Today, students protested the expected cuts in the Alameda Unified budget, especially the loss of high school athletics. The topic kind of took over the AM class, because students had lots of questions and thoughts. I like students to pay attention to and try to change the world, so I gave the subject time in my room.
The kids were pretty upset about the cuts, pretty excited about taking action, and pretty determined to do something. And so I promised to put out some information for people to think about, check, discuss, and share.
The starting point, I guess, should be the proposed cuts for Alameda Unified over the next 2 years. You can find that here:
http://www.alameda.k12.ca.us/education/components/whatsnew/default.php?sectiondetailid=15088
Click on the following item:
Okay. Now you’ve probably heard that this is not the first time that the Governor turned to education to solve a fiscal problem for the state. When he ran for office the first time, Mr. Schwarzenegger was elected based on two promises: to refund the vehicle licensing fee, and to balance the state budget. When he took office, he quickly realized that he could not give money back to people, AND provide the full services people wanted, AND balance the budget. Governor Schwarzenegger did not go to the people of California and confess his error, asking forgiveness and understanding. Instead, he pushed through a bond measure–took out a loan to pay the bills–and borrowed $2 billion from education. He did this by asking educational organizations to accept $2 billion less in Proposition 98 funds than he constitutionally had to give education. Those education groups agreed to the loan. When time came to repay that loan, the Governor disagreed about how much he owed. The California Teachers’ Association, among others, had to sue him to have the full amount restored.
Don’t take my word for it; here’s an article from the L.A. Times that explains it in more detail: http://choosingdemocracy.blogspot.com/2005/04/gov-owes-apology-and-2billion-la-times.html
The budget deficit itself is mostly from decisions that the Governor made completely on his own, and they trace back to his campaign promises as well. It is not, actually, due to the economic downturn and housing crisis. Those things make the budget situation worse, but the real problem comes from Governor Schwarzenegger’s promise to repeal the vehicle licensing fee and to balance the budget. The end of the licensing fee has cost the state $6 billion of the state’s $16 billion deficit. His bond measure, to keep his promise of “balancing” the budget, has cost the state another $3 billion.
So more than half of the budget deficit is his and his alone. Again, don’t take my word for it: http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2008/01/the_education_o.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9903E3D9143FF93AA25751C1A9659C8B63
But the big, glaring problem that the state will face for the next ten to twenty years, if not longer, is how much the Governor’s budget cuts will COST California.
Yes, cost. Almost immediately, too. The Governor’s budget will actually increase financial problems throughout the state, but will also push most of them onto local communities to cope with and pay for. Because every time you cut education, you need to increase law enforcement. It takes $4 in police work to make up for $1 of education cuts. So the Governor will pay down the state deficit by creating massive and massively expensive problems for local communities to face. Again, you don’t need to believe me. You can believe the researchers–
http://www.news.wisc.edu/6148
Study: Early intervention cuts crime, dropout rates
May 8, 2001
by Brian Mattmiller
…
“Taken collectively, Reynolds says these findings have major economic implications, given that special education, school failure and crime carry huge social costs. Reynolds says a related study, also co-authored with Temple and UW-Madison’s Dylan Robertson and Emily Mann, estimated that every dollar invested in the program returns $4 to society by reducing public spending on remedial and corrective programs and increasing economic well being.”
The original article can be found here, at the Journal of the American Medical Association website. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/285/18/2339
–or the police organizations throughout the state–
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gradcrime26dec26,1,1863849.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=1&cset=true (12/26/07)
Cutting dropout rates also fights crime, study says
A 10% graduation-rate increase would annually prevent 500 homicides in California, analysis finds.
By Paloma Esquivel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 26, 2007
…
“It is a tragedy. We have 50% of students drop out of high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District,” Baca said. “Many of them are going to be in L.A. city jails as adults.”
In a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Baca, along with Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian, Huntington Park Police Chief Michael Trevis and more than 200 other law enforcement officials, declared an “urgent need to act now” to keep students from dropping out.
The Fresno Bee also covered this:
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/296176.html (1/2/08)
If the Governor has his wish, look for crime rates to increase and graduation rates to decrease starting this Fall. And look for local communities to raise property taxes, decrease services, or both–to meet the increased needs of the police.
Whatever your opinion, for or against the education cuts, I hope you’ll share it with Governor Schwarzenegger. Here’s how to reach him:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Web Site: gov.ca.gov/
E-mail: governor@governor.ca.gov
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 445-4633
Main District Office:
300 South Spring Street, Suite 167
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Phone: (213) 897-0322
Fax: (213) 897-0319
