Understanding Republican Legislators’ Budget Proposals for California’s Schools—and What is Really Still Missing

Appeared in the California Progress Report

May 1, 2008

By John Laird
Chair
Assembly Budget Committee

Last week Assembly and Senate Republicans presented their education budget proposal. This is a welcome move, as it shows they are concerned about the need to raise California's school funding levels out of the basement in national ranking—and it shows they're ready to engage in the discussion about how to solve California's budget crisis.

The Governor's January budget proposes to cut school funding by $4.8 billion. The legislative Republican proposal would restore only $2.1 billion of this reduction. By shifting funds around and making accounting changes legislative Republicans believe their proposal funds Proposition 98, the voter-approved minimum funding guarantee for schools. But what our schools need is not a reinterpretation of Proposition 98 formulas—what they need is adequate funding.

In their press conference releasing the proposal, they indicated their commitment to “maximize classroom funding,” and “hold schools harmless.” The challenge is to understand how they would do this given the fact that their proposal is still substantially below current education support.

And the only way to accomplish even this partial restoration of the governor's proposed cut is to cut other programs that benefit children throughout the state budget—such as child care and health care. And those cuts would have to go even deeper than the 10% across-the-board cuts the governor has already proposed.

I am glad the Republicans share our goal of protecting schools in our current dire fiscal crisis. Part of the Republican proposal—cutting critical programs, shifting accounting methods and eliminating the Quality Education Investment Act—runs counter to that important goal. And while we should consider education reforms that provide more local control, such reforms should not be an excuse or political cover for major cuts to our schools.

The Republican proposal demonstrates how difficult resolving this year's budget crisis will be—the first and only priority identified by legislative Republicans so far actually falls $2.7 billion short of full support. Their proposal comes less than three weeks before the May Revise, when we'll find out what the real numbers will be for setting Proposition 98 levels.

We need to have a full dialog on our schools with the best data available. This proposal demonstrates that without a balanced approach—no matter how you rearrange the books, schools will take a big cut from current support. We can do better for California's kids.

Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) is chair of the Assembly Budget Committee.