BURLINGAME – Eric Heins, president of the 325,000-member CTA, issued this statement today about Governor Brown’s revised state budget proposal: 

“Recognizing higher state revenues than expected in January, Governor Brown maintains his ongoing commitment to increase funding to our students of greatest need in the May Revision of his state budget plan. Adding $1.4 billion to the Local Control Funding Formula will help local school districts recruit and retain high quality teachers, and help students have access to the tools and resources they need. The revised budget also eliminates the nearly $1 billion funding deferral that would have been a nightmare for local districts and corrects the inappropriate manipulation of the minimum school funding law proposed in January. We are, however, reviewing a new provision that appears to pre-approve some cuts to schools in future years. We are happy to see money restored to allow more children to attend state preschool programs and to support child care providers. We also share the governor’s commitment to provide healthcare to all children, but also share his concerns about the healthcare cuts being proposed by the Trump administration and the devastating impact they would have in California.

“On higher education, this revised budget proposal sends mixed signals. The increases to community colleges are welcome news, and would help increase course availability and the hiring of full-time faculty. However, the cuts to the CSU and UC systems are deeply disappointing. CTA strongly opposed the student tuition hikes approved by the CSU trustees. We can’t keep asking our students to pay more. College should be affordable to all. Inadequate funding for higher education hinders the state’s ability to create an educated workforce to fuel our economy.” 

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The 325,000-member California Teachers Association is affiliated with
the 3 million-member National Education Association.