By MATT KING--Santa Cruz Sentinel staff writer
The $366 million error in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's May education budget is forcing legislators to make cuts to school programs, and a Republican-backed measure to boost equalization funding for so-called low-wealth districts may lead to more.
"Working as if the governor's mistake hadn't happened, we crafted a budget that preserves base funding for schools," said Assembly Budget Committee Chairman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz. "The reality is that this leaves the state without funds for additional equalization and the new programs the governor proposed. To pursue them would be robbing Peter to pay Paul"
Among the cuts Assembly members have made to programs Schwarzenegger proposed in May are $50 million for career technical training, $50 million for preschool expansion, $7.5 million for math and science teacher recruitment and $11 million for a year-old nutrition program called Fresh Start, which subsidized schools that serve fresh fruits and vegetables for breakfast.
"It's a big loss," said Denise McGregor, food service supervisor for Santa Cruz City Schools, which received $20,000 from the program last year. "I'm still going to provide fresh fruit, but something else will have to go"
And the $50 million reduction for career training is discouraging to local educators trying to bulk up the county's occupational programs. The county Office of Education will have to scale back plans for new equipment and facilities, said Bryan Wall, assistant director of career training But, Wall said, career training initiatives at Soquel, Scotts Valley and San Lorenzo Valley high schools will go forward as planned.
"It hurts because we've had a real shot in the arm with career tech," he said. "We can't expand as we had hoped but we will be able to maintain what we have"
The cuts have been made by the Democratic-controlled legislature, but Laird blamed them on the snafu in the $41 billion budget for elementary and secondary schools. Schwarzenegger's proposal left out $366 million in funding for low-wealth districts that receive less than the state average in per-pupil funding.
To restore that funding, which will go to Scotts Valley Unified, Santa Cruz City Schools and several more Central Coast districts, the Legislature is paring one-time funding increases for boutique programs.
But Republican lawmakers have proposed shifting a further $120 million from other school programs to low-wealth districts. The Republican plan would cut into the annual cost of living increase that schools use to pay salaries and fortify dozens of categorical programs covering everything from nutrition to special education.
With no budget resolution in sight, local educators don't know how much money to expect from the state. It's possible that local districts that receive equalization funding would be better off under the Republican plan.
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