California School Districts in Peril

Cast of High School Musica

For the third time since December, lawmakers have attempted to establish a desperate budget rescue plan.

In Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s State of the State address on Thursday, the governor tacitly spoke about the potential cuts to education.

“Now,” he said. “Of course no one wants to take money from our gang fighting programs or from Medi-Cal or from education. Of course not. No one wants to pay more taxes or fees. But each of us has to give up something, because our country is in an economic crisis and our state simply doesn’t have the money.”

Schwarzenegger suggested that proposition 98, the state’s minimum funding formula for K-12 and community colleges, be cut by $6.6 billion compared to what it was this year. The school districts have widely stopped spending. It is common knowledge that this year’s checks will be a day late this year.

It is suspected that next year there will be teacher layoffs, increased class sizes, and cuts in supplies. Barney Finlay, a county education department’s chief financial official said, that in addition to possible mid-year cuts to address the state’s ballooning $42 billion in revenue shortfall, school districts like the 10 in the Santa Cruz region could be as high as $31 million over the next 18 months.

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