When California voters rejected all but one of the Legislature’s six budget-balancing propositions last month, the state’s teachers knew more cuts to education were inevitable.
Not long after most of the propositions, including the three affecting education spending, failed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released his May revisions to the budget plan.
According to the California Department of Finance website, dof.ca.gov, the governor is proposing additional cuts of approximately $1 billion in fiscal year 2008-09 and $2 billion in 2009-10 to fund Proposition 98, an amendment to the state constitution that mandates minimum spending levels on education. The 2009-10 Budget Act originally adopted in February 2009 reduced Proposition 98 by $7.3 billion in 2008-09 and by $2.9 billion in 2009-10.
The February package also significantly reduced the penalties associated with class size reduction in grades kindergarten through third by allowing districts to retain up to 70 percent of funding even if pupil-to-teacher ratios increase more than 25 to 1.
And because of the state’s dire economic situation, education funding disbursements could be postponed from July and August to October 2009.
For local educators, the pressure from the looming budget is becoming unbearable, especially because Santa Maria school districts must have their budgets submitted to the county by June 30.
School administrators expressed their frustration during a meeting with U.S. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) on May 27.
“The situation is so dire in this state,” said Jeff Hearn, superintendent for the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District. “This is my 40th year in education and I’ve never seen it so bad … It’s a wakeup call.”
And state funds weren’t the only finances discussed.
Capps also shared with education officials the estimated amount of funding the county is expected to receive from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
According to figures released by Capps’ office, Santa Barbara County is slated to receive approximately $4.66 million in Title 1 funds (national free hot lunch program), $8.37 million in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds, and $10.3 million in State Stabilization funds.
Still, school officials said there are many misconceptions among the public about the money.
First, the money has yet to be distributed to the schools’ accounts. Also, the amount of money and expected date of disbursement have changed several times.
“We’ve heard every version of when the money is coming,” Hearn told Capps during the meeting, adding that even when it does come, “it’s not going to fix the problem.”
Capps, a former school nurse, was sympathetic to the educators’ complaints, and discussed plans to send more letters to Gov. Schwarzenegger and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on behalf of local schools.
In May, Capps and a handful of fellow representatives sent a letter to the governor urging him to guarantee that all federal stimulus dollars intended for California schools would in fact make it to the classrooms.
Educators and school administrators, however, fear that state bureaucracy could still get in the way.
“The governor could say, ‘Oh well, we need that to balance the state budget,’” Diane Bennett, SMJUHSD’s assistant superintendent for business, told the Sun later in an interview.
Bennett added that schools are waiting to see “what strings are attached [to the money] and what kind of reporting requirements” are expected.
Until then, local schools are going to have to do quite a bit of budget slashing.
“The county won’t let schools use federal stimulus money to balance their budgets because they’re uncertain about how much they’re going to get,” Hearn later explained in an interview.
Based on the state’s budget shortfall, Hearn said his district is going to have to cut about $1.9 million ($258 per student) in 08-09 and about $2.2 million ($279 per student) in 09-10.
Sharon McHolland, superintendent of Orcutt Union School District, said her district is looking at similar cuts of $281 per student. Come June 30, she said, the district’s schools will have to do without textbook money, physical education classes, and school improvement programs.
“It’s sad,” McHolland said. “We know everyone in the state is having financial troubles, but you don’t get out of them by not funding schools.”
Contact Staff Writer Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 4-11, 2009.
