Schwarzenneger and school budgets- 2

BURLINGAME – David A. Sanchez, president of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association, issued this statement about the governor’s revised state budget spending proposals released today:

“The governor’s revised budget cuts billions more from our public schools. While the governor this year has vowed to protect public education funding, he is actually proposing to cut another $3 billion from schools. And today, as the governor touted that his main goal is to stimulate California’s economy and to protect jobs, thousands of educators will find out they are being laid off. The governor’s promises are proving to be just contradictions that are misleading and unproductive.

“More than 26,000 California teachers received preliminary pink slips this spring and thousands got the final word today that they will not be coming back to their classrooms in the fall. Last year, 16,000 teachers lost their jobs. Our teachers and students are very clear about what’s happening because our school system is at the breaking point and the cuts are devastating our communities.

“California’s public schools and colleges were cut more than $17 billion over the last two years. Today, class sizes are larger, and neighborhood schools have closed their libraries and eliminated arts, music, sports and summer school programs. Our students deserve better.

Schwarzenneger and the budget

Schwarzenegger’s budget: Ever deeper into Mississippification By Peter Schrag

If you watched Gov. Arnold d Schwarzenegger’s presentation of his budget proposal last Friday, you’d have learned (again) that the state’s chronic fiscal problems are everybody’s fault but his. 
It’s the legislature’s fault for not making the cuts he asked for in January (even though Schwarzenegger vetoed some of the cuts it did make).

It’s the fault of the federal judges who ruled that some of the cuts enacted last year violated federal law and struck them down.

It’s the fault of an income tax structure too dependent on high income taxpayers and the stock dividends they get in good times and don’t get in lean years.

It’s the unions and the other “special interests” who dominate Sacramento.

It’s the recession. He even made allusions to Greece and Spain.

Nowhere was there any mention of the governor’s first major act on his first day in office in 2003, when he slashed the vehicle license fee, a cut that cost the state about $6 billion a year until the fee was raised a little last year. Nowhere was there mention of the governor’s child care initiative, passed in 2002, that cost the state about $500 million a year, or his strong endorsement of the stem-cell research bonds that cost another $200 to $300 million, much less the borrowing in his prior budget “solutions” that’s added a few billion more to the state’s indebtedness.

California school budget cuts- Megan Fox

Featured on Funny or Die, a viral comedy video site, the Woodland Avenue Elementary PTA’s “Hot for Teachers” video features Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox facing the devastation of budget cuts at the school. Meant as a funny exaggeration, the video lays the blame of the $17 billion in budget cuts in the hands of the governor and asks the question, “When is enough, enough?”

Visit the Say No To Cuts website to:

·        Sign a petition to Gov. Schwarzenegger

·        Contact State Assembly and State Senate Officials

·        Join the California PTA’s “9 Million Reasons to Speak Up” Campaign

California education budget is a shell game: Schrag

Yes, it is. He has it right.

Nonetheless, there was a lot of gubernatorial crowing when the governor signed the last of the legislation which, in the words of a Schwarzenegger press handout in January made “California highly competitive for $700 million in federal education funds.”  

But California’s real problem isn’t in charter caps or in barriers to the use of student test scores in evaluating teachers, stupid as those barriers seem. . Even where test scores can legally be used, there’s no certainty that they can be used wisely. Nor are charters any magic bullet: Some are excellent; many are no better than comparable public schools in their student outcomes, and often worse; some are rip-offs.

What’s currently tripping up California in Washington is that the state has been caught in a shell game. While the state acknowledges that the state is spending less per student this year than last (and will probably be spending still less next year), the governor claims that it’s spending an equal portion of its general fund on schools as in the past and thus is not failing in maintenance of effort.

But he can do that only through an accounting gimmick in his proposed budget. In a letter to state officials the federal Department of Education cites letters from California education and civil rights groups pointing out how the proposed budget “seeks to eliminate a State sales tax on gasoline and substitute…an excise tax on gasoline in order to remove revenues from the state’s general fund and effectively render the Proposition 98 [minimum school funding] guarantee inapplicable to those funds.”

Another attack on teachers: Race to the Top

Stop Schwarzenegger’s Attack on Educators

Tell the California Senate “Vote NO on Romero’s SB X5 1”

Join CFT, CTA, CSEA and the California Labor Federation

Call Darrell Steinberg today!

