits working families need and rubber-stamp Donald Trump’s agenda.

We cannot let them succeed.

A plan for voting to follow. 

Join the March

 

Texas Governor Seeks to Ban Immigrant Children from School Plyler V Doe

 Texas Governor Ready to Challenge Schooling of Migrant Children

Gov. Greg Abbott may target a 1982 Supreme Court ruling that requires schools to educate undocumented children. Some conservatives see an opening for a fresh look at old precedent.

 

 

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has taken a hard stance on immigration, using the issue to beat back challengers in the Republican primary.Credit...Brandon Bell/Getty Images

 

By J. David Goodman

May 5, 2022

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HOUSTON — With the Supreme Court signaling a willingness to reverse decades-old precedents like the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said on Thursday that he would seek to overturn a 1982 court decision that obligated public schools to educate all children, including undocumented immigrants.

Mr. Abbott’s comments opened a new front in his campaign to use his powers as governor to harden Texas against unauthorized migration. And they demonstrated just how expansively some conservatives are thinking when it comes to the kinds of changes to American life that the court’s emboldened conservative majority may be willing to allow.

The latest proposal for closing public schools to undocumented children significantly widens the range of precedents up for debate. After a draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade leaked this week, focus had been primarily on other rights that could be legally linked to the 1973 decision, such as access to contraception and same-sex marriage.

Little has changed in the legal landscape surrounding the education of undocumented children since 1982, when the court issued a 5-to-4 decision to strike down a Texas law allowing schools to refuse admission to unauthorized migrant children, legal experts said. Several attempts over the years to chip away at the decision in the case known as Plyler v. Doe have been unsuccessful, including an effort by Alabama more than a decade ago and in California in the 1990s.

Republican Candidate for CA Governor Makes Sanctuary Legislation His Key

John Cox is a businessman and a Republican with a shot, after the June primary, of being one of the two candidates on the November ballot for governor. California Today has been doing occasional question-and-answer sessions with candidates for office.

This interview, with Mr. Cox, was edited and condensed for clarity.

Q: How does a Republican win an election in a state like this?

A: The biggest issue is the sanctuary state. The politicians seem to be favoring criminals over law-abiding citizens. The politicians are ignoring the rule of law in favor of political expediency. The other big issue is the tax burden — the gas tax in particular. They enacted this tax increase using a lot of political games to get it accomplished.

Q: Does the Republican Party need to expand its appeal to become more competitive here?

A: I’m a Jack Kemp Republican. I think that’s the kind of Republican we all have to be. Jack would always speak positively about things. I want people to get away from harsh language.

Having said that, it is absolutely objectionable for people like Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown to say they are not going to adhere to the federal law on immigration. Jerry Brown should not be acting like George Wallace in front of the schoolhouse in Alabama. From California Online. of the NYT.

Schools to receive funding in 2017/2018

May Revise.  Gov.ca.gov: 

Proposal:  LCFF continues to be funded

SACRAMENTO - As the state's economic recovery stretches into an eighth year - two years short of the longest on record - and with increasing uncertainty from Washington, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today released a revised state budget that continues to plan for tougher times ahead, while maintaining spending on core programs such as education and child care. 

"Over the past four years, we have increased spending by billions of dollars for education, health care, child care and other anti-poverty programs. In the coming year, I don't think even more spending will be possible," said Governor Brown. "We have ongoing pressures from Washington and an economic recovery that won't last forever."

Under the May Revision, the $5.8 billion revenue shortfall forecast in January is now a $3.3 billion shortfall - based primarily on higher capital gains. Even so, the budget is considerably more constrained than in any year since 2012.

Some cuts from the January Budget remain, but the modestly improved fiscal outlook allows the May Revision to advance several key priorities, including:

Increasing Funding for Schools
The May Revision includes $1.4 billion in 2017-18 to continue implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula to 97 percent complete. The formula focuses most new funding to districts with low-income students, English learners and students in foster care. The increased funding also eliminates the deferral of funding that was included in the January Budget. For K-12 schools, funding levels will increase by about $4,058 per student in 2017-18 over 2011-12 levels.

