After a dismayingly unproductive first special session on the budget ended with a whimper, Gov. Schwarzenegger has declared a fiscal emergency and called for a new special budgetary session with the newly sworn-in Legislature.

“Without immediate action our state is headed for a fiscal disaster and that is why with more than two dozen new legislators sworn in today I am wasting no time in calling a fiscal emergency special session,” Schwarzenegger said. “I look forward to working with the Legislature in attacking these problems head-on, making the difficult choices and working together for the common good and future of the state of California.”

The first special session on the budget ended just before Thanksgiving when both houses of the Legislature met to vote on a package of mid-year cuts and increased revenues in an effort to close the state’s $28 billion budget deficit. In a sad repeat of the refrain voters heard in the budget negotiations that dragged on almost all year – and which failed abysmally to truly address the problem with desperately needed revenues – the Legislature failed to reach consensus on any legislation to close the budget deficit, and the session closed with nothing accomplished.

Democrats in both houses complained about the tough choices regarding cuts to maintain existing programs and the impact of the cuts on the poor, elderly and education funding. Alternatively, Republicans bemoaned the negative impact of tax increases, the need to reduce spending to match existing revenues and the need to look at efficiencies of the state budget system. This same old song and dance led to another floor session of inactivity.

ACSA Executive Director Bob Wells noted that even before the budget went into recession, schools were struggling financially, ranking 46th in the nation in per-pupil funding. “These are tough economic times for California’s public schools,” Wells said. “School funding is at an all-time low, while expectations for our students and for educators have never been greater.”

Wells urged all ACSA members to contact their legislators and implore them to find the balance between cuts and new revenues to solve the state’s problem and to stave of utter decimation of school funding.

“The reality is that schools already take the largest percentage of cuts compared to other state programs and services,” Wells said. “While it’s true that school funding does account for about 40 percent of the state’s general fund revenues, it is also true that school funding takes more than 50 percent of the total cuts in any budget year, time and time again.”

The Education Coalition is extremely dismayed by the legislative inaction. As coalition representatives point out, California’s school funding could be cut by a total $8 billion in 2008-09 if lawmakers don’t vote for new revenues.

For K-12 schools this would be a cut of $7.2 billion. These cuts are equivalent to shutting down every school across the state for 25 days, increasing class sizes by more than 50 percent, reducing per-student spending by almost $1,200, laying off 160,000 classroom teachers or 180,000 bus drivers, janitors, food service workers, maintenance workers, and other education support professionals, cutting more than $31,500 per classroom, cutting $12.4 million per school district (assuming 10,000 students in the district) or eliminating all music, art and career technical education programs statewide with room to cut even more.

 Nov. 25 was the last day for the former Legislature to meet and take action regarding the current-year budget. As of Dec. 1, the members of the Legislature who were elected in November took office officially. The new incoming legislative members will have to hit the ground running to decide how to close the budget deficit.

Now that another special session has been called to address the deficit, members will be pushed to pass legislation that will help close the deficit before the governor’s release of his January Budget Proposal.

 The discussion of mid-year cuts and tax increases will continue throughout December and likely into the new calendar year. As discussions continue, ACSA will keep you informed regarding any possible action that may impact education funding. If you have any questions, call ACSA Legislative Advocate Adonai Mack at (800) 608-ACSA or e-mail him at amack@acsa.org.