Copyright© 2004 by School Services of California, Inc.

Volume 17                   For Publication Date: December 17, 2004             No. 24

Education Coalition Says: “Honor the Agreement”  

The Education Coalition, a coalition of statewide education management and labor organizations, has released a strong position paper on the newly projected Proposition 98 funding allocation for 2004-05 and subsequent years. In a statewide teleconference held on December 9, 2004, the Coalition called on the Governor and the state Legislature to honor the agreement to suspend Proposition 98 and reduce K-14 funding by exactly $2.0 billion.  

K-14 education has already lost a cumulative amount of $12.4 billion in cuts and funding deferrals over the last several years—more than other interest areas—and the $2.0 billion lost in 2004-05 due to suspension is an ongoing cut for the foreseeable future. If the state fails to provide any additional Proposition 98 funding for 2004-05—which the Legislative Analyst projects at $1.4 billion—this ongoing cut would increase accordingly.  

Revenues Are Up

The agreement contained in last year’s budget language provided that if growth factors pushed the Proposition 98 guarantee above or below original projections, the Governor and the Legislature would adjust funding in order to maintain the agreed-upon suspension level of $2.0 billion. The education community thus risked losing money with this “deal.” Had state revenues gone down, education funding would be reduced to maintain the suspension amount of $2.0 billion. But now, with revenues up to $2.0 billion, the Legislative Analyst recommends the Governor and Legislature withhold additional funding for K-14 schools required under Proposition 98 and the 2004-05 budget agreement. Not surprisingly, the education community’s press conference was to express their opposition to reneging on the 2004-05 budget agreement.  

According to the Legislative Analyst, given the state’s projected large, structural budget shortfall and the suspension of Proposition 98, which has already occurred, the LAO would encourage the Legislature and Governor to leave 2004-05 Proposition 98 funding at its current level of appropriations. This could be done by amending last year’s Budget trailer bill (SB 1101), or by simply not making additional Proposition 98 appropriations in the current year. This option would save $2.8 billion in 2004-05 and 2005-06 combined, yet would not reduce the current level of educational services. In 2005-06, the increase in the Proposition 98 guarantee would fully fund the base program as adjusted for growth and cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) and still support limited additional spending.  

Legislature Takes a Wait-and-See Attitude  

When the newly elected Legislature returned to Sacramento in early December, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D- Los Angeles ) and newly selected Senate Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) held a joint press conference to discuss their agendas for the upcoming year. During the meeting, both legislators punted to Governor Schwarzenegger on questions of whether the education “deal” would hold.  

“The Governor made those deals, we’ll wait to hear from him how he plans to honor them,” Perata said, referring to the anticipated release of the Governor’s State Budget Proposal on January 10, 2005.

—Ken Hall, Robert Miyashiro, and
Arnold Bray