For higher education, the May Revision continues to provide each university system and the community colleges with annual General Fund growth. In response to the State Auditor's review of the University of California (UC) Office of the President, the May Revision sequesters $50 million in UC funding until such time that the Auditor's recommendations and other UC commitments are implemented.

Keeping Child Care Funding On Track
The Governor's January budget proposal called for a one-year delay in providing rate increases to child care providers that were reflected in the 2016 Budget Act. The May Revision proposes to restore this funding and maintain the $500 million child care package from the 2016 Budget.

Another Republican Candidate Attacks Public Education and Teachers

Jeff Bryant

Some Very Serious People have decided Governor John Kasich of Ohio is the latest personality to emerge from the field of presidential candidates in the Republican Party as a genuine bona fide consideration.

According to a round up of political pundits and campaign strategists compiled by Politico, Kasich – along with Hewlett-Packard ex-CEO Carly Fiorina – put in a superior performance in the recent televised Republican presidential debate on Fox News. Folks at The Hill have christened Kasich a “sleeper candidate” who is “getting buzz because his message resonates more with the beltway crowd.” And analysts at Real Clear Politics, as of this writing, have Kasich edging ever so close to Jeb Bush who trails only Donald Trump in polling for the New Hampshire Republican primary.

Yet in all this horse-race analysis there is very little scrutiny of what Kasich’s track record actually is in the state he governed for the past four years – a consideration that should matter a lot in order to be recognized as a candidate in the first rank.

On the economic policy front, Kasich has very little to brag about. According to a recent op ed by Dale Butland of Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank in that state, Kasich makes a case for his economic prowess based on an increase in jobs in his state since the Great Recession. But compared to other states, Ohio has “led the nation in lost jobs” and “is still about 140,000 jobs short of where we were in 2007 before the downturn began.” Job creation in the Buckeye state has “lagged the national average for 20 straight months” and kept its rank mired at 41st.

22 years of Republican Governors- had enough?

A budget vote, and a veto?

Assembly Passes Majority Vote Budget Bills

By Marty D. Omoto
Director/Organizer
California Disability Community Action Network

The Assembly passed a package of 11 bills, including two bills that would increase revenues – one by over $2 billion, and another bill containing over $12 billion in spending cuts, by simple majority votes in a procedural move that avoided the need for any Republican votes. The package of bills head to the State Senate for action on Monday morning (June 29), where Senate Democrats will approve the bills over the objections of Senate Republicans.

But the procedure used by Assembly Democrats – similar to the one used by Democrats in December, left Assembly Republicans angry, dissolving some of the debate Sunday evening on the tax increases into a bitter and angry exchange.

The bills will head to what many expect will be certain vetoes by the Governor, who previously last week said he would do so because he was strongly opposed to new tax increases. If the Governor vetoes the bills, the Legislative Democrats will have to essentially start over and somehow find an agreement with the Governor and possibly Legislative Republicans before the State’s financial situation grows worse.

Earlier Sunday evening Assembly Democrats passed by a vote of 44 to 30, a bill, AB 39x3 (the “x3” stands for “third extraordinary session”) that called for $2 billion in revenues, in a procedure that by-passed the need for any Republican votes – a move that Republicans say, especially in raising taxes, is “unconstitutional”. Right after that vote, the Assembly approved by a vote of 46 to 27, SB 16x3 that includes over $12 billion spending cuts over objections of Assembly Republicans

State Senate Democrats will likely approve those two measures – and the other 9 bills by Monday morning.
From: California Progress Report.

Public Opinions of Legislators

California April 2009.

Job Approval Ratings for California State Legislature
PPIC Statewide Survey, April 2009

Approve Disapprove Don’t Know
All Adults 23% 63% 14%
Registered Voters 21 68 11
Likely Voters 16 74 10

April 2008.
CONFIDENCE IN GOVERNOR, LEGISLATURE PLUMMETS
At a time when the governor and the legislature need to reach an agreement to resolve the state budget
crisis, Californians’ confidence in the state’s leaders has declined, particularly in the area of K-12
education. Four in 10 Californians (41%) approve of Schwarzenegger’s overall job performance, down 3
points since last month (44% approval) and a steep 16 points since December (57% approval). Just 25
percent approve of his handling of K-12 education, down 11 points since last April and the lowest point
since we began asking this question in January 2005, when the governor’s approval rating in this area
stood at 34%.
The legislature fares worse in Californians’ estimation. Just one in four Californians (26%) approve of the
way lawmakers are doing their jobs overall, down 4 points since last month (30% approval) and 15 points
since December (41% approval). Only 21 percent of Californians approve of the way the legislature is
handling public schools, down 8 points from last April (29%).

Governor's Education Proposals: F

Governor’s Proposed Budget is “Disaster” for Schools

By Marty Hittelman
President
California Federation of Teachers

The budget proposed by the governor is a disaster for the students of California. It fails to provide adequate school funding. It also undermines vital health and human services that students need to achieve their best. The budget proposal cuts education funding by more than $7 billion. It will harm student achievement at all levels, from preschool to higher education. This budget will erase progress made in the past decade towards our current high standards of achievement.

Long-term solutions to our state's revenue shortfall are missing, due to Republicans’ allegiance to a blind and inflexible antitax philosophy. Instead of addressing the short and long term needs of California, this budget proposal ignores the need for stable school funding. Our polling has shown that Californians are willing to support our schools, including a willingness to pay additional taxes for that purpose.

The governor has proposed that schools shorten the school year to reduce costs. This clearly will set students back. There are better alternatives.

Here are some of the options available for providing additional revenues to support public education:

• Federal economic stimulus funds for schools should be fully directed to schools

• Restore income tax rates to 10% for Californians earning over $250,000 and 11% for over $500,000 ($7 billion in non-recessionary years)

• Institute an oil severance tax of 9.9% as is present in all other oil-producing states ($1.7 billion with oil at $100 per barrell)

Our public schools have already experienced more than $500 million in unexpected budget cuts this year—forcing many schools to lay off teachers and education support professionals as well as eliminating art, music, and vocational education programs that help students learn and succeed.

These proposed cuts will require laying off a broad range of educational employees and drive qualified teachers to other states where education is adequately funded. Class sizes will increase, individual instruction will decrease, learning conditions will be compromised and hundreds of thousands of students will be left without nurses, counselors or instructional aides.

These cuts come at a time when California already ranks 47th in per-pupil spending, and dead last in the number of counselors, librarians and school nurses per student. Schools are being asked to absorb more than our fair share of cuts – more than any other sector of government. That’s putting education last, not first.

For a clear idea of the scale of the governor’s proposed more than $7 billion cuts to education, here are a few of the possible ways these cuts could be accomplished:

• 50% increase in class sizes

• Laying off 160,000 classroom teachers

• Cutting more than $31,500 from every classroom

The vote this week by the Los Angeles Unified School District to lay off up to 2,300 classroom teachers is just the beginning of the deluge of teacher layoffs that will occur under the governor’s proposed budget.

The simple fact is California’s schools need additional revenues to provide our students with the education they deserve.

Californians need an approach that would permanently raise the revenue necessary to ensure California's future success.

Marty Hittelman, a community college math professor from Los Angeles, is the President of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) which is a member of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The CFT represents faculty and other school employees in public and private schools and colleges, from early childhood through higher education in California.

