By Alex White
Interim Opinion Editor
The new California state budget, presented to the state legislature by Gov. Jerry Brown, has a tax initiative that could make severe cuts to certain areas like education, which would be detrimental to citizens.
The budget, which was released in early January 2012, has the potential for $4.8 billion in cuts to education spending at the K-12 level. California is facing a severe budget crisis and a record deficit; while cuts must be made, one thing the state cannot sacrifice is education spending.
Brown’s suggested budget is still optimistically portrayed considering it projects a $9.2 billion deficit, considerably smