by Adonai Mack, Legislative Advocate

Bittersweet news was announced today from the governor and his director of finance. The governor announced that all the tiered cuts adopted in the 2011 Budget Act will be enacted. The governor announced that all of the Tier 2 cuts affecting K–12 will be enacted. However the reduction to the revenue limit will be $79.6 million.  In other words, the budget for Home-to-School Transportation will be eliminated and school district revenue limits will be reduced by $79.6 million or a half of a school day.   This is surprising news in that many believed after the Legislative Analyst estimated that the state was below revenue estimates by $3.7 billion, we were expecting to see at least $1.5 billion in education cuts. Conversely, the department of finance is estimating that the revenues will come $2.2 billion below estimates. Therefore, the reduction for K-adult education is significantly lower.

As a reminder the 2011 Budget Act implemented budget trigger language that read accordingly:

If revenues failed to grow by at least $3 billion, expenditures will be reduced by $600 million. These cuts include: $200 million UC/CSU; $17 million Libraries Grants; $100 million DDS Across the Board; $100 million IHSS Across the Board; $10 million IHSS DA Fraud Funding; $15 million Extend Manage Care March Cuts to All Plans; $72 million Juvenile Justice extend Sliding Scale Costs to Counties; $20 million Corrections; $15 million Vertical Prosecution Grants; $30 million Community College Fee increase (This will result in $10/unit fee hike); and $23 million Child Care Across the Board Cut.  If the revenues did not grow by at least $2 billion, this triggers $1.9 billion cuts as follows:

• $1.5 billion, Reduce School Year 7 Days.
• $72 million, Community College Apportionments.
• $248 million, eliminate Home-to-School Transportation.

According to the governor’s action, the state will cut $248 million in home-to-school transportation funds and $79.6 million from school districts revenue limits.  In addition, the reduction to child care will cost an additional $5.9 million in Proposition 98 dollars.  This equates to about $13 per ADA (or approximately $333.5 million in Proposition 98 reductions).   The transportation cut is effective January 1, and the revenue limit reduction becomes effective on February 1. 

The governor and his director of finance characterized the cut to transportation as flexible, stating that while the state is cutting the funding, districts can use other resources to backfill the reduction.  Unfortunately, it appears that there is a misconception regarding the lack of equality with the reduction to Home-to-School transportation.  ACSA will continue to work with our partners to rectify this inequitable cut. CSEA produced a fact sheet that we are using to discuss the impact of the cut to transportation on our students.  Click here to review this fact sheet.

What the Future Holds

The governor mentioned during his press briefing on the mid year triggers that there will be no more mid year cuts in his January budget proposal but that there will certainly be more than a billion in additional cuts for the 2012-13 fisal year.  This comes on the heels of the governor’s announcement that he is moving forward with a ballot initiative that will generate $7 billion in additional revenues - mostly public education - through an increase in income taxes and sales tax.  Further, the Public Policy Institute of California conducted a poll showing that 60 percent of California voters are ready to support Governor Brown's plan to raise taxes. It is believed that the majority of the public is weary of state spending cuts and unsettled by the prospect of more.  It is expected that the initiative will be a key component of the governor’s budget proposal.