Vantage point: No way to run a railroad
By:
CSBA President Jill Wynns
Published: January 30, 2012
At least four initiatives that will authorize tax revenues for schools are under discussion in Sacramento. Two have been filed with the Attorney General’s Office, which means that they cannot be changed and still make the tight timelines they must meet in order to qualify for the November statewide ballot. It is pretty clear that what the whole education community would have liked to see—a consensus plan that we could all support—is not in the cards.
Many political leaders and well-meaning community representatives have come up with a variety of plans they say will address the shortfall in funding for schools. The Advancement Project, the Think Long Committee for California, Children Now, the California Federation of Teachers and other labor organizations all have proposals in the pipeline. These proposals purport to fund or protect schools, although we do not see significant funding increases for schools.
The governor has proposed a new version of his revenue initiative from last year to reinstate temporary income and sales tax increases that have expired. This initiative contains an additional trigger mechanism to impose severe cuts on schools in midyear if the proposition fails. It could mean a $400 per-student cut in the middle of the 2012-13 school year. We would be expected to manage it by negotiating a three-week reduction in the school year—three months after it starts.
What’s wrong with this picture? After years of preparation, CSBA filed the Robles-Wong lawsuit to address the failure of the state to meet its constitutional obligations to provide and fund a free, high-quality public education to all our children. You will remember that we worked for years to do the groundwork for this lawsuit. We worked with our partners to develop a strong consensus that significantly more revenue was needed for schools in California. We have continued to pursue the legal steps necessary for this case to work its way through the courts. We have made clear that the way to develop a new, better and constitutional school finance system is to work collaboratively with education partners to design a comprehensive system. The last thing we need are more complexities piled on a system that already is incomprehensible to almost everyone.
Where do we find ourselves today? It is likely that we will be supporting school funding measures. If they make it to the ballot, how could CSBA not support them? We will be happy to have a more difficult funding system with added small amounts of funding because we are desperate for any increase in funding and even more desperate to avoid additional cuts to schools already holding on by a tiny thread.
What are we doing, here in the richest state in the richest country that the world has ever seen, acting like we cannot afford public schools? We can and must invest in the future if we want to have one. We may feel like the world is crazy and turned upside down but, as always, we do what we must. Still, as they say, this is no way to run a railroad!