Superintendent's Message
Kenneth M. Young
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
On January 10, Governor Schwarzenegger released his proposal to address the current state budget shortfall of $3.3 billion and a projected $14.5 billion shortage for next school year. The governor proposed to address some of this shortfall through major cuts in public education funding and suspending Proposition 98. The major cuts to education included in the Governor’s proposal include:
- $2.6 billion from school districts basic per-student allocation
- $358 million from Special Education
- $199 million from child development programs
- $59.6 million from Proposition 49 Before and After School Programs
- $14.2 million from child nutrition programs
He also proposes to delay $1.3 billion in disbursements of funds to schools by two months.
Over the past nine years, California’s public education system has implemented a series of sweeping federal and state academic accountability reforms. Experts from a number of educational research foundations along with researchers at Stanford University all confirm that California's academic standards are among the most rigorous in the nation. Yet, California continues to lag behind a majority of other states in per-pupil funding. According to a report released this month from Education Week, California spends almost $1,900 less per student than the national average.
The proposed reductions in education funding would be disastrous to public schools and they are fundamentally inconsistent with the state’s goal of improving student achievement.
A state budget proposal designed to make major cuts in K-12 education is not a solution. We must work together on finding solutions that will start moving California back up towards - at a minimum - the national average in per-pupil funding rather than moving us to the bottom.
Kenneth M. Young
Riverside County
Superintendent of Schools