Governor proposes cutting school funds

Governor: Slash school aid
He'll reportedly propose suspension of Prop. 98
By Judy Lin - jlin@sacbee.com
Published 12:16 am PST Thursday, January 10, 2008
In a politically charged move to help whittle down the state's $14 billion deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today will propose billions in cuts to public education and a suspension of schools' constitutional funding guarantee under Proposition 98.
Schwarzenegger will ask the Democratic-led Legislature to waive Proposition 98's minimum funding requirement for K-14 education programs when he releases his state spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1 and declares a fiscal emergency, according to three sources who have seen the proposal. The sources demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to speak.
The suspension, which requires a two-thirds vote of lawmakers, has been done only once before – during the fiscal crisis of 2004 – and ultimately left Schwarzenegger reeling from accusations that he broke a promise to restore education funding in subsequent years.
The Governor's Office declined to comment on a proposal certain to draw fierce opposition from teachers unions and other education advocacy groups.
"We would enlist all of labor to resist the cuts and to resist the suspension of Prop. 98," said Marty Hittelman, president of the California Federation of Teachers, which represents over 120,000 education employees. "We would consider it an assault on working families."
Hittelman said 90 percent of education funding is dedicated to salaries, much of which is protected by contracts. A 10 percent cut would leave no money for basic school operational needs such as water and electricity, he said.
"He's going to have a fight on his hands," said Kevin Gordon, a school funding expert and consultant. "Proposition 98 isn't some mechanism to try to get decent funding for public schools; it is a minimum level."
Proposition 98, passed in 1988, provides a minimum guarantee for K-12 school districts, community colleges and instructional activities at state agencies. Under a complex calculation established by the initiative, the state dedicates the lion's share of its general fund spending plan to supplement property taxes for education programs. This year, $41 billion of the state's $100 billion general fund budget goes to schools.
Schools also get smaller amounts of money from the federal budget and state lottery proceeds, neither of which is counted in the Proposition 98 calculation.
It's unclear how much the governor will seek in savings from education, although Schwarzenegger has indicated that he will seek an average of 10 percent cuts from all agencies.
For education, that could range from $4 billion to $6 billion, depending on the source of funding, Gordon said.
While labor leaders vowed to call on Democrats to oppose education reductions, many Republicans in the Legislature would responded favorably to the governor's proposal.
In recent weeks, the governor has met privately with school unions, and associations of administrators and school boards – known around the Capitol as the Education Coalition. Participants said Schwarzenegger has told them education cuts will have to be a part of closing the deficit.
The coalition and Schwarzenegger have a politically turbulent history:
When he first arrived in office, Schwarzenegger struck a deal with education leaders for a $2 billion reduction in school financing to deal with a fiscal crisis in the 2004-05 budget.
Coalition leaders said the governor made a verbal pledge to repay the money as state revenues improved, and ultimately they accused him of reneging on the deal.
The California Teachers Association and other groups spent more than $100 million to defeat Schwarzenegger's 2005 ballot measures, including one to change Proposition 98's minimum funding requirements.
CTA President David Sanchez said it was too early to speculate how teachers would respond to a suspension of Proposition 98.
"Our students are not the ones that created this budget crisis," Sanchez said. "Their education shouldn't be ransomed to solve it. If there has to be any kind of budget cut, it should be kept as far away from the classroom as possible."
Education advocates said the proposal, if passed, would create a bad precedent for school funding in the future. The last thing education advocates want is for the Legislature and governor to develop a habit of suspending Proposition 98, Gordon said.
Advocates grew more anxious after Schwarzenegger's State of the State address. In his speech, the governor did not say what they wanted to hear.
"No self-respecting politician would miss the opportunity to say I'm not raising taxes and preserving Prop. 98," Gordon said.

