Backing Governor’s Plan:
Hundreds of CTA chapter presidents and members from throughout California converged on the state Capitol on Wednesday, June 4, in an effort to protect school funding from any additional cuts beyond those in the governor’s newest budget proposal.
The CTA members delivered a simple message to lawmakers: support the governor's budget plan and approve it by the June 15 constitutional deadline. Over the course of the day, teachers talked with their state Assembly Members and Senators about the importance of supporting a temporary sales tax increase balance the budget and avoid even larger cuts that would hurt their students and undercut their academic progress.
“Our students are depending on lawmakers to approve the state budget on time this year,” said Barbara E. Kerr, CTA’s president-elect. ”The budget plan supported by the Education Coalition reflects the strong wishes of parents and voters to maintain public education as a priority, while using a small sales tax increase to responsibly close the state's $38 billion budget shortfall and keep further cuts away from our students and schools.”
The CTA members visited lawmakers in their offices and called them from the floor of the Assembly and the Senate to urge them to approve the governor's budget proposal and to support his call for temporary, half-cent sales tax increase to fund $10.8 billion of the shortfall.
They told their legislators that the tax increases are vital to preventing even deeper cuts in classroom spending.
Overall, the governor's budget cuts $1.5 billion from education, but targets those cuts as far from the classroom as possible.
The efforts to balance the state budget undertaken by the governor and legislature are unfolding against a backdrop of solid academic gains by public schools. In recent years, the state has made significant progress in improving student achievement and increasing test scores.
Teachers and other education community representatives also emphasized that securing rapid approval of the governor’s budget proposal is vital. Delays in approving a budget would guarantee further disruptions that would harm students, their parents, and schools.
State law requires legislators to send the governor a draft-spending plan by June 15. State law also requires the governor to sign a final plan into law by June 30, a day ahead of the July 1 start of the new fiscal year.
State law does not include any penalties for missing the deadline, and in recent years a new budget has been adopted late more often than on time.
Some Movement, But No Bi-partisan Accord Yet
The pace of action has begun to pick up in the wake of the governor’s release of his May Revision on May 14. Last week, the Senate approved a “shell” budget version - SB 53 by Sen. Wes Chesbro (D-Arcata). The measure was approved primarily as a placeholder to be used in the two-house budget conference committee that began meeting this week. The Senate measure moved on a simple majority vote. A “real” spending plan requires each house to approve it by a two-thirds majority. Senate Republicans refused to approve the spending plan because it contains the temporary tax increase, so SB 53 went without the technically needed super-majority.
In fact, Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga) reportedly told members of his party that he was prepared to campaign actively against any GOP lawmaker who voted for a tax increase.
The budget is headed to a six-member Joint Legislative Budget Conference Committee that began meeting this week and was on call to meet through the weekend. The panel is charged with fashioning a spending proposal for final approval by the Senate and the Assembly.
Serving on the conference committee are Assembly Member Jenny Oropeza (D-Concord), chair, and Assembly Members Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) and Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Senators Chesbro, Dick Ackerman (R-Irvine) and Dede Alpert (D-San Diego).
The conferees’ work will hinge on the results of meetings expected to continue between the “Big Five”: Gov. Davis, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco), Senate Minority Leader Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga), Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson (D-Los Angeles), and Assembly Minority Leader Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks).
CTA Members:
Contact your state Senator and Assembly Member and urge them to vote for the governor’s May Revision proposal and the proposed temporary sales tax increase to prevent further cuts in school funding. Also contact members of the conference committee and ask them to adopt the governor’s May Revision.