Gov. Wilson and Budget Stalemate
Why must everyone compromise except the governor? (“Budget Focus Shifts Back to Wilson as Revolt Is Stymied,” Aug. 11).
The education community has come to the table over and over and is even supporting the latest budget proposal produced by Republican Sen. Frank Hill and Democratic Assemblyman Phil Isenberg as a final solution to the budget stalemate. This measure, as Hill said on the Senate floor, is “about passing a budget that has no funny-money accounting changes. It’s about passing a budget that has $4 billion more in structural changes this year than what we got last year with $8 billion in taxes” and which has “$2 billion in concessions to the governor.”
No one likes the fiscal state we’re in. No one likes to see aid to welfare recipients cut, funding for schools cut, and less money for cities and counties. But the Hill/Isenberg plan, as the three Assembly-produced plans before it, is balanced, does not raise taxes, does not roll over the deficit and spreads the pain in a way so all can survive--including education.
Enough is enough. The Hill/Isenberg plan should be adopted. Then it should be signed by Gov. Wilson.
BILL HONIG, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Sacramento
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