The analogies to Nero fiddling and Rome burning are just too easy; so suffice it to say the governor and Legislature do not seem to be making significant headway in getting a state budget finalized. Reportedly, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger finally sat down with the Big 4 to try in earnest to reach some sort of accord, but the initial feedback indicated there was a long way to go.
Further reports state the governor has proposed a temporary 1-cent sales tax hike as a short-range solution. The 1-cent tax hike would supposedly last three to four years and raise approximately $4.5 billion a year. Then, the sales tax rate would drop lower than current rates by a smaller amount, but for enough years for California residents to recoup the initial losses.
The governor’s office has not confirmed this report, and indicated its priority is long-term budget reform. However, Republican leaders have already publicly responded they are opposed to the sales tax proposal. In addition, it received a lukewarm reception from Democrats, who feel a sales tax hits low-income earners disproportionately harder.
Recently, Democrats introduced a proposal that would restore $2.4 billion of the governor’s proposed $4.3 billion in cuts to education. However, their approach includes a proposal for a temporary tax increase on businesses and upper-income individuals. This is also a non-starter for GOP legislators.
Republicans favor a cuts-only approach to the $15.2 billion hole the state faces, but thus far they have not said where they would make the draconian cuts such an approach would require.
Meanwhile, the Education Coalition is keeping the pressure on, to let policymakers know that educators favor the Democratic proposal, vis a vis the education portion of the budget. Many efforts have been made on the local level to get the message across to legislators that an educational system ranked 46th in the nation in per-pupil funding cannot afford to take a huge step backward. A number of examples of these efforts can be found at www.protectourstudents.org.
As the budget stalemate continues, ACSA is actively working with its partners in the Education Coalition to put pressure on the Legislature to vote for a budget that includes revenues as an important ingredient to maintaining school funding. In addition, the Education Coalition has been airing two radio spots to urge the governor and lawmakers to invest in education and to find common-sense budget solutions that increase revenues. The ads are airing on radio stations in Los Angeles, San Diego, Fresno, Bakersfield, San Francisco and Sacramento.
ACSA has also met with a number of legislators in the Capitol to lobby them to reach a resolution on the budget. ACSA has also joined forces, not only with Education Coalition partners but with other education advocates to voice concerns regarding a budget proposal to delay the February apportionment to school districts until April.
While the February deferral may save the state money, it will cause districts to borrow money to meet obligations. It passes on a state cash flow problem down to the district level. ACSA and its education partners have lobbied the leadership of each party in both the Senate and Assembly and the members of the budget and education committees.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell has been publicly urging policymakers to reach an accord on the budget for the sake of California’s 6 million students.
“While the governor and Republican legislators seem to be in no hurry to put a spending plan in place, the clock is ticking toward the start of a new academic year,” O’Connell said in a released statement. “Our neediest schools already have paid a price for the lack of action by Republicans in the Senate. By failing to approve SB 606 by Senate President pro Tempore Don Perata, $47 million in critically needed federal funds sits idle, rather than being used as intended to help improve student achievement in some of our lowest performing school districts. Worse, without Republican support, $19 million of these funds will be permanently lost, as they will soon revert to the federal government.
“In the midst of a budget crisis that is already unfairly affecting public education in California, failure to approve SB 606 was egregiously irresponsible. I urge the Senate and Assembly Republicans and the governor not to compound this mistake. They must act now to approve a state budget that protects our schools and our students.”
ACSA Governmental Relations will continue to provide updates as negotiations progress. If you have any questions, contact Legislative Advocate Adonai Mack at amack@acsa.org.