Democratic lawmakers emerged from their caucus retreat in Monterey with a commitment to rebuilding education and other "human infrastructure," they told reporters at a February 9 morning news conference at the state Capitol.
The Democratic lawmakers also warned that debt service for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $222 billion infrastructure bond proposal could dig such a large "hole" in California's annual revenues that the state would not be able to provide additional needed dollars for public education and other priorities.
"Education, education, education was what we wanted to have as our top three priorities, but we also have other priorities," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, who was flanked by more than two dozen lawmakers.
The Democratic legislative leader pledged to "consult with the people" to discover exactly how committed residents are to improving California's schools. "Do we want to have the best edu-cation system that California deserves? Then we have to find a way," the speaker declared.
"The promise the governor made [to public education] is a promise that we'd like the governor to uphold," Speaker Nunez stated. He said he would like lawmakers to take a long view, holding that California must examine what it will take to address the "crisis" in education and to update the state's master plan for higher education.
"I'm not afraid to say that could require massive spending for education," the Democratic leader stressed.
"We'd like to look at the big picture to see what it takes to raise California education to the very top."
The speaker cited a range of issues facing public schools, including inadequate funding for teacher training and a lack of academic preparation and achievement for students trying to pass the state's High School Exit Examination (HSEE).
He said the fact that texts are tied to standards that are tied to the tests means that English Language Learners in particular are not getting the materials they need.
"We need to look at the alignment. We want to bring the education community to the table to help us find some real reforms that will help," Nunez emphasized.
The speaker told reporters that he was concerned about proposals that would allocate resources to after-school and pre-school programs at the expense of K-14 education funding. "Public education is in crisis and I think we need to fix it....we want to focus on what goes on during the day in the classroom."
Assembly Speaker Nunez said lawmakers plan to have conversations with the governor about Proposition 49 funding. Setting aside the proposition's funding requirements would require voter approval. The governor's budget proposal counts spending for Proposition 49 programs as part of the public education budget under Proposition 98, something that is counter to law, Education Coalition fiscal experts pointed out at a February 8 briefing for reporters at the CTA Governmental Relations building in Sacramento.
Other Democratic lawmakers, including Assembly Budget Chair John Laird, pointed to concerns about the size and targets of the governor's proposed infrastructure bond. They said the state should give a higher priority to building new schools than to building new prisons or jails. Assembly Member Karen Bass said it would be important to focus on the "human infrastructure," including providing additional funding for high priority schools and for families, including support for foster children.