Educators to Brown: Flexibility
Brown: Be sitting down when you read budget
Gov.-elect Jerry Brown warned educators at a forum at UCLA on Tuesday that they, along with everyone else, should brace for bad news (“Please sit down if you’re reading the stories on the budget on Jan. 10”) when he releases next year’s budget. Anticipating more cuts, school board members and superintendents asked in return for more flexibility to spend money how they see fit and more ability to raise money locally. A few questioners pleaded for the governor to include new taxes (or at least an extension of $8 billion worth set to expire next year) in the mix of solutions.
The two-hour session was the second stop in a week on Brown’s Sober Reality Tour – an effort to get Californians to understand the magnitude of the $28 billion deficit projected for the next 18 months. Since the total has already incorporated a $2 billion drop in Proposition 98 funding for next year (corresponding to a drop in projected state revenue), there is virtually no chance public schools won’t face severe cuts.
A comment from the audience that K-12 schools and community colleges comprise 40 percent of the budget yet have taken 50 percent of the cuts – a familiar refrain in school circles – drew little sympathy from Brown. Some cuts are easier than others, he said. Courts have ordered hundreds of millions of dollars of additional spending on prison health care, and federal health and welfare mandates add to costs, he said. “We have a grumpy set of claimants. It’s hard to compare apples and oranges and school books,” he said.
The $28 billion deficit includes a $6 billion shortfall for the current year. Brown’s incoming Finance Director, Ana Matosantos, implied that there would be no midyear education cuts. That’s because Brown said he wants the Legislature to pass next year’s budget, incorporating this year’s deficit, within 60 days – by mid-March. That could allow Brown to ask voters to consider a tax package before the new fiscal year begins July 1. But he gave no indication that would be his thinking.
Then at least give local districts more flexibility “to create a survival plan,” Phil Quon, superintendent of Cupertino Union School District, asked Brown. Many categorical programs, limiting spending to a purpose dictated by the Legislature, remain restricted.
Last year, the Legislature took the strings off $4.5 billion in categorical programs, including adult education and teacher training money, through 2012-13. But restrictions remain on $7.5 billion more, including class-size reduction grants, career technical partnership academies, school transportation, and some programs targeted at English learners and low-income students whom legislators would want to continue to see served.
Saying the district is “at the cliff,” Bernie Rhinerson, the chief district relations officer at the San Diego Unified School District, called for lowering the threshold for passing a parcel tax from a two-thirds majority to 55 percent. In the last election, a district parcel tax drew 51 percent approval, within striking distance, he said.
For years, Democratic Sen. Joe Simitian has proposed putting the issue on the ballot, but he has been unable to move his bill for lack of a single Republican vote in the Senate.
Joel Shapiro, superintendent in South Pasadena, said he favored a broad state tax and the extension of temporary taxes to help all districts instead of relying on localized parcel taxes. “There can be no more cuts without devastating education,” he said.
Jo Loss, president of the state PTA, offered the support of the organization’s one million members if Brown took a “balanced approach to the budget.”
The biggest challenge, Brown said, is the perception that the deficit can be erased by eliminating waste in state government. Cutting every state employee would save only $9 billion. Satisfying a public that wants more services but is unwilling to pay more for them is asking a governor to “square the circle.”
But Brown also said there is some excess and duplication in state government. To set an example, Brown has said he would cut the governor’s office budget by 20 percent. On Tuesday, he vowed to up that to 25 percent.
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This is silly. Any pay reductions for employees are through furloughs as in, less work days for less pay. Salaries and benefits represent nearly every penny of increased spending over the past two decades ( and please it is incumbent on reporters and bloggers to be clear about actual cuts vs. flat spending). The legislative analyst has been recommending releasing categorical funds for years. Categorical funds represent political constituencies so are held hostage. School employees need to take REAL cuts in pay across the board as should all government employees in this oh- so- blue state drowning in red ink. I suggest taking a hard look at the classified workers’ unions and how much they extract from budgets. Off topic for this blog but in terms of the endless deficits, firefighters are killing cities and counties, police, and so on from clerks to managers. Government, is out of control.
