BUDGET CRISIS
A message from Dr. Don Phillips
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Thank you for your collective efforts to contact legislators and the Governor on behalf of public education funding. We have obviously made a difference in Sacramento.
The Governor is proposing to fully fund the Proposition 98 commitment to public education, which has been significantly reduced by the loss of state revenue during these difficult economic times. Full Proposition 98 funding would represent several billion dollars more to California education than what the Governor’s budget contained in January. He is also calling for a budget stabilization package that would be better for education long-term than his original proposal. Unfortunately, the majority of what he is proposing is based on changes to the state lottery system. This would require approval by California voters and may also have implications for ongoing lottery revenue. The earliest this issue could be placed on the ballot would be November 2008 and, if it does not pass, he is proposing an additional one percent temporary sales tax to generate the revenue to build a “rainy day” fund.
The bottom line is that news is clearly better than January. What is not clear are the details of the proposal and the implications of having the sale of the lottery at the center of his proposal. We will be seeking clarification as to what we can definitely count on for budgeting purposes over the next week or two.
Therefore, I am cautiously optimistic that Poway Unified will not need to make the planned $16.275 million in reductions for next year. The reduction target would be significantly less given the Governor’s proposal, but would still likely represent at least $8 million in budget cuts. If this comes to pass, our financial picture would be much improved, but the cuts still go too deep. Our legislators should be increasing their financial commitment to our students in order to prepare them to be productive and contributing members of our great state and country. We will need to continue to push Sacramento for stable and adequate funding and greater local flexibility, to place California back on the top tier of states in terms of school funding.
We will be taking budget and staffing recommendations to the May 27 Board of Education meeting. We will keep you posted as we learn more.
A Message from your Foundation
Thank you for helping to make a difference in Sacramento. We are in a much better position than earlier this year but we're not out of the woods yet. We urge you to continue to stay in contact with your legislators and let them know how you feel about our children's education. We can make a difference.
Below are the additional documents and other links.
- “Budget Alert” handout spells things out for us - February 2008
For more information, we also recommend these sources:
To be added to the California State PTA "Legislation email alert list," please send your name and email address to:
leginfo@capta.org.
To be added to the Ninth District PTA email list for Legislation updates, please send your name and email address to
Ninth-D-PTA-Leg@san.rr.com.
This page was last modified on Monday, May 31, 2010 10:44:06 PM