California Educator

MARCH 2010

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CTA, Education Coalition press governor to keep budget promise, pay back schools ACTION Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators to honor the prom- ises they made to public edu- cation during the protracted 2009-10 budget battle. At a recent news conference in Sacramento, CTA President David A. Sanchez and coali- tion leaders rebuked the gov- ernor for proposing more cuts to schools in his January spending proposal. That plan would renege on the July 2009 budget he signed into law, as well as the commitment to restore more than $11.2 bil- lion to students and schools as required by Proposition 98, the voter-approved minimum school funding guarantee. C TA and its statewide Edu- cation Coalition partners have been pressing Gov. “The governor claims he’s protecting education, but he is in fact hurting students by cut- ting billions more from our schools and colleges and breaking education promises he and the Legislature made last year,” said Sanchez. “Our schools and our students are reeling from massive cuts — more than $17.2 billion — made in recent years, yet the governor is reneging on the agreement he signed to restore funds to public schools.” Together, CTA and the coal i t ion represent more than 1 million Californians engaged in helping all stu- dents achieve educat ional excel lence. These include parents, school administra- tors, education support pro- fessionals, teachers and oth- er school supporters. During the news event, co- alition leaders cited a recent re- port from UCLA — “Education Opportunities in Hard Times” — that found more than 74 percent of elementary princi- pals report that class sizes are swelling. Coalition representa- tives also cited a poll by the nonpartisan Public Policy In- stitute of California that found 82 percent of Californians op- pose reductions in school fund- ing as a method of closing the state budget deficit. The coalition news confer- ence is just one element of the Continued on page 35 Bottom line for generating new revenues The state has two main routes to raising revenues. The first is closing tax loopholes that allow wealthy special interests, including corporations, to escape paying their fair share. CTA is currently circulating an initiative for signatures that would close some of the most egregious of these loopholes and raise hundreds of millions in new revenue every year. The second avenue involves reducing the two-thirds supermajority required to pass a budget bill or raise taxes, thereby preventing a small number of lawmakers — about one-third — from blocking the passage of a budget that would protect schools and legislation that would close loopholes and raise new funds. Senate Budget Chair Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego) has introduced a constitutional amendment, SCA 9, that would accomplish this. The CTA-supported measure was under consideration in two legislative committees as the Educator went to press. CTA-sponsored measure would expand role of teachers in charter design behalf of CTA that will expand the role of teachers in the design, operation and gover- nance of charter schools. CTA- sponsored AB 2320 will also make the governance and oper- ation of charters more transpar- ent, more representative of the students in their neighbor- hoods, and more accountable to the communities they serve. A ssembly Member Sandré Swanson (D-Oakland) has introduced a measure on The bill would expand the authority of local school boards, and limit the role of the state, in granting charters for schools. It would also encourage charter schools to achieve a ra- cial, ethnic, and socioeconomic balance of students reflective of the general population of the school district. CTA has long sought to en- sure that charter schools are held to the same fiscal and ac- ademic accountability stan- 30 California Educator | SEPTEMBER 2009 OCTOBER 2009 dards that govern non-charter public schools. State education officials have found that, in absence of tight regulations, the operators of a number of charter schools have engaged in conflicts of interest and oth- er counterproductive actions. In other cases, poorly man- aged charter schools have failed midyear, forcing students to re- turn to regular schools within their school district. Unfortu- nately, in those situations, the districts may not receive any per-student funding because the appropriations were already given to the now-failed charter school. AB 2320 would tighten the f iscal overs ight of these schools and give teachers more power to ensure the academic effectiveness of the institution. The measure is expected to see its first hearing in the Assem- bly Education Committee. LEN FELDMAN

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