Governor's proposed budget cuts could affect local schools
By Sylvie Belmond belmond@theacorn.co

With a projected $14-billion budget gap in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed cuts to nearly every state program, causing apprehension among local school officials.

The governor's plan would trim 10 percent across-the-board to balance the budget in 2008. This could mean a $4-billion reduction to school funding and the suspension of mandated spending levels for public education.

Suspension of Proposition 98, which guarantees a minimum funding level for schools, would require a two-thirds vote in both houses of the state legislature.

"If that were to happen, the bottom drops out of the guarantee and we are left completely at the mercy of the legislature and the governor," said Moorpark Unified School Board President David Pollock.

"There are two sides to the equation- you can cut expenses or raise revenues, but I don't think we should make kids pay for it," said Pollock. Budget cuts may be acceptable if schools were wellfunded, but that isn't the case, he said.

Local districts get about $7,000 per year for each student.

"We spend $1,900 less per student each year than the national average, so we have a bare-bones education system as it is. There's no fat to cut off," Pollock said.

The governor's proposed cuts for next year are massive and will result in farreaching losses to educational services in California, said Ellen Smith, district superintendent.

"It will not be possible to shelter our students and teachers from being hurt by these cuts as we've tried to do in the lean years of the past decade," Smith said.

Officials agreed that, at a time when California should be making a substantial investment in schools to help young people survive and succeed in the global economy, the governor's budget takes a giant step backward.

"I fear that 'the year of education' will become 'the year of education evisceration,'" said State Schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell.

Smith said that in her 30 years of experience as a school administrator, she only remembers one instance when the fiscal horizon was this bleak.

Core programs like visual arts, performing arts and counseling were virtually eliminated after the passage of Proposition 13, which essentially constrained the state's ability to raise taxes and limited the funds available for schools.

Most school districts are partially funded with local property taxes. Since Proposition 98 passed to protect schools from the wild financial swings that affect the state budget, about 40 percent of the state budget goes to public education.

Ironically, said Smith, just this past year the state provided special funds intended to help schools rebuild counseling and visual and performing arts programs. Now the state is considering mid-year cuts that could shortchange those programs.

"Although we at the local level have few details from the state, we are hearing that categorical funds may be withheld as part of the midyear cuts that are pending," she said.

Budget cuts in the middle of the school year are particularly difficult, Smith said, because annual contracts are already in place for teachers and for professional support staff members, including guidance counselors and principals.

Once the school year is underway, there are very few choices for reducing expenditures without decimating core services such as libraries, cleaning and transportation.

While large cuts in funding could translate into layoffs because 85 percent of MUSD's operating budget pays for salaries, wages and benefits, state law doesn't allow school districts to lay off most employees without specific advance notice, Pollock said.

For teachers, notice must be given by March 15, months before the state will adopt its own budget.

"One of the very difficult aspects of this whole situation is that local school districts will have to make cuts and have a balanced budget before the legislature actually adopts a state budget," Smith said.

In the end, the state may decide to withhold funding owed to Moorpark Unified School District, which would force the district to borrow and pay interest on money to cover payroll obligations. That scenario would neatly pass the bill to the local level, Smith said.

"We have to wait and see, but it's not time to panic," said Larry Brown, assistant superintendent for business services for the district.

"They keep passing laws to supposedly improve education but don't provide the resources to do it," he said. "The governor even proposes to cut special education funding at a time when those costs are skyrocketing."

The district would have to dip into the general fund to offset the loss, he said.

"The governor's plan is likely to change a lot before anything is finalized, but it's the worst starting position I've ever seen in my career," Brown said.