Quick Study -- April 28, 2007
With California facing a double-digit budget deficit that could grow by another several billion dollars in the next few weeks, Senate and Assembly Republicans told reporters at an April 24 Capitol news conference that they remain adamant in their opposition to closing tax loopholes or raising new revenues.
“It isn’t a revenue problem, it’s a spending problem,” insisted Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines (R-Fresno).
The Republicans told reporters that they would back providing more funding for schools than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed in his January budget, but their proposal falls more than $2 billion below what CTA and its Education Coalition partners believe is schools’ constitutional fair share.
At the news conference, the Republicans resurfaced proposals already defeated in the Assembly that they claim would help schools by providing “flexibility.” Among their proposals for “flexibility” is one that would eliminate more than $650 million in appropriations earmarked for the Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA). That CTA-sponsored legislation implements a court settlement that forced Gov. Schwarzenegger to pay back to schools money he had borrowed and refused to repay.
The settlement and the enabling legislation earmark the funds to help close the achievement gap between low-income and minority students and their wealthier, majority counterparts.
One Assembly Democrat in an exclusive non-for-attribution interview in QuickStudy denounced the news conference announcement of Republican support for schools a ploy designed to force cuts in other programs important to children and their families.
Both Senate and Assembly Democrats have pledged to fight school cuts and have been voting for a variety of measures to close loopholes and raise taxes on wealthy special interests.
The Republican news conference comes at a time when CTA and school supporters are monitoring budget action closely and lobbying against cuts in education. Further consideration of the budget is expected to move slowly until mid-May, when the governor is slated to release his updated revenue projections and his revised spending plan. His “May Revision” is expected to become the basis for the home-stretch budget deliberations that take place as final deadlines approach.
The state Constitution requires lawmakers to finalize and send their budget bill to the governor by June 15. The governor has until June 30 to sign the measure into law. The Constitution does not provide any penalties should public officials miss these deadlines, and those “drop-dead” dates have been missed in recent years more often than they have been met.
CTA and its coalition partners have been doing even more than just pressing lawmakers to block the governor’s proposed cuts to education. The coalition has also been urging the governor and legislators to explore a wide range of methods for raising desperately needed new revenues.
In March, CTA fought hard for the passage of AB 3x 9 by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles). That bill would have raised billions of dollars in new state revenues to stave off thousands of teacher layoffs statewide.
AB 3x 9 would have imposed taxes on the oil industry and raised an estimated $1.2 billion annually for schools. Unfortunately, the measure failed to secure the two-thirds’ majority needed. More than 43 Assembly Democrats co-authored and voted for AB 3x 9, but virtually all Assembly Republicans voted against it. Had the bill passed, California would have joined 21 other oil-producing states that gain a fair share of oil company earnings.
AB 3x 9’s defeat spotlights the challenges facing the coalitions as they seek to close tax loopholes and bridge the state’s multi-billion dollar budget gap without slashing school funding. New revenues generally require a two-thirds vote in the Legislature.
CTA legislative advocates report that office-holders are clearly feeling the pressure against education cuts being generated by their local teachers, school employees, parents, students, and other school supporters.