Editorials

Gov. Gray Davis’ plan to soften the blow to public schools by $700 million next year will have little effect on the Berkeley Unified School District, the district’s top budget official said last week. 

“We take some pluses and we take some minuses,” said Associate Superintendent of Business and Operations Eric Smith, who made a presentation on the governor’s proposal before the Board of Education Wednesday night. “Overall, it’s going to be a wash.” 

Smith said the district will continue with plans to cut about 70 to 100 teaching positions and will not reverse other recently approved cuts, including the elimination of two high school guidance counselors and a jump in some ninth-grade class sizes. 

In fact, with a district-wide projected deficit of $3 million next year, parents, teachers and students can expect a new package of heavy cuts as early as this fall, Smith said. 

Davis announced the $700 million relief package last month as part of the May revision to his annual budget, but is still calling for a $1.5 billion overall cut to public schools next year. 

Berkeley Schools Superintendent Michele Lawrence said a proposed 41 percent cut in state funding for instructional materials would mean fewer new books, and reductions in summer school funding could lead to consolidation of individual elementary school programs into a few “hubs.” 

Cuts in after-school funding would touch all but four of the district’s 14 elementary and middle schools, added Associate Superintendent of Educational Service Christine Lim. The district has not yet determined how, exactly, the reductions will affect each program. 

Lawrence said a proposed 67 percent cut in state funding for maintenance should not hit Berkeley as hard as other districts. In 2000, local voters approved an estimated $48 million in parcel taxes, over 12 years, to fund school maintenance. 

Davis’ $1.5 billion in K-12 cuts are part of a larger budget package, including a half-percentage point jump in the sales tax and an increase in vehicle license fees, that seeks to erase a $38.2 billion state shortfall. 

The state Senate and Assembly, controlled by Democrats, have passed budgets similar to the Davis plan and leaders of the two houses are meeting in conference committee to iron out their differences. 

But California state law requires a two-thirds vote to pass a budget and Republicans have vowed to block the tax and fee increases at the heart of the Senate and Assembly proposals. 

State Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) said education could face further cuts if Republicans remain stubborn on taxes. 

“Our schools are all being held hostage at this point,” she said. 

But if Republicans succeed in blocking tax hikes, said Jodie Day, chief of staff for State Sen. Bob Margett (R-Diamond Bar), the GOP will not seek further cuts in the public schools. 

“Education is a priority for both parties,” she said. “Education doesn’t have a political affiliation.” 

The state has a June 30 deadline to pass a final budget, but has gone well beyond the deadline in years past. 

In recent press reports, legislators in both the Democratic and Republican parties, unable to reach an agreement, have suggested that they may pass a budget that is balanced on paper, but pushes the tough decisions on taxes and cuts into next year. 

Davis’ January budget proposal called for across-the-board cuts to all state-funded education programs. But, after lobbying from education leaders, the governor took a more targeted approach, chopping heavily from some programs while preserving funding in others. 

Despite the cuts to maintenance, books, summer school and after school programs, Smith said the new approach, on the whole, favors Berkeley. 

“A lot of the targeted cuts that were identified are things we don’t have,” he said. “So we were sort of spared the sword.” 

Kevin Gordon, executive director of the California Association of School Business Officials, said the public schools fared well in the governor’s May budget revision. Given that the state’s projected deficit jumped from a January estimate of $34.6 billion to a May forecast of $38.2 billion, most observers expected more cuts for K-12 education. 

“The real good news in the budget is things didn’t get worse,” Gordon said. 

But Robert Manwaring, K-12 director for the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office in Sacramento, said public education still took a significant hit and is not yet out of the woods. 

“It’s probably one of many difficult years,” he said, noting that the governor’s proposal includes $2.4 billion in deferred payments to school districts that may not be repaid, in full, until 2006-2007.