6/7/05 -- A heated dispute has broken out between California’s education community and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over what was promised in a school funding deal that helped close last year’s nearly $20 billion state budget deficit.
At the time, state educators agreed to forego $2 billion in state money promised under Proposition 98, a funding guarantee for public schools approved by California voters in 1988.
But after seeing the governor’s recent budget proposal, many education groups are up in arms, claiming Schwarzenegger had promised during the earlier budget negotiations to give schools a fair share of any additional state revenue in future years and eventually give K-12 schools the funds promised under Proposition 98.
Not only does the governor’s budget proposal fall short of what educators expected, they are incensed by a new state ballot initiative they say the governor is preparing to overturn key provisions of Proposition 98 permanently.
The dispute has galvanized the state’s education community and sparked a series of fiery public attacks on the governor. A coalition of education groups has organized protest rallies across the state, and the California Teachers Association has been attacking the governor’s integrity in a series of political advertisements.
Earlier this month, Kerry Clegg, president of the California School Boards Association (CSBA), stood on the steps of the state Capitol and spoke out against the priorities set by the governor in his budget. Backed by more than 100 school board members, Clegg called for Schwarzenegger to begin to restore some of the funding owed to public education.
“That’s what we expect the governor to do,” he said. “That’s what he promised to do, and that’s what we want.”
Schwarzenegger repeatedly has denied making any promises about future funding and in mid-May called attacks on his integrity a “right-out lie.”
What’s more, the governor’s supporters argue the new budget proposal boosts education spending by $3 billion, including funds for class-size reduction, lower-performing school districts, and tutoring. The total $50 billion education budget is the largest in California history.
That hasn’t satisfied public education groups, which contend some new funding proposed by the governor already was owed schools from previous years.
And, with a rebounding economy expected to generate about $6 billion in unanticipated state revenue, their budget agreement with the governor entitles schools to another $3.1 billion.
But it is the governor’s breaking his word to school groups -- at least as they interpret what he promised -- that has added an extra layer of anger and bitterness to the debate. To win over skeptics in the education community, several state education leaders toured the state to sell the budget agreement.
“We put our neck on the line,” says CSBA Assistant Executive Director Rick Pratt. Executive Director Scott P. Plotkin and other CSBA leaders met several times with local school board members to ease skepticism about the budget deal.
“We talked to board members and got them to agree with us -- that given the situation we were confronted with last year, this was the best we could do,” Pratt says. “We could trust this governor; he would be a man of his word.”
That might have been so until recently, Pratt adds, when “with no warning, he pulled the rug from under us.”
And the governor is starting to feel the heat, Pratt says. While newspaper accounts point to a drop in the governor’s approval ratings -- partly because his budget has a negative impact on other important state constituents -- the change in the politicalDclimate can be seen when Schwarzenegger travels around the state.
Only months ago, when the governor attended events, he “could get out [of his car] at the front door and wave at an adoring crowd,” Pratt says. “Now, he’s going in the side entrance, because the crowds greeting him are not the adoring crowds he’s used to. They’re picketers and protesters.”