CTA and its Education Coalition partners are urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators to repay $3.2 billion in Proposition 98 funding they still owe schools from the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 fiscal years. 
"California schools and students need, and voters expect, the Governor to keep his promise to repay the money borrowed from Proposition 98. That money is desperately needed to restore class size reduction programs, to buy up-to-date textbooks, and to attract and retain high quality teachers and other educators," declared CTA President Barbara E. Kerr.
She cited a 2006 Education Week report, "Quality Counts," that ranks California 43rd nationally in per-pupil spending. California schools are also hampered by some of the largest class sizes in the United States, with critical shortages of librarians, counselors, and other vital support staff.
The Association and its Coalition partners believe that the cost of the governor's proposal to fund Proposition 49, the after-school initiative - a $428 million appropriation - should be in addition to the Proposition 98 levels of funding for 2006-2007.
The CTA-Coalition partners are adamant that the Proposition 49 services should not be funded out of the $1.67 billion in education funds that will become part of the Proposition 98 base in 2007-08. During a February 8 technical briefing for reporters in Sacramento, Coalition fiscal experts noted that the governor's proposal fails to provide funding owed from past years and does not comply with constitutional requirements in the 2006-2007 budget year.
$3.2 Billion More for Education Would Mean
(Source: Education Coalition):
- $515 More Per Student $12,875 More Per Classroom $5.15 Million More Per School District (Per enrollment of 10,000 students)
For starters, the governor's proposal does not restore to schools $1.7 billion in one-time funds owed from the 2004-2005 budget year and an additional $1.5 billion in one-time funds owed from 2005-2006. The governor and legislature borrowed those funds to help bridge a budget shortfall in those years. Under terms of an agreement reached with the governor and lawmakers, the funds were to be restored when state revenues ticked upward.
In addition, Coalition experts emphasized, the governor's budget wrongly counts as education spending $1.78 billion in state funding earmarked for schools to make up for a shift of property tax dollars from schools to cities and counties.
The Coalition experts also told reporters that the governor's budget documents imply that schools are receiving larger amounts of new funding, but the Coalition analysis underscores that other state programs are receiving a 43% larger increase in funding than public schools.
They note that most state programs are seeing 9.6% in annual increases, compared to public education's 6.7%.
Not Just a Numbers Game
The Coalition finance experts made it clear that the funding shortfalls are more than just a difference in calculation. The missing dollars have significant implications for California's public schools as they seek to prepare students for the challenges of a competitive global economy.
The funding would help underwrite some of the public's highest priorities, including restoring key educational programs.
The Coalition representative emphasized that the funding restoration would bring school funding levels back to where they were, which is still far short of where they should be.
"Over the last year, we had a chance to talk to a lot of voters about a broken promise," said one Coalition representative. "Revenues went up, but the promised moneys didn't come. We took our case to the public in November and they spoke loud and clear that they oppose breaking those kinds of promises to schools."
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