October 6, 2008
TO:
All SCCOE Staff
FROM:
Dr. Charles Weis, County Superintendent
of Schools
SUBJECT: Staff
Briefing: the State Budget
Hello, everyone--
In my first three
months here, I've come to appreciate just how large an operation the
SCCOE is. I'd love to be able to talk with everyone on a regular
basis, and chat about the important issues that affect us here... but
that's just not practical.
So, I'm launching
this "Staff Briefing" note in an effort to update you on various
issues that affect us all here at the COE. Rather than tie it
to a timeline, I'd just like to send it out occasionally, as events
warrant. If there are issues you'd like to see addressed, let me
know when you see me, or send an e-mail.
--Chuck
My first briefing
topic: the state budget. It may be a somewhat inauspicious
topic to kick off with, but I know it's the subject of a lot of
questions and concerns.
The governor signed
the budget on Sept. 23, but we're still trying to figure out all the
implications. However, here are a few things we do know:
--IT'S TOUGH ON
EDUCATION
The budget provides
about $58 billion for education; that's about $3 billion less than
the governor had estimated was necessary for education just to keep
pace with inflation.
A handful of COE
programs will receive a 1 percent cost-of-living adjustment;
unfortunately the remainder will not receive any cost-of-living
adjustment. And districts did not fare as well as COE's; they will
receive 0.68 percent (note the decimal point) on some programs, and
no cost-of-living on many other programs. Keep in mind that
this is almost 5 percentage points lower than was it was legally
supposed to be.
--IT'S BASED ON SOME
SHAKY ASSUMPTIONS
In spite of the
governor's complaints that the first budget presented to him lacked
any real reform, this version is not much different. It remains
heavily dependent on one-time revenues and accounting gimmicks.
--IT ONLY POSES
CONCERNS FOR FUTURE BUDGETS
As worried as the
education community has been about this budget, there is even
greater concern about its implications for 2009-2010. Between that
and the present state of the national economy, we have to brace for
more tough times ahead.
...So...what does it all
mean for us at the COE? We are still sorting it out, and of course
we are only now beginning negotiations with our unions. So we
obviously have not determined yet how the funding situation will
affect skyrocketing health benefits costs, or salaries. Stating the
obvious: it's not encouraging.
In difficult times
like these, I think it's really important to remind ourselves of the
role we play in the lives of our students and our community. Of
course we are keenly interested in having education fairly
funded. But what we do is so important that it would be wrong to let
these issues adversely affect what we do, and how we do it.
These budget issues
eventually will be resolved. I personally will be in Sacramento advocating for adequate funding for
public education. I believe there is a growing consensus in California that this
budgeting system needs to be fixed--and education fully
funded--SOON.
Until then, we have
to keep our eye on the ball. We owe it to those who depend on us;
and we owe it to ourselves.
Thanks for reading.
--Chuck
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