Gov. Fails on Schools

Voters losing hope on school issues, poll finds
Blame for problems placed at governor's feet, same survey concludes
By Steve Geissinger, MEDIANEWS SACRAMENTO BUREAU
Inside Bay Area
Article Last Updated:04/26/2007 08:11:48 AM PDT
SACRAMENTO — In surprising poll findings Wednesday, voters appear to have all but given up on fixing California's troubled education system and are blaming Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The governor, dealing this year with issues such as health care and prison overcrowding, postponed tackling school woes — like equalizing fund allocations between poor and rich areas. He instead declared next year his "Year of Education Reform."
In reaction, Schwarzenegger's overall job approval rating of 62 percent plummeted to 34 percent when focused on his handling of
education, according to the poll by the San Francisco-based Public Policy Institute of California.
Legislators fare little better.
While 38 percent approve of lawmakers' overall job performance, only 29 percent are satisfied with their handling of education, the poll found.
"While education remains a critical issue for most Californians, they clearly see a lack of progress and appear to be questioning the return on all the investment and activity of recent years," said Mark Baldassare of PPIC in a statement.
In the past decade, voters have faced education-related measures on just about every ballot and have passed nearly $45 billion in school bonds.
Once Schwarzenegger's "Year of Education Reform" does arrive, Baldassare said, "The question is — does the public have the will and the faith in state leaders to tackle this complex and controversial issue?"
Most Californians (80 percent) still believe the quality of K-12 education in the state is something of a problem, the poll found. Out of those, 52 percent believe schools are in big trouble.
But even so, they lack confidence in officials, their ability to allocate resources properly and are reluctant to hike education spending without greater fiscal responsibility.
Slightly less than half (48 percent) of those responding to the survey said the state needs to spend more wisely and increase the amount it spends on schools, while 37 percent expressed the belief that the state can improve education quality by just making better use of existing funds.
Respondents were divided over raising state taxes to benefit schools. The only universally popular concept for raising more funds is not new — boosting the state's income tax rate on the wealthiest Californians.
Support for raising more money for schools increases if voters were assured more funding would go to poor areas, teachers were given greater incentives to work there, and more counselors and social workers were hired to help boost graduation rates in those regions.
Findings were based on a telephone survey of 2,500, conducted between April 3-17. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Governor : You need a Secretary of Education

"The Office of the Secretary of Education is the primary education advisor to the Governor and is committed to creating, promoting and supporting the Governor’s policies that ensure access to quality education for all Californians."
Gov. Schwarzenegger has yet to appoint a new Secretary of Education. Scott Himelstein is Acting Secretary.
This failure to appoint says a great deal about the Governor's lack of attention to ensuring access to quality education for all Californians.

Duane Campbell

Its the budget-Stupid! Part 2

It’s the budget: Stupid!

The opening sentence of the just published report on California education says, “California’s students are far behind those in other states on many measures of achievement. On the 2005 National Assessment of Education Progress, for example, California ranked 7th lowest in eighth grade math in comparison to the 49 other states and the District of Columbia. The story is at least as bad in other subjects. California performed 3rd lowest in reading, ahead of only Hawaii and the District of Columbia, and 2nd lowest in science, ahead of only Mississippi.” www.sacbee.com/links

Why is that?
The legislature and governors have meddled and muddled in education, but they have not done their job. Their job is to decide upon a reasonable, fair tax system and to raise the money needed for schools. They have failed at this task for over 20 years while California’s public schools have been forced into a steep decline in quality.
Rather than facing the inadequate funding issue , they have mandated school reforms stressing standardized testing as the driving force behind schooling at the k-12 level, particularly in low income districts. The testing mania has not improved schools, improved school funding, nor improved teaching. The current low level testing tells us what we already know, students in low income schools do poorly. (Rothstein, 2004)
There is always some new advocate who has a solution to failing schools; phonics, exit exams, etc. rather than to face the fundamental political issue of grossly inadequate funding. The Governor, with a two month advance view of the study, is already trying shift the discussion
In fairness, the failure is not the total legislature. The Democratic majority has usually been willing to spend more on schools, but they can not pass a budget without the votes of the Republican minority. Thus, a small group of Republican legislators have prevented adequate school funding. And the Governor’s budget continues that pattern.
The politicians – not the teachers- deserve an F for failure.

Duane Campbell