Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have backed off a worst-case scenario for public education in a new budget proposal, but administrators say his plan still could leave classrooms shorthanded.
Schwarzenegger's proposal increases funding for schools by $1.8 billion over current spending to meet a constitutional funding guarantee, Proposition 98. He had previously proposed suspending the guarantee.
It does not provide for growth or cost-of-living adjustments, which would have given schools about $3 billion more.
As a result, many pink slips for teachers and other job cuts approved by school boards for 2008-09 still may go through. Fee increases for California State University and University of California students also remain unaffected.
The budget requires the approval of two-thirds of members in both houses of the Legislature. Until that generally slow-moving process is over, some educators said they don't feel like celebrating.
“On June 30, I'm laid off,” said Cindy Wasserman, a second-grade teacher at Ibarra Elementary in City Heights of the day her teaching contract expires. “Unless something can be figured out by June 30, it's a moot point.”
Today is the deadline for most school districts to make tentative layoffs official. An estimated 2,000 teachers in the county received pink slips in March, although some districts have rescinded the notices.
School districts rely heavily on state funding: two-thirds of a typical district's money comes from the state and one-third is from property taxes.
Jennifer Walters, superintendent of the Escondido Union School District, said the now-abandoned Proposition 98 cuts were “really making it exceptionally difficult for schools.”
Walters said it's too early to consider undoing cuts her board has approved regarding teachers, assistant principals, counselors and custodians. Legislators should put partisan wrangling aside to consider “what's best for kids,” she said.
Lemon Grove school officials said the budget picture still seemed unsettled, depending partly on the fate of a proposal to sell lottery bonds or the fallback plan to raise the state sales tax.
“The message sent on the funding . . . is that it's with strings attached,” said Gina Potter, assistant superintendent for business services. Lemon Grove still faces funding reductions tied to declining enrollment, she said.
In the Vista Unified School District, administrators estimated the new proposal will pump an additional $3 million into the district budget for 2008-09, for revenues of $194 million.
“I think it will be interesting to see what their final proposals are,” said Superintendent Joyce Bales. “It's sort of like waiting for Christmas. You just have to wait until it gets here.”
Some said a strong lobbying campaign by school districts, teachers, parents and students against the cuts is starting to pay off.
“There were so many people in an uproar over the budget cuts and so many people getting pink slips,” said Beckee Handrich, whose daughter is a sophomore at El Cajon Valley High School.
Staff writers Bruce Lieberman, Leonel Sanchez, Chris Moran and Linda Lou contributed to this report.
Jeff Ristine: (760) 737-7578; jeff.ristine@uniontrib.com