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Assuming the legislature goes ahead with the “draconian” budget that Brown will propose in January it begs the question as to why we couldn’t have done this with Arnold as governor. Tax increases at a two-thirds approval will not happen(at least it would appear that the voters are not ready for this-ok with me but not likely statewide) so whatever he proposes to cut will have to stand so I can’t help but wonder why this could not have been done six years ago and we would at least have had a balanced budget for a number of years and learned to deal with the new reality. Our democratic system remains paralyzed by partisan politics at the federal level( i don’t consider the latest Obama-Republican agreement to be a real breakthrough) but now we have a chance to move forward in California although there is going to be a lot of blood spilled in the process. This will be very interesting.
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Do the math:
Flexibility – accountability = chaos
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As a Community College Trustee and a parent of two young elementary students, I note it is difficult to build trust among the electorate when mid-level and top-level public administrators earn salaries way above the average college graduate. A classroom teacher making $35,000 a year or even $45,000 a year elicits much sympathy. A teacher making $65,000 a year elicits some sympathy. A teacher making $85,000 a year elicits little sympathy. An administrator bringing in between $125,000 and $175,000 elicits no sympathy from most members of the public. The six-digit earners should have very few financial complaints given the retirement packages and significant holiday/vacation packages they receive. A Master’s Degree outside the hard sciences does not by itself justify large salaries simply due to the piece of paper. MA degrees in social work, history, political science, journalism, theology, literature, sociology, etc., are honorable, but they aren’t automatic tickets to six digit compensation. The M.Ed. degree holder deserves respect, but currently receives compensation significantly above what’s earned by people with advanced degrees in other social sciences. So, the sympathy factor is low. There is little financial sacrifice by today’s California by educational agency administrators as most are able to own property, drive a decent vehicle, eat what they want and enjoy regular vacations.
Another big challenge is that the folks in the room for many roundtable discussions are in one of three categories: a) elected Trustees who make just a few hundred dollars a month and have no personal staff or work space at their Districts; b) full-time administrators earning at least $125,000 a year and sometimes in the neighborhood of $275,000 a year; 3) journalists, foundation staff or legislative staff who may have good ideas but who rarely have been in decision making roles for education agencies or recently have served as public school classroom teachers. We need more day-to-day classroom teachers involved in discussions of practical solutions.
I believe it’s reasonable to expect every elected City Council member and every elected Community College Trustee to be aware of the demographics, Academic Performance Index scores and trends at every public school in their service areas. Municipal leaders have to respond to disparate neighborhood needs and schools cannot be expected to be the primary agency advocates for kids from the last bell of the day to the first bell of the next day. City officials have to step up. I include Community College Trustees because many of today’s third graders will be in Community College in less than ten years. The plans we vote on for today’s college curricula take several years to implement, especially as budgets constrict. And, after the next round of state cuts, college district boards soon will vote to dissolve whole sections or even departments of college offerings.
Bottom line: we have to expect more of everyone. Teachers will have to work harder within their chosen career. But, the financial rewards are reasonably good compared to similar work for which many teachers are qualified in this decade’s private sector. Administrators absolutely have to work efficiently and longer and must ooze energy and vision, in addition to inspiring the public. Six-digit salaries are not gimmes and no one is entitled to high compensation levels. Elected officials, especially the 99 percent of California’s semi-volunteer elected officials, absolutely have to step up and know more, learn more, be more. It’s a lot of work for very little glamour, but we all have to be prepared to interact with a quickly changing community demographic. I suggest it should be a minimum goal for every future elected official in California to be able to communicate at a basic level in at least one language besides English.
If we’re going to close the achievement gap and gain widespread competence in math, language and science, we must aim for a culture of achievement across California. Parents are the primary educators of their children. However, society at large suffers if we don’t hold everyone equally accountable to implement lofty aspirations.
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