Posted by Lauren Girardin on March 17th, 2008
In light of the release of the report and recent events in education, Full Circle Fund member Jeff Camp, chair of our Education Circle and member of the Governor’s Committee on Excellence in Education, shares his views on and hopes for education in California:
“Thousands of young California teachers will soon receive “pink slips” informing them that there might not be a job for them next school year. California Governor Schwarzenegger has issued a draft state budget, which if enacted as-is, would decrease public education funding in the state, already 46th in the nation, by more than $700 per child. That decrease seems an unlikely outcome of the budget battle ahead, but school districts are constrained to planning according to the financial rules that have been given to them.”
“Even if a budget deal ultimately mitigates the cuts to education, the pink slips themselves do real harm. Instead of worrying about how best to educate their students, many teachers are worrying about whether there will be a job for them. Some will leave teaching for more secure employment. School leaders waste effort reading budget tea leaves.”
“Over time, because of the rules created by Proposition 13 (a.k.a. Prop 13) California’s government has become very reliant on income taxes, a revenue source that is very sensitive to economic fluctuations. California’s budget system makes no provision for this volatility. Budget votes in Sacramento require a two-thirds supermajority to pass each house of the legislature, plus the signature of the Governor. Furthermore, communities are largely blocked from responding to Sacramento shortfalls with local taxation, and most school districts (shamefully) carry minor reserves. Net impact: the kids are the shock absorbers.”
“That’s the context for today’s release, after a very long drumroll, of the findings and recommendations of Governor Schwarzenegger’s Committee on Education Excellence. I have served on this committee for more than two years. The Governor’s remarks on the committee’s report are available on his site”
“Given the cuts in the Governor’s January draft budget, some were surprised that the Governor expressed support for the committee’s recommendations – after all, many of the recommendations require additional spending. This is less a paradox than it would seem; the Governor expressed in his remarks that he supports investment in education, so long as that investment is purposeful and takes place in a functioning budget system. Fix the system first, he argues, so that investments can benefit children in a more stable way.”
“Meanwhile, faced with giant cuts against which they have no local recourse, local education leaders all over the state are doing the only thing they can: organizing. I’m an optimist: I think this is going to create amazing potential for real change. Under normal conditions, Californians tend to forget that their schools aren’t good enough. Righteously indignant parents, teachers and local leaders, however, may have the moral power to force change in a supermajoritarian system that hurts kids.”
“The risk, of course, is that the potential created by local organizing might be blown on too simple a message: don’t cut the kids. Protests do well with villains and simple messages, and with his January proposal the Governor cuts an attractive target. “Fix the system” is less pithy, and “provide rainy day reserves” just lacks the punch of “teachers for our kids.” No one even seems to remember that California used to be a representative democratic system before it became governed by ballot, and the constraints of a supermajority state budget were less painful when local government had more powerful role.”
“Civically engaged people like Full Circle Fund members have a role to play in asking their representatives to direct their energy toward fixing underlying problems at the same time they protect children. This moment should not be squandered, because the failures of the system are deeper than one rotten budget. The Committee on Education Excellence’s report comes at a tough time, but so what? California’s governance system makes change difficult even in ordinary times.”
