Recent events have exacerbated the school funding budget crisis.
During a frenetic week in mid-June, Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislators joined CTA members in trying to persuade four Republicans — two in the Senate and two in the Assembly — to help them pass the tax extensions on the required two-thirds vote. Without that support, the Democrats crafted a budget that used a variety of methods — including the reinstitution of a deferral of about $3 billion in education funding — to bridge the gap.
Now that the budget's been passed, let's see what the CTA has to say about it:
While this new State Budget plan is far from what our schools and colleges need to provide all students a quality education, it protects them from much worse cuts and will help local school districts and colleges plan for the coming year. The proposal defers nearly $3 billion in funding to K-14 schools and cuts $300 million from higher education. This year as thousands of educators were laid off, class sizes pushed higher, the school year shortened, student programs eliminated, and college tuition fees increased, Republican lawmakers simply watched and offered no honest solutions that would even maintain California’s current level of funding to public education. (boldface mine--Darren)
It's always the Republicans' fault, even in a legislature overwhelmingly Democratic. Amazing. But I guess it's good to know that there are some constants in the universe.
But wait, look at the tone. This budget is "far from what...(we)...need", but it protects us from much worse cuts. Odd, that doesn't sound like Doomsday, but it's exactly the budget mentioned in the first link above! You'd almost think the CTA wasn't being entirely honest, that it was just saying things to score political points, wouldn't you?
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