916- 651-1529Senate Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg, Senator Gloria Romero have teamed up with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to push education reforms that would create chaos in local school districts, undermine local control, interfere with collective bargaining and drain money from local classrooms at a time when the state has already cut school funding by more than $17 billion

Schwarzenegger’s plan would:

Create chaos in local school districts and drain resources from local classrooms.

·         Disguised as parental choice, the Romero bill requires open enrollment between school districts without providing resources for busing or transportation. Without adequate resources only wealthy parents would be able to afford to provide transportation and change schools.

·         The Romero bill increases charter schools without any regulations to hold them accountable.

·         This Bill is an unfunded state mandate at a time when the legislature has cut more than $17 billion from public education.

·         This plan would create chaos in local school districts as districts would not be able to adequately plan for the upcoming year.

Undermine local control and state collective bargaining laws.

·         The Romero bill allows the State Board of Education to grant a blanket waiver of the Education Code for any school districts applying for specified Federal grant dollars.

·         This means a local school district could be exempt from state collective bargaining laws, all fiscal reporting requirements, criminal background checks for staff, open meeting laws, and the high school exit exam.

·         Educators and parents should be partners in any education reform. It is the only way to improve student learning. Romero’s bill doesn’t even allow hard working educators to be part of the process as President Obama has called for.

Water and Water Bonds

The Sacramento Bee Forum has two major pieces on the Schwarzenegger proposed Water Bonds.
Several of the key Republicans supporting this approach voted to block passing of the budget this year.
They used their minority votes to block the passage until they got the budget they wanted. - No new taxes_.  This led to $6.1 B cut in public school funds and devastating cuts in higher education.
In return, I will vote against their water bonds.
The state can not afford to borrow money by selling bonds.  Bonds become due. Existing bonds will soon use 10% of the state's revenue. ( More than high education).  More bonds lead directing to more cuts in health, education, and public safety.

Budget: Schwarzenegger

California's July Budget Blues: ...For A Man May Smile and Smile and Still Be A Villain

By Sheila Kuehl
California Integrated Waste Management Boardmember
It's difficult to simply lay out the bare facts of this latest budget revision, because, unlike other budget negotiations, and other budget solutions, this one takes our state to what the Los Angeles Times calls a "shabbier, less generous and...more dangerous" place. This is a very, very different state than most of us have lived in, because the Governor has finally managed to enact most of right-wing strategist Grover Norquist's playbook right here in California: shrink government down to where you can "drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub," characterize the poor as lazy and deserving of sanctions and cuts, shred the safety net, characterize government workers as greedy and overpaid and slash their salaries, close state parks, undermine public schools and pretend you had no choice but to do it all.
The Budget That Was Signed
The greatest blows were heaped on the poor, the elderly and children in schools. The Governor refused a 9.9% tax on oil companies that extract oil in California (Gov. Palin signed a 25% extraction tax in Alaska), had already slashed the vehicle license fee, and adamantly refused to consider any taxes or fees. What suffered as a result: higher education, parks, battered women, foster children, and every poor person in this state (more and more in this economic downturn), the sick, both uninsured and underinsured, and impoverished seniors. Last month, for the first time, in our state of 38 million, more than 7 million people qualified for MediCal.
The Facts
The budget package projects $89.5 billion in revenues and transfers to the General Fund, and authorizes total General Fund spending of $84.6 billion, with an estimated reserve of $500 million.
Reduces Proposition 98 appropriations for K-12 education by another $5.3 billion and community colleges by an additional $800 million.
Reduces by $2 billion--to the minimum level required for federal stimulus funding--payments to UC and CSU.
Rejects the Governor's proposal to eliminate the CalGrant program.
Rejects the Governor's proposal to eliminate the Healthy Families Program, but further reduces support by $179 million, mostly gutting it.
Reduces Proposition 36 substance abuse programs by $90 million.
Shifts (steals) $1.7 billion of local redevelopment funds.
Reduces court funding by 10 percent for $169 million of savings. Assumes one-day-per-month court closures.
Reduces CalWORKS (California's welfare-to-work program) by 510 million.
Reduces In Home Support Services by $264 million by eliminating some services for all but the most severely disabled, making the least disabled ineligible for all services, and implementing several antifraud activities, such as requiring providers and recipients (the disabled) to be fingerprinted. (As the LA Times wrote in their August 1st editorial: we can't have those seniors flitting from county to county trying to get more sponge baths).
Reduces funding to counties for Child Welfare Services by $80 million.
Rejects the Governor's proposals to eliminate CalWORKS.
Does not include either the Governor's proposal to close most state parks or the legislative proposal for a vehicle fee to support the state parks system. Reduces General Fund support for state park operations by $8 million, requiring the closure of about 50 parks. 
Steals $62 million in "loans" from resources-related special funds (like the tire fees used to clean up tire piles and recycle tires, which brings in millions of dollars a year. Look for the return of tire fires in the state).
Next: The Line-Item Vetoes: Get What You Asked For (Except for Offshore Oil Drilling) and shoot the hostages anyway.
Sheila James Kuehl was appointed to the California Integrated Waste Management Board on December 1, 2008, after having served eight years in the State Senate and six years in the State Assembly. Senator Kuehl served as chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee from 2000-2006. Her website is www.sheilakuehl.org
Posted on August 03, 2009
Comments

