[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

As legislators consider proposals in conference committee to reduce the amount of budget cuts to schools from the Governor’s proposed $4.3 billion in cuts, this week’s Field Poll showed that 80 percent of Californians oppose ALL cuts to schools --confirming what parents, teachers and other educators have been saying all along -- "no cuts to schools and students."
 
The Field Poll showed that education ranked at the top of the thirteen major categories voters would most like to protect from cuts.
 
California already has some of the most overcrowded classrooms and the greatest shortages of librarians, counselors and other critical support staff in the nation. According to Education Week, California already ranks 46th out of 50 states in per-pupil funding. The Governor’s budget proposal keeps California at the bottom of those rankings.
 
The Governor’s May Revision budget fails to include a cost-of-living adjustment for schools and all education programs, despite the steadily increasing operating costs for local districts. It also severely underfunds critical programs like class size reduction, and shows that schools and students are once again being asked to do more with less.
 

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Monday: Hundreds of School Board Members Deliver 325 Resolutions to Governor Opposing Budget Cuts, along with Thousands of Parent Letters

Tuesday: Hundreds of Teachers Come to Sacramento for Legislative Lobby Day; CTA "Cuts Hurt" Bus Makes Final Stop at State Capitol

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Today the Education Coalition reminded lawmakers that schools and students must be a priority in the state's budget and that Proposition 98, the minimum school funding guarantee, must be upheld.<> <>Senate and Assembly Republicans held a press conference today to re-release their "education reform package" from two weeks ago while calling for "full funding" of Proposition 98 with an education funding proposal. <> <>The Education Coalition fully supports protecting Proposition 98 and opposes any further cuts to our schools. California currently ranks 46th out of 50 states in the nation in per pupil spending, according to the non-partisan Education Week, "Quality Counts Survey," 2008.The Education Coalition believes that any proposal brought forward should protect Proposition 98, not by altering what school districts are already owed, but by following the minimum school funding guarantee.There's more...

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

As students statewide sharpen their no. 2s and begin the annual bubble filling and essay writing on academic assessments to measure their progress, we thought Sacramento legislators and political reporters alike could share in the experience with a special "pop quiz" on education funding issues.

Since much misinformation has been spread recently about the real facts and figures on school funding, be careful -- while there are no "trick questions," there are plenty of wrong answers.

We hope you "ace" the pop quiz, but if you’d like to discuss your grade or your answers, please contact: Robin Swanson at (916) 204-6890.

1) The Education Coalition reports that per pupil spending in California is $7,081, while the governor says it is $11,541. Which number accurately reflects direct spending in our schools?

A) $7,081
B) $11,541

2) True or False: The education funding cuts are a "mere 1.9 percent," as some legislators and the governor have reported.

A) True
B) False

3) A $4.8 billion cut to our schools is equivalent to:

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Julia Rosen

Dan Walters is out with a column arguing that our schools have plenty of money already. He describes the education community and Democratic legislators as "howling" about Schwarzenegger's proposed bugdet, which slashes education spending and has already resulted in 20,000 education professionals getting pick slips.

Naturally, the Republicans are attempting to claim that we are already spending too much on school administration costs and education reforms. They point to California's poor scores on standardized tests as a reason to cut school funding even more. Somehow logic seems to be eluding them.

Walters bases his column on numbers released by the Census Bureau, based on what he calls "hard numbers", but when you dig into them, they actually undermine Walter's argument. (check the flip)

The Census Bureau report strongly refutes the oft-cited "fact" that California is near the bottom in per-pupil school spending. The national average was $9,138 in 2005-06. California was at $8,486, with New York the highest at $14,884 and Utah the lowest at $5,437 - one of 22 states, in fact, that fell below California's level.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The Education Coalition put out this memo explaining what recently released Census Bureau numbers really mean: 

"A report just released by the U.S. Census Bureau Report shows that California continues to shortchange its students in education funding, spending far less than the national average on per pupil spending, teacher salaries, administrative overhead and transportation needs.
Here are some facts from the report you don’t want to miss:

• The Census Bureau numbers show that California still spends $652 less per student than the national average, even though their figures on “student spending” include funds from outside the state that never make it into the classroom, which arguably inflate the figures.

There's more...