If We Value Education, We’ll Pay the Price

I live in a small town by the ocean, a slice of the paradise that is California. People have nice homes and new cars. We also have some very good schools with talented teachers and high-achieving students. People move here just for our schools. But our schools are going broke, and have been for years.

Every year the school district is forced to look for places to cut. Teachers’ aides, clerical staff, janitors, coaches, classroom supplies, teacher training, you name it -- all have been on the chopping block. This year, facing a projected budget deficit just shy of $2 million, the district is considering laying off more teachers, having schools share principals and increasing class size. One board member even suggested letting the school slide into receivership, just to send a message to the state that there is no more to cut.

And our schools are more fortunate than most. Our community has a local education foundation that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to help plug the gaps. But these days it seems that the foundation dollars are being used just to keep the wheels from falling off. The problem isn’t mismanagement. Sure, there have been mistakes, but the bottom line is there simply isn’t enough money.

Our school district isn’t alone in facing this cash crunch. In fact, many districts in California are in worse shape. Over the last four years, according to the California School Boards Assn., California has cut nearly $10 billion from its education budget. At the same time, skyrocketing costs for special education and other programs are pushing many school districts to the brink of insolvency. Meanwhile, schools face unprecedented demands for improving student achievement and meeting tough new state and federal requirements.

And things are about to get worse. No matter how he wants to spin it, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has reneged on a commitment to provide schools with more than $2 billion in funds he held back last year to address the state budget deficit, blowing a hole in many school district budgets. As for this year, the governor’s “budget increase” for schools doesn’t even cover the projected rate of inflation, let alone increased costs. Districts across California stand to lose millions. This in a state that was already funding its schools at a lower per-pupil rate than 43 other states, according to Education Week magazine.

President Bush’s recently proposed budget cuts funding for secondary and elementary education in California by $1.2 billion between 2006 and 2010, and by another $500 million in 2010, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This includes cuts in desperately needed special education funds, which are being slashed by more than $800 million, even as requirements for serving special education students are expanding.

Californians are going to have to decide if we truly value quality public education for all students. If so, we are going to have to pay for it. More than likely, that means raising taxes.

Already I can hear the screams from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. and the state Chamber of Commerce, where new taxes are anathema. But California schools cannot do the impossible; they need more money.

John McDonald lives in Manhattan Beach.