Lies and the Governor

In his press statement on the budget agreement, the Governor said that public education was fully funded.

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the leaders of the Legislature reached agreement Monday evening on a pain-filled, recession-driven, $25 billion state budget revision that cuts some $9 billion from public schools, colleges and universities, takes $4 billion from cities and counties, continues three furlough days per month for most state employees and cuts $1.4 billion from the state's prison system.

Still more cutting loomed. "Frankly, we may not be done (cutting) yet," Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg said after the agreement was reached. He said the state has confronted a $60 billion cumulative shortfall since Jan. 1."

The actual cut to K-12 education was 5.7 Billion. That is not fully funded.

Budget deal

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California's legislative leaders apparently have agreed Monday on a plan to close the state's $26 billion budget shortfall.

The governor and legislators announced the compromise after more hours of closed-door talks on Monday.
Most analysts expect that California will face multibillion dollar deficits into the foreseeable future as the economy struggles to recover from the current crisis and tax revenue lags far behind.
Republicans incessantly demanded more school budget cuts and more cuts of social services.
Cuts made in higher education will hurt the economy for decades.

Suspending Prop. 98 Would Permanently Rob Billions From Public School Students

By Marty Hittelman
President
California Federation of Teachers

Repealing corporate tax breaks makes more sense

To address the ongoing state budget deficit, the governor and legislative Republicans have proposed suspending Proposition 98, the state’s minimum school funding law, so they can cut several billion additional dollars from school funding. The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) strongly opposes suspending Prop. 98.

The governor and Republicans refuse to provide more state revenues to cover the necessary education programs. Meanwhile, they’ve been busy handing out huge tax breaks to corporations. So, while cutting public school students’ basic education, the governor and his Republican allies have punched huge new loopholes in the state’s budget benefiting a handful of the largest corporations.

California schools have been cut $11 billion in the past year. Suspending Prop. 98 would further drain basic resources from schools that have already been forced to increase class sizes, cut programs critical to student learning, cancel bus routes and eliminate summer school programs, as well as librarians, counselors and arts and music classes.

Educating our kids is investing in our future. Closing corporate tax loopholes that benefit only a handful of the largest corporations is a common-sense step to take. California can’t afford tax breaks for big corporations while our kids are neglected.

The wealthiest people in California and large corporations, after years of tax reductions, could afford more taxes to support the well being of the entire population. CFT proposes to increase state revenues with fair tax policies for individuals and businesses that can afford it.

Suspending Prop. 98 would devastate public education

Statewide, education program reductions have resulted in layoff notices to 25,000 certificated and 10,000 classified. Millions of dollars have been taken from each K-12 school district, and will result in class sizes increasing by as much as 35%.

In community colleges and universities, students will lose classes, contingent faculty and support personnel will be laid off, and student costs will rise (proposed quadrupled tuition), along with the time necessary to graduate.

