In Face of $33-35B State Deficit:
CTA representatives are continuing their battle in Sacramento and in legislative districts throughout the state to protect vital school instructional programs - including class-size reduction - from state budget cuts.
With California facing a budget deficit pegged this week at between $33.5 and 34.6 billion, lawmakers have approved two measures that taken together would raise some $4 billion in new revenues annually and defer and reduce $12.8 billion in overall state spending in the current - 2002-2003-fiscal year, the bulk of it from non-education spending.
At this writing, both the Assembly and the Senate have passed two "special session" measures that would increase revenues from Vehicle License Fees (VLF) and reduce spending for state programs. Both measures are being held in the legislature because the governor has threatened to veto the VLF boost bill, AB X1 4. The VLF measure is "double-joined" to the mid-year spending reduction measure, AB X1 8. Both must be signed or neither goes into effect. Lawmakers are holding the measures hoping that negotiations with the governor will lead him to sign both bills.
The mid-year budget reductions would cut more than $2.2 billion from K-12 schools for 2003-2004. In line with CTA policy, it does not include any across-the-board cuts, reductions to the base revenue limit, teacher furloughs or class size increases.
Meanwhile, last week the state's non-partisan Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill released her office's detailed analysis of Gov. Davis's January budget proposal. Calling the plan a credible yet fragile one, Hill said that the difference between her projections of the 18-month deficit and the governor's had narrowed to $1.1 billion. The Governor's Department of Finance Director Steve Peace said his department was using a $34.6 billion number. He put the LAO number at $33.5 billion.