Midyear budget cuts will create chaos

By Sherry Posnick-Goodwin
Photos by Scott Buschman

Budget cutbacks are nothing new for those who teach in the Willits Unified School District. But when budget cuts occurred in the middle of the school year last year, teachers and their students were blindsided, and the district was thrown into a state of chaos.

A rural, high-poverty community located north of Ukiah in Mendocino County, Willits is experiencing declining enrollment. Last January, the district decided it had to eliminate nearly $100,000 in funding because its three-year projections were off-kilter. Administrators hastily cut staff positions, increased class sizes and reconfigured the school day. Teachers were notified on a Friday afternoon, and the budget cuts went into effect the following Monday.

"Having midyear cuts caused all kinds of anxiety among students, parents and teachers," recalls Willits Teachers Association President John Haschak. "During the summer, you can plan on how to deal with changes in the upcoming school year. But when cuts are made right in the middle of the school year, there is no time to prepare and organize for those changes."

Midyear budget cuts are a rarity in school districts these days. However, the practice could become commonplace if Proposition 76 is approved by voters on Nov. 8.

Gov. Schwarzenegger calls Prop. 76 the "Live Within Our Means" initiative. Education advocates have labeled it the "Cut School Funding Act." Prop. 76 would allow multiple midyear rounds of across-the-board cuts in school funding and give the governor the power to declare a fiscal emergency any time he wants. The governor would then be able to cut any program without the approval of the Legislature or the people of California.

The initiative would do even more damage to schools by overturning the voter-approved Prop. 98 funding guarantee for education, which would lead to more overcrowded classrooms, teacher layoffs, and fewer textbooks and classroom materials. The governor's initiative cuts school funding by more than $4 billion every year, which amounts to an estimated $600 per student or $25,000 per classroom. If this initiative passes, the governor will never have to repay the $2 billion he borrowed from public schools to make ends meet last year.

"I think it's a power grab," says Haschak. "But everything Schwarzenegger does seems to be a power grab. And if midyear cuts were allowed to happen multiple times during a school year, it would cause total chaos."

Haschak should know, after experiencing such chaos firsthand. When the midyear cuts were announced, the district opted not to replace a middle school teacher taking maternity leave. "They shuffled the middle school staff. Staff at her grade level (sixth grade) got reassigned to new classes and all the students got shifted and thrown into other classes. All of a sudden, classes went from 30 kids to nearly 40. It caused a lot of anxiety among students and parents, too."

Doug Case at Baechtel Grove Middle School began the 2004-05 school year with fewer than 30 students in each of his math, science and social studies classes. After the midyear cuts, he ended up teaching social studies core curriculum and public speaking in classes with between 38 and 41 students. That year, he said, teacher morale plummeted to the lowest level in over a decade.

If midyear budget cuts were allowed up to three times a year, it would be a disaster, says Case. "Of course, everyone knows that it would not be in the best interest of students."

At the elementary schools, classified po- sitions were eliminated or reduced, including the physical education coordinators, and library assistants who worked with students during teacher prep time. To deal with these losses, library access was reduced. Recess was changed from two 15-minute blocks to one 30-minute period.

"It became difficult to have access to resources when nobody was in the library," says Paula Nunez, a teacher at Brookside Elementary School. Her middle school child was put into a social studies class of 41 students. "Without PE coordinators, our PE program became less effective. The midyear cuts ruined all our planning and the things we had expected to attain when we set our yearly goals."

If such cuts were allowed to happen multiple times during the year, says Nunez, "it would be a major crime. We would be teaching children that consistency isn't valued — and neither is their education or their parents' tax dollars."

The midyear cuts came on top of severe cuts from the previous two years, including the elimination of teaching positions and Title I "resource" aides to assist at-risk children, cutbacks in the music program and more. Now that the governor has said he won't repay the money he borrowed from education, further cuts are expected.

"It makes me angry because Prop. 98 money is owed to us, and it's bad enough that the money isn't being paid back," says Nunez. "But it would be even worse when cuts could be made up to three times a year at the discretion of the governor — who is not an educator or a friend of education."

"This proposition would affect the people who can't vote, which to me is the worst thing," adds Nunez. "Children aren't old enough to stand up for themselves. We have to stand up for them and make sure that Prop. 76 is defeated."

Protect school funding Vote — No on Prop. 76

Proposition 76 would not only cut funding for vital programs including education, public safety and health care, it would undermine California's system of checks and balances by placing too much power in the hands of one person — the governor.

"First and foremost, we are concerned that Prop. 76 will cut funding for schools in California and overturn Prop. 98 minimum funding guarantees for schools in this state," says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr. "The passage of Prop. 76 would be a disaster."

The initiative would change the Prop. 98 guarantee from a floor or base for school funding, as voters intended when they approved it in 1988, to a ceiling. Under Prop. 76, any additional money given to schools above the guarantee would be counted as one-time funds only, rather than being added to the school funding base.

Specifically, Prop. 76 eliminates Prop. 98's "maintenance factor" provision, which requires the state to repay schools for shortfalls in funding suffered during lean years. Eliminating the maintenance factor means schools will never get the money to which they are entitled.

"While this initiative's impact on schools is bad enough, CTA is also concerned that this initiative undermines our democratic systems of checks and balances by giving the governor awesome new powers without legislative oversight," says Kerr.

Prop. 76 would allow the governor to declare a fiscal emergency whenever he or she wants and cut funding for any program without the approval of the Legislature or the people of California. "Is that how we want our government to be run?" asks Kerr.

Last year, the governor borrowed $2 billion from public school funding — a sum he hasn't paid back, despite a promise to do so. If Prop. 76 passes, the governor would never have to repay the money.

"If Prop. 98 is eroded, we will have more overcrowded classrooms, teacher layoffs and fewer textbooks and classroom materials. It's that simple," says Kerr.

Projections place California behind West Virginia and Kentucky, two of the lowest states in terms of per-pupil funding, if Prop. 76 passes.

Schools would not be the only thing devastated by the passage of Prop. 76. It would affect local governments by allowing cuts in funding for police, firefighters, and health care for children and the elderly. Community clinics relying on county funds could be forced to shut down and county hospitals would be put at risk of closing.

Claims that Prop. 76 prevents new taxes are absolutely untrue. In fact, it would allow the governor and the Legislature to raise taxes without voter approval. Even the president of the California Republican Assembly says that Proposition 76 "actually encourages tax increases."