California already underfunds education and other services

California ranks 47th in the nation in K-12 per-pupil spending. California community colleges rank 45th in the nation in per pupil spending. California ranks 48th in the nation in state employees per resident. When the governor and the Republicans say, “We have a spending problem,” they are dead wrong. California is under-funding education. California’s K-12 public schools educate more than 6.3 million kids. The community colleges serve 2.5 million adults. These are the largest systems of public education in the country. Failure to adequately fund them will severely impact the state’s future.

Another way: tax fairness to preserve and improve education and other services

California is the richest state in the richest country on earth. The problem is not that we don’t have the money. The problem is one of priorities, and that the money is in the wrong pockets. The top 1% of wealth holders owns 34% of the wealth. Their tax rates today are lower than they used to be. In 1993 the highest tax bracket in the California was 11% of income; today it is 9.3%. The same is true for corporations. In 1980 California corporations contributed nearly 15% of the state budget; today they pay 11%. The Legislature has enacted more than $12 billion in tax cuts for individuals, families and businesses over the past 15 years. It is time to reverse this trend so we can continue to provide necessary services to Californians. We need to address the state’s structural budget problem, with progressive tax policies that largely do not adversely affect the average Californian.

Repeal corporate tax loopholes put in place during last year’s state budget deal would save more than $2.5 billion a year. That’s preferable to suspending Prop. 98 and cutting billions from public education. Our kids get only one chance at their youth and their education.

Close loopholes, not schools!

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.

Posted on July 15, 2009

Protect school funding

Schwarzenegger is the problem.

We need to deal directly with the attack on school funding. In the past 6 months, school funding in California has declined from 56.5 billion to 50.7 billion . Now, the governor and the Republicans propose to set aside Prop.98 in order to cut even more.

Since the passage of Prop. 13, California’s schools have been destructively under funded. We have gone from one of the best school systems to 29th in per pupil expenditure. California’s students rank 48th. out of the states in 4th. grade reading. So , if 4th. grade reading is a predictor, then perhaps we should do something about reading such as adequately fund the schools. California has remained with the poverty stricken states since the passage of Prop.13. Remember when the ideologues all claimed that by switching to phonics reading scores were going to go up? Or, others claimed that by eliminating bilingual education would produce dramatic gains. Well- how did that work out for you?
Schools have increased class size and severely cut back on counselors thus promoting violence and drop outs. Over half of California schools are in crisis caused specifically by lack of sufficient funds.
Rather than accept the budget limitations and plan to intervene before grade 4, we should change the budget. It does not have to be this way. Voters could keep Prop.13 benefits for private home owners but use actual assessed valuation of property for corporate property- the split roll approach. Rather than simply accept that these are difficult budget times, voters favor improved funding for public education. This change to a split role approach would immediately solve our state budget crisis, and the one coming next year. Or, we could as proposed establish an oil severance tax. This is where you make the corporations pay a tax when they take our oil out of the ground and then sell it to us. Even the most conservative of states have an oil severance tax. California does not because of the power of lobbyists in Sacramento.
We need all of the children in the state well educated to have a prosperous economy. Unless we change our schools are sinking toward those of Alabama and Mississippi.
We cannot have sustained prosperity in California without decent schools, and we will not have decent schools unless we amend Prop. 13 and tell the legislature to adequately fund the schools. Or, we could remain a poverty stricken state.

Governor proposes suspending Prop. 98

"Not once in the two decades since California's Proposition 98 school-funding formula became law have lawmakers bucked education groups to suspend it – so Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's push to do so has rocked the Capitol.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans are rushing to embrace the idea, but with tax hikes off the table, there may be no easy alternative in bridging the state's $26.3 billion shortfall." The Sacramento Bee. Jim Sanders.
Even without suspending Prop 98, school funding has decreased from $56.5 billion to $50.7 billion.
In spite of the dramatic cuts in school spending, the Sacramento Bee editorial page accuses the Democratic Legislative leaders ( Bass and Stienberg) as being unwilling to lead.
Further cuts in school funding must be stopped.
The Governor and the Republicans incessantly demand more school budget cuts.
So, now I have 120 fewer Sheriffs to protect my neighborhood.
250 fewer teaches to assist school children, and cuts in higher education that will hurt the economy for decades.
Welcome to Mississippi. That is the kind of society the Republican legislators want to create.

