Los Angeles–Assemblyman Mike Davis hosted a town hall meeting on the impact of the Governor’s May Revise at Bethel AME Church on Saturday, May 31, 2008. The town hall was held from 10:00am to 12:00 noon.

At the meeting, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent David Brewer, speaking from the perspective of the LAUSD, stated that entitlement programs benefiting poor children will still be cut from the budget, as in the May revise.

“Complete funding to Education is a major priority for Assembly Democrats even if it means supporting a reasonable tax to provide the necessary funding for California students,” stated Assemblyman Davis.

The guest speaker for the town hall meeting was Ms. Jean Ross, Executive Director of the California Budget Project, an organization which engages in independent fiscal and policy analysis. Other panelists included: Ms Billie Greer, Director, Los Angeles Office of the Governor; Nancy Watson, Policy Director, Community Health Councils, Inc; and Dr. Santiago Jackson, Director of Governmental Affairs, LAUSD.   

The panelists agreed that the Governor’s May revise saves even more students than originally expected, keeps prisoners from an early furlough, and allows districts some flexibility to take categorical dollars and use them for general fund expenditures.

Governor’s Office Representative, Billie Greer acknowledged that one of the most important solutions to our current crisis is the establishment of a plan to better manage our underachieving asset–the California Lottery.  The goal of developing this private public partnership is that the state will be able to acquire advance funding against the revenues generated in this venture.

Residents of the area expressed the belief that education and health care should be top priorities for state funding. Additionally, questions were raised about the cuts to transportation, and need to raise revenues considering the absence of the Vehicle License Fee (VLF).

 “I believe the VLF would keep our budget in a much safer zone to fund the state’s critical programs,” remarked Assemblyman Davis. “A balanced approached to looking at our budget should not only include a limit on spending but also a need to create additional revenues so that we can fully fund education. California is around 46 in the nation in education, while our state has greater revenues than any other state in the nation. You get what you pay for,” Assemblyman Davis revealed.

Even though the Governor is less likely to support a tax, we look forward to work with him on a solution to our state’s budget problem. I hope that the lottery proposal is a winning idea that will result in a balanced budget in a timely manner so that our constituents who need to be paid will not suffer. We also have concern about having to engage in more loans. Most of all, I can not over emphasize the importance of fully funding education and not giving up on a universal health care proposal,” Assemblyman Davis concluded.