Legislative Action: Governance teams and allies make the case for public schools
Published: May 25, 2010
Determined to speak out against cuts in state funding that have forced the layoff of its entire counseling staff and 5 percent of its teachers, a five-member team from El Centro Elementary School District made the long trip from Imperial County to Sacramento for CSBA’s 2010 Legislative Action Conference May 23-24.
The board president, district superintendent, parents and the head of the local teachers union joined some 200 other governance leaders from around the state for two days of training and lobbying at the association’s annual advocacy event at the state capital.
“We can provide a wide range of perspectives about what our families are going through and how critical our schools are to the well-being of our community,” El Centro school board president Jack Dunnam said as he and his team readied their lobbying message. “I think having our superintendent, parents and teachers on hand to describe what’s happening to our schools emphasizes the importance of our message.”
Briefings on state policy and politics
As Legislative Action’s comprehensive, two-day conference program got under way Sunday, CSBA staff and key Sacramento insiders—including California Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor and Rick Miller, former deputy superintendent of the California Department of Education—provided detailed analyses of the fiscal challenges facing the state’s public schools.
Rick Pratt, CSBA’s assistant executive director of governmental relations, told conference attendees that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s latest spending proposals, released May 14, would cut the Proposition 98 school funding guarantee by $4.1 billion. Pratt said the governor’s proposed budget would reduce per-pupil spending by nearly 12 percent when compared to 2008-09 levels. He charged that the governor has manipulated the numbers to support his inaccurate claim that his budget maintains state funding for schools “at approximately the same level for 2010-11 as schools received in 2009-10.”
In regional strategy sessions Sunday evening, board members and other advocates for public education discussed key messages with peers from neighboring school districts and county offices of education and planned for Monday’s face-to-face meetings with local elected officials.
CSBA Executive Director Scott P. Plotkin told them to prepare for some difficult discussions. “Tomorrow you will encounter an environment that if you can believe it, is worse than last year,” he said. “And last year was worse than the year before.”
‘Your efforts here will have an impact’
CSBA President Frank Pugh urged his fellow advocates to take a bold stand on behalf of children. “When you go across the street to the Capitol, I want you armed for bear,” he said. “Take no prisoners. Your efforts here will have an impact and make a difference.”
In meetings with elected officials and their staff on Monday, school board members and other school advocates stressed four points:
- The governor’s budget proposes a $2.4 billion cut to K-12 schools—$400 per student—in 2010-11, on top of $17 billion in cuts to schools already imposed since September 2008.
- The governor’s proposal would also gouge school funding by requiring districts to spend about $1.9 billion of 2010-11 Proposition 98 funding to cover 2009-10 expenses.
- Current law calls requires the state to repay schools in 2010-11 for years in which the Proposition 98 guarantee was not met. State law also specifies that the Proposition 98 minimum funding guarantee would not be reduced as the result of the gas tax swap—part of complex legislation signed into law earlier this year to plug holes in the state budget. Legislators need to follow the laws they passed.
- Revenues need to be part of the solution to the state’s epic budget shortfalls.
‘Real children in real classrooms’
Representatives from El Centro were part of a larger advocacy group that included school district and county office board members from Imperial and Riverside counties in CSBA’s Region 18. CSBA governmental relations chair Tracey Vackar, a Moreno Valley Unified School District board member and veteran Legislative Action participant, said lawmakers respond to constituents who take the time to make their cases in person.
“We were very lucky to have parents and teachers represented on El Centro’s team,” she said. “Our legislators need to hear personal stories about the impact of these cuts on real children in real classrooms.”
In meetings with Assembly members Paul Cook, R-Yucaipa, and V. Manuel Perez, D-Cathedral City, El Centro advocates said this year’s budget cuts forced the district to lay off four guidance counselors—the entire counseling staff—along with 14 teachers, an assistant principal and several classified staff members.
“We have 30 percent unemployment, and families are really suffering,” said El Centro Superintendent Bob Pletka. “We have higher rates of family tension, and kids are acting out. They need counseling support more than ever.”
El Centro parent Juan Verdugo, father of two children who attend El Centro public schools, said the Legislative Action Conference gave him and other school supporters the chance to do “something positive.”
“These cuts directly affect us as parents,” Verdugo said. “We are there at the core. Our children rely on these programs. Instead of being angry all the time, I wanted to be part of the solution.”
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