Schwarzenegger cuts schools, protects prisons II

July 6,2009/
The leaders also discussed Schwarzenegger's proposed suspension of the state's education funding guarantee, Proposition 98. The governor has asked that lawmakers agree to fund schools at about $3 billion less than the constitutional guarantee in 2009-10, and school groups are gearing up to lobby heavily against that plan.

Bass said she does not want to entertain that suspension of Proposition 98, while Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg called it a "bad idea."

Schwarzenegger cuts schools, protects prisons

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said separately Thursday that they are optimistic a budget deal can be struck within several days.

The tone of their comments marked a stark contrast to Capitol fighting over the last few weeks between Democrats and Republicans over bridging the state's $26.3 billion budget gap.

Steinberg also said Democrats had given up any attempt to increase taxes on tobacco or establish an oil severance tax.

In a Capitol news conference, Steinberg said significant progress is being made behind closed doors, adding, "It's time that we get this done."

Steinberg said he is encouraged by lengthy discussions Wednesday with Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders.

"I'm going to be here and I know that some of my colleagues are going to be here around-the-clock today, tomorrow and over the weekend with the hope and expectation that over the next several days we will complete this and complete it successfully."

See the article below about the cutting of Prop. 98. And the California Budget Project analysis.

School budget cuts

“The Governor continues to attempt to balance the budget on the backs of our students and our schools. Suspending Proposition 98 is a shortsighted approach that drops school funding into financial quicksand and will harm a generation of students.

“Our schools already have absorbed nearly $12 billion in cuts from a budget passed just months ago. As a result, schools have had to cut summer school; class sizes are going up; teachers and support staff have been laid off; and art, music, and sports programs are being eliminated. The list of tragic consequences of our budget crisis continues to grow.

“California needs a well-educated, critically thinking, and problem-solving workforce in order to improve and grow California’s economy. Public education is the key to unlocking the potential for success that our students possess. It is wrong-headed to cut education when we desperately need to nurture and support the students in our schools today who will be the backbone of our economy in just a few short years.

“Proposition 98 was passed by the voters of California to provide a floor of funding for our schools. Suspending it simply pulls the rug the out from under our students and the future of our state."
In addition to Mr. O’Connell, one of his potential replacements, Assemblymember Tom Torlakson who was a long-time teacher also spoke out strongly against the proposal.

“I am adamantly against suspending Proposition 98. The students of California and our schools have suffered far too much already. The Governor had the option to avert a suspension of Proposition 98 and an additional $3 billion in further cuts. Instead he chose to put our schools and the education of our kids at risk. There are many other solutions to the budget crisis that would not hurt the children of California.”

Under Proposition 98, the state is required to devote a specific proportion of the budget to education programs. Already, education funding has been slashed by over $12 billion. Proposition 1B was designed to restore just under $10 billion that has already been raided from education. That measure failed and now the governor is talking about taking even more money.
Superintendent O'Connell

Schwarzenegger Threatens to Shut Down the State

Schwarzenegger Threatens to Shut Down the State

By Willie L. Pelote, Sr.
Assistant Director ASFCME

With California just a few days away from having to issue IOUs to pay its bills, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to shut down the state rather than agree to $2 billion worth of new taxes on cigarettes and alcohol and oil companies that Democrats have proposed to help close the Golden State's $24 billion budget deficit.

This shortsighted and fiscally irresponsible stance is out of step with the majority of California voters who support these taxes and a tad hypocritical, since Schwarzenegger himself proposed these very solutions at the end of last year.

If Schwarzenegger believes that it is possible to balance the state budget without these revenue solutions, as paltry as they are, then he just doesn't understand economics.

Should he actually follow through on his threat to veto the Democratic plan, which also includes $11 billion worth of cuts and $10 billion worth of accounting maneuvers, blame for shutting down the state would rest squarely on his shoulders.

While Schwarzenegger has been prone to using threats, coercion, and other ham-fisted approaches to realize the vision of a state with no capacity to provide social or educational services to the citizens of California, it is unclear whether he actually has the courage to take the blame for shutting down the state.

The only way to win this game of budget chicken and avert the prospect of California taking its place among the Third World, an outcome that corporatists of both political stripes have been planning for decades, is for the Democratic majority to concede nothing and to place a budget on Schwarzenegger's desk that includes new revenues.

