A recent poll from the Public Policy Institute of California shows that most Californians dislike Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s latest May Revise budget plan and oppose his proposal to borrow from the state lottery.

However, respondents showed a willingness to accept a temporary increase in the sales tax if the governor’s lottery proposal fails. In addition, a strong majority said they don’t want to see education cut to balance the budget.

People within the state view both California’s and their own financial prospects in a gloomy light. There seems to be little confidence in who will lead the state out of the fiscal mess, as respondents said the governor can’t be trusted to make the tough choices needed. Nevertheless, he still has a higher approval rating than the Legislature at 41 percent to 26 percent.

Most people believe the state is headed in the wrong direction. But respondents also showed there will be no easy answers to the problem. Division exists on how to solve the budget shortfall.

“Californians are divided about whether they’d rather pay higher taxes and get more services or pay lower taxes and get less in the way of services,” said PPIC President and CEO Mark Baldassare. “Even independents are divided.

“But overall, Californians don’t like what they’ve heard so far from their leaders. They haven’t heard a compelling argument about why they should agree to a permanent tax increase, particularly in this economy. They’re reluctant to make an investment themselves when they feel that the Legislature and governor haven’t been good money managers.”

No cuts to education
When asked which area of the budget they most wanted to see spared from cuts, six in 10 residents choose K-12 public education – the top choice in previous surveys, as well – with health and human services (17 percent) a distant second, followed by higher education (12 percent), and prisons and corrections (7 percent).

Solutions nixed
Solid majorities of respondents oppose the governor’s plan to borrow money from future lottery earnings, and they do so across party lines. But majorities of both residents and likely voters favor a temporary increase in the sales tax if the lottery plan fails.

The potential temporary sales tax increase is the only tax increase included in the governor’s revised budget. Asked whether they believe a tax increase should be part of his plan, residents are evenly split – 48 percent yes, 46 percent no – although the percentage favoring tax increases has risen sharply since December’s 30 percent.

As could be expected, respondents are split along party lines, with more Democrats than Republicans supporting a tax increases.

ACSA’s position
Below are policy positions adopted by ACSA’s Board of Directors on May 16 in response to the governor’s 2008-09 May Revise:

• ACSA supports the full funding of Proposition 98. ACSA must stress that Prop. 98 is a minimum guarantee and the 2008-09 May Revise will not provide sufficient resources to prevent continued cuts to essential programs and services to our students.
• ACSA continues to oppose the “across-the-board” cuts to categorical programs. The cuts to categorical programs, combined with the failure to provide a cost-of-living adjustment, will continue to devastate valuable programs, which have provided a resource to the increase in student achievement that students have gained in the past decade.
• While ACSA supports flexibility in the use of fiscal resources, ACSA does not support flexibility as a trade-off for cuts to existing base programs.
• In addition, ACSA supports the administration’s intent to fully fund the CalPADs and CalTIDEs data and information systems. The development of these systems is vital to ensuring that we have longitudinal data necessary to make accurate and relevant policy decisions regarding academic achievement.
• ACSA also supports the training provided to local districts on the CalPADS system through CTAP. However, there are concerns that the May Revise does not specify the amount of funding provided to CTAP for the training.
• ACSA opposes any method of the Budget Stabilization Act that restricts funding to K-adult education and gives any governor unilateral authority to make mid-year cuts without going through the legislative process. California voters have repeatedly reaffirmed their support of the Prop. 98 constitutional funding guarantee for education. Any reduction, manipulation or constitutional amendment to the guarantee is unacceptable.
• ACSA opposes any manipulation to the California State Lottery that decreases the percentage of funds directed to public education.