Even a hermit living in a cave on top of a mountain has to be aware that the current state of the economy is lousy. And California’s economy is in extra poor shape owing to the fact that legislators opted for a “get out of town” budget a month ago, right before the national economy took a nosedive.

The budget the Legislature passed and the governor signed took the familiar path of pushing most of the state’s revenue problems off to another year. But, by now it has become blatantly obvious that California’s revenue stream is seriously antiquated and overly reliant on personal income taxes that often shift wildly with the state and national economic situation. This has led to year after year of structural budget deficits that the Legislature has repeatedly papered over with borrowing and budgetary gimmicks.

Now, the state budget for the current year is already seriously out of whack, with revenues coming in at least $3 billion below projections, a number that could end up being as high as $8 billion, depending on some upcoming revenue numbers. Gov. Schwarzenegger is reportedly going to call a special session to deal with the situation after the elections.

The governor called in members of the Education Coalition last week to discuss the situation. He informed them that due to the irresponsible state budget passed only one month ago, which is falling billions short of projected revenues, schools will likely see another $2 billion to $4 billion or more in cuts when he calls the Legislature in for a special session on Nov. 5. The Education Coalition position remains steadfast and clear: any further cuts to education in addition to the recent $3 billion slashed from this year’s budget would be a catastrophe for California’s students.

ACSA Executive Director Bob Wells told the Mercury News, “The governor talked a lot about how convinced he is that this budget shortfall can’t be met with just cuts, and he’s committed to lining up the votes for a revenue increase.”

The newspaper reported that the governor’s office declined to go into specifics, but said much of the revenue proposals offered during this year’s budget battle, including a temporary 1 cent sales tax, will be back on the table at the special session.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell agreed with the coalition’s stance to not eviscerate education funding.

“I’m deeply concerned about the state’s budget crisis and the threat it poses to California’s students,” O’Connell said. “Our schools are already struggling to make ends meet as costs have risen significantly while their budgets were effectively cut by $3 billion. We knew the recently passed state budget was built on faulty assumptions, and now that things have gotten worse the state must not expect a bailout from our schools.

“I firmly believe that as a state we must do everything possible to protect students first because education is the key to protecting our economic future.”

The Education Coalition continues to urge our state’s leaders to provide stable and long-term funding for schools so that students can meet the high expectations the state has set for them. To that end, further cuts are unacceptable.

EdCal will continue to monitor developments and keep members apprised as the situation warrants.