Hey Governor- Here is $10 million dollars

AS of today, Governor Schwarzenegger proposes to brutal budget cuts to health care, state workers, and $5.2 billion to k-12 education and to borrow billions.
Well, here is $10 million per year you can have. It’s a free-bee.
In SB 2042 in 2000 the legislature created a system where the state must continually train new teachers to replace those driven out by inadequate working conditions. One element of 2042 required the development of high stakes performance assessment of California teachers (TPA) based upon the teacher performance expectations (TPE) to be developed by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
The problems with this are several. There is no evidence that TPA’s are valid measures of good teaching. To the contrary, our experience tells us that one-time all-or-nothing tests like the TPA are among the poorest possible ways to predict the likelihood that a test-taker will be an excellent California teacher.
This new test has no relationship to the crisis in school achievement of California’s failing schools. It does, however, provide career advancement for test writers and professors at Stanford and elsewhere, provide them with coffee, donuts and catered food while they meet, and keep them from having to work with real teachers in real classrooms to deal with the problems students in real schools.
It is a bridge to nowhere. A boondoggle. The state might as well fund research on developing rain forests in the Iowa prairie. Its a poodle puddle.
There are additional analysis of this foolish test on this blog. Just use the search engine and look for SB 1209 or the entry Budget, education, and selling us a bridge to nowhere.
Hey, a million here, a million there, pretty soon you add up to some real money.

Schwarzenegger campaigns for McCain

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger put aside his appeals to post-partisan politics on Friday in favor of taking up John McCain’s party line during a campaign rally for McCain in Columbus, Ohio, but some of that message seemed to conflict with Schwarzenegger’s own practices in office.


“I think there will be a backlash against all of this lopsided spending,” Schwarzenegger proclaimed at a campaign rally in Columbus.

And he knows something about lavish spending.

In California, the bodybuilder-turned actor-turned politician has become the most prolific political fundraiser in state history. He has used his Hollywood status to rake in at least $132 million since he launched his gubernatorial bid in 2003.

The budget, education, and selling us a bridge to nowhere

The Budget; education; and selling us a bridge to nowhere.
The California budget is a mess- at least a $15 Billion deficit.
About half of California’s schools are in a mess: California’s students rank 48th. out of the states in 4th. grade reading on the NAEP, 47th. in 4th. grade math, and 43rd. in 4th. grade science. California ranks 48th. in 8th. grade readingon the NAEP, 45th. in 8th. grade math, and 42nd in 8th. grade science.
That is, our schools are in crisis, particularly our schools serving Black, Latino and economically disadvantaged students. And, after 20 years of “school reform,” there has been no real progress.
So what is proposed in the Governor’s budget ? Well first they propose to cut $4.1 billion from the schools. This will increase class size, eliminate counselors and lead to teacher lay offs. The Governor would also will cut health care to some seniors, the disabled, and children.
While cutting and slashing, the Governor also proposes spending at least 9 million additional dollars for a new video based test for new teachers (TPA or PACT). This new test has no relationship to the crisis in school achievement of California’s failing schools. It does, however, provide career advancement for test writers and professors at Stanford and elsewhere, provide them with coffee, donuts and catered food while they meet, and keep them from having to work with real teachers in real classrooms to deal with the problems students in real schools.
It is a bridge to nowhere. A boondoggle. The state might as well fund research on developing rain forests in the Iowa prairie. And, unless the California Assembly Budget Committee acts, it is a boondoggle that you and I will pay for.
It is a bridge to create a test that is not needed and will not improve teaching nor learning, but a few bureaucrats and three college professors want it. So, while we don’t have money for class size reduction, summer school, and safe schools, we have money for this. Excuse me- I thought that we had a budget crisis and a school crisis, but I haven’t heard of a test crisis.
You may have heard the story of the drunk who lost his/her keys in the dark alley. He couldn’t see well enough to find the keys. So, he went down the block to where there was a street light and searched there. Along came a friend and offered to help. After a few minutes the friend asked, Where again did you lose the keys?
The drunk replied, back there in the dark alley. The friend asked- if you lost the keys in the dark alley, why are you looking here at the corner? The drunk replied, because there is not enough light to see in the dark alley.
The proposed funding of Teacher Performance Assessment during a state budget crisis is like turning on the street lights in the next block. That is not where the school crisis is- and you won’t find the keys to quality education there.

