Education Coalition members across the state are holding news conferences in anticipation of the governor's release of the May revision of his 2006-07 state budget proposal.
With the state Department of Finance reporting higher than expected state tax revenues, CTA and other organizations belonging to the coalition are calling on the governor to keep his promise to repay money borrowed from Proposition 98.
The money is desperately needed to restore smaller class sizes, buy up-to-date textbooks, and attract and retain high-quality educators, said Kern High School Faculty Association President Mitch Olson at the Bakersfield news conference. "For us it's incredibly important. This money could be used to help our students reach the goal of passing the California High School Exit Exam."
"The governor stated education was his top priority," said Bakersfield Elementary Teachers Association President Carol Reichert. "We want him to remember this when the revised budget is released."
At a news conference in Eureka, Humboldt County Superintendent of Schools Garry Eagles said California schools agreed two years ago to forgo $2 billion with the understanding that it would be paid back. "Two years later, that debt has now grown to over $3 billion." He figures Humboldt's share is around $9.5 million.
State revenues are coming in well above projections — at least $3 billion more than anticipated. CTA budget analysts report that the public education cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) has risen substantially — to an estimated 5.92 percent — since the governor first pegged it at 5.18 percent. That's 1.69 points higher than the 2005-06 COLA, which at 4.23 percent was the highest in two decades.
The 2006-07 budget proposal, while a start, falls short of fulfilling the state's constitutional obligation to fund Prop. 98.
According to the 2006 Education Week report, "Quality Counts," California ranks 43rd in the nation in per-pupil spending. California schools continue to have some of the largest class sizes and the greatest shortages of librarians, counselors and other critical support staff in the country.
The governor's proposal to fund Proposition 49 with Prop. 98 funds without increasing the guarantee, as required by law, violates the commitment the governor made to voters and the education community when they passed Prop. 49 in 2002. Funding Prop. 49 would reduce the amount available to schools under Prop. 98 by $428 million.
The governor also promised to pay schools for unfunded mandates, yet his proposal pays for only a fraction of them.
