Educators Warn of Plan’s Dire Impact

Education leaders and school district superintendents responded furiously to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget plans Thursday, saying that the proposals would gut funding guarantees that have protected schools for more than a decade.

Schwarzenegger is expected to propose a state constitutional amendment to alter Proposition 98, approved by voters in 1988 to ensure that schools and community colleges receive at least 40% of state spending each year.

Proposition 98 has served as a financial buoy for schools, establishing a statewide funding base that rises when the economy is strong.

It has also allowed the state to hold back school funding when revenues slump, with the requirement of paying back the money. Those funds become part of the state’s minimum obligation to schools in future years.

Schwarzenegger’s plans would eliminate protections and could strip billions of dollars from schools, education groups said.

School district leaders warned of dire consequences, including school closures, layoffs, larger classes, fewer buses and requiring school employees to pay more of their healthcare costs.

A report released this week by the Rand Corp. underscored educators’ concerns: It showed that California’s level of funding per pupil has fallen below the national average for nearly three decades.

“It’s a terribly serious undermining of public education,” Los Angeles schools Supt. Roy Romer said. “You will put public education in the state of California on a roller coaster that depends on what happens with the governor and Legislature each year.”

But administration officials said the governor’s proposals would put an end to political leaders raiding education funds to help balance the budget. Schwarzenegger and the Legislature took such action last year, diverting $2 billion originally earmarked for education spending.

Altering Proposition 98 is part of Schwarzenegger’s broader plan to make across-the-board budget cuts in state spending if legislators can’t resolve future deficits.

H.D. Palmer, deputy finance director of the state Department of Finance, said education would suffer the same degree of cuts as other agencies instead of falling victim to deeper reductions.

“I think when [educators] find out what’s in the budget, they will be pleasantly surprised to learn that the governor’s proposals ... will eliminate the ability of the Legislature or the governor to borrow from education,” Palmer said.

He also said the budget Schwarzenegger will unveil Monday will include a $2.9- billion increase for schools in the coming year -- a 7.1% rise in general fund education spending from this year and nearly twice the 4.2% rate of increase in overall state spending.

But that is still not as much as school districts were expecting or what they were owed this year.

Education groups complained that another Schwarzenegger proposal -- one that would require school districts, rather than the state, to fund contributions to California’s teacher retirement system -- would cut into the anticipated funding increases.

If that occurs, districts might have to renegotiate teachers’ contracts -- an unwelcome prospect that could trigger ugly battles with unions, education leaders said.

“We’re going to have strikes up and down the state as school districts pick up on this time bomb,” said Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Assn.

Plotkin and other education leaders in Sacramento assailed Schwarzenegger for reneging on a budget deal he made with education groups last year.

The deal allowed the state to suspend Proposition 98 for a year and forgo $2 billion owed to schools. In exchange, Schwarzenegger promised to protect schools against further cuts and he pledged to restore the $2 billion in the coming year’s budget.

Educators said they do not expect to get that money, or an additional $2.2 billion owed to schools as a result of the improving economy.

“I feel that teachers and children have been betrayed,” said Barbara Kerr, president of the California Teachers Assn., which negotiated the budget deal with Schwarzenegger. “I am very disappointed. We had an agreement. I worked very hard to have a bipartisan organization. Right now I don’t feel very bipartisan.”

This is the Schwarzenegger administration’s opening salvo in what is expected to be a protracted budget fight. The governor and the Legislature will haggle over the budget until May, when Schwarzenegger will release a revised spending plan.

School district leaders were scrambling Thursday to glean details of Schwarzenegger’s initial proposals -- and weighing new budget-cutting options.

In Santa Ana Unified, a heavily Latino district where more than two-thirds of the students are still learning English, Supt. Al Mijares said the governor’s plans could force increased class sizes in primary grades.

The Santa Ana district has struggled through three years of funding cuts in programs and administrative staff.

To help close a $29-million budget shortfall this year, Santa Ana’s teachers agreed to a 4% pay cut last March.

“I understand that we are in a fiscal crisis. I think everyone in public education understands that,” Mijares said. “But at some point you have to prioritize. We are, right now, on the edge. We cannot bear any more reductions in funding.”

The superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District sounded a more understanding note -- even as she prepared to go before her school board with a budget-cutting plan that may include closing as many as five schools.

“The governor has to look at the whole state, and I do understand his dilemma,” Supt. Arlene Ackerman said. “But at the same time, education is woefully underfunded. We have one of the strongest school accountability systems in the country, but we lack the resources to assure that students can succeed.”

Though school financing dominated Schwarzenegger’s education agenda during his State of the State address this week, he also proposed a system that would tie teachers’ pay to merit rather than seniority.

Education Secretary Richard J. Riordan said local school districts would work out details with teachers unions and the state. He said such things as teacher evaluations and student test scores could be weighed in pay decisions.

The merit pay idea drew immediate criticism from unions. The head of the Los Angeles teachers union issued a blunt assessment of the proposal, saying that it is unproved and would pit teachers against one another.

United Teachers Los Angeles President John Perez suggested spending more money in classrooms and reducing class sizes.

“Shouldn’t we do what other states are doing that is causing them to outperform us?” he asked. “First you try the ... proven methods, then you try something new. We haven’t tried what we know works in other states.”

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Times staff writers Cara Mia DiMassa and Evan Halper contributed to this report.