Duane Campbell
see prior post: http://choosingdemocracy.blogspot.com/2008/04/students-first-california-public.html

Sacramento: Don't cut school budgets

By Frank D. Russo

The steps on all four sides of the State Capitol in Sacramento got a lot of attention yesterday. Citizens from across the state held back to back rallies on matters pertaining to the California budget, education, social services, juvenile incarceration, and pesticide spraying for moths.

But the biggest of the day was a bit unusual—over 40 Superintendents of Public Instruction from Los Angeles County and 100 statewide joined parents, teachers, and school kids to deliver a message to the legislature and the Governor to not balance the California state budget by cutting education. Think the state budget is a boring topic—or that it’s all about numbers? You should have heard these education experts, charged with the responsibility to make it all work, talk passionately about their mission. More than one of these leaders from Los Angeles County told the crowd about how they had struggled and improved schools that had failing our kids—some to the point that they now receive statewide recognition—and how they will not allow this to go down the drain with what one called “sine wave budgeting.”

Darlene Robles, Superintendent of the Los Angeles County Office of Education started her remarks noting that “It’s not often that we see Superintendents coming forward.” She then gave some startling figures about California in comparison with other states:

“When we compare out school system to those across the country, we have 30% fewer teachers in our classrooms…. We have 50% less school administrators than school districts across the country and 80% less counselors.”

She continued, “That’s shameful, when were the 8th largest economy in the world.” Referring to California’s level of funding based on the cost of living, she said, “To be 46th is just not acceptable.”



Robles concluded: “all of us know that there isn’t a legislator across this state that did not run on the platform that they would support public education. And it’s not only supporting public education during the good times—it’s supporting public education during the tough times. That’s when character counts.”

By the time Jack O’Connell, California’s state Superintendent of Public Instruction, made his way through the crowd to speak, he was greeted with thunderous applause and a warm hug. He fired up the crowd, telling them what they already knew—but his words were clearly destined for those in legislative session inside the building and to Governor Schwarzenegger, who was in Fairfield, delivering a speech on carpenter apprenticeship programs. He charged the Governor with an “abdication of one’s responsibility to set values and priorities” in proposing a 10% across the board set of budget cuts and characterized the $4.8 billion of cuts to education as a “hostile suspension of Prop 98,” noting that the voters in passing that measure had supported educational funding and had confirmed that priority 3 years ago—a reference to their rejection of a ballot measure in Schwarzenegger’s special election of 2005 that would have weakened it.

O’Connell was just one of the speakers who tied education to our future, our economy as a state, to reductions in imprisonment and crime, and to moral values. He said: “If you want to invest in the future, you invest in public education. If you want to shortchange the future, then you shortchange education. The cuts being proposed would be devastating to education. It would be a great step backwards.”

He directly challenged the Governor and Republicans on the framing of this issue: “We don’t have a spending problem. Our problem is with our priorities. When you hear people say we have a spending problem, you tell them we have a values problem. We have a problem with or priorities. That is why we need to make sure that the public policy document for the state of California is one that invests in the future.”

O’Connell then explained the numbers in another way: “The governor’s budget proposes $800 less per student. Look at that in terms of a classroom. You’re looking at about $25,000 taken out of every single classroom in the state of California. Your average elementary school—take away $400,000. Your average middle school, its about $1 million, and your typical high sized high school its about $2 million less in terms of services they can really provide. I can guarantee you our class sizes will be dramatically increased. We’ll have fewer classes available. Fewer career technical education classes. Fewer counselors.”
He also skewered Schwarzenegger and others for lofty rhetoric that did not match their actions, in closing with these lines” “You’ve heard of No Child Left Behind? This budget leaves all of our children behind. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this was supposed to be the ‘Year of Education.’”

Folks are starting to show up on the steps to the Capitol. And they are going inside to demand action, in this case armed with petitions they asked legislators to sign, promising not to balance the budget on the backs of our kids in school.

Before the budget is passed, my bet is that there will be a lot of other folks making the trip to Sacramento. Some of these legislators will not be as far from those who elected them in their districts as they usually are beyond these steps where the budget is voted on.

Posted on March 11, 2008
California Progress Report