Governor’s budget puts schools at risk

Governor Jerry Brown released his 2011-12 state budget on January 10, and, as he warned it would, it contained deep cuts to all manner of public programs and services. The new governor wants to solve once-and-for-all the state’s ongoing multi-billion budget gap (currently estimated at over $25 billion). To do that, he is making the hard decisions he promised – proposing $12.5 billion in cuts mostly to health and human service programs, but also including the elimination of almost all state funding to public libraries, closing many state parks, and deep cuts to higher education, including community colleges.

But those cuts only take care of about half of the problem. So, he is proposing that a proposition be put before the voters in June, asking them to approve the extension of about $10 billion in taxes that are currently in place, but about to expire.

Expressing strong concern that K-12 schools have “borne the brunt” of spending cuts over the past few rounds of multi-billion state budget reductions, the governor is trying to find a way to avoid additional cuts to schools.

The budget adds yet another payment delay to schools – adding to the $7 billion in late payments already in place. Both of these actions will result in additional local costs to schools. Districts must find ways to absorb all inflationary increases for the third year in a row; and the additional state payment delays will increase local borrowing costs, as schools are forced to cover costs as they await what will now be almost $10 billion in deferred or late state reimbursements.

But it is the threat of far greater cuts embedded in this budget proposal that has schools most concerned. The governor has made it clear that without a voter-approved tax extension, he must call for significant additional cuts to K- 12 education. In other words, the protection of school funding will be left up to California voters.

The governor said that additional savings would have to be found in the absence of voters approving tax extensions. Federal law prevents deeper cuts to human and social services beyond those already proposed. Accordingly, the only other places to get the amount of additional savings needed to balance the budget – would be from K-12 education, higher education, and Department of Corrections. Because the state’s education funding is at more than three times that provided for each of those other two sectors, it will be K-12 education where the primary cuts will have to be levied to balance the budget. Current estimates are that without tax extensions, cuts to local schools would be in the $2-$4 billion range, or about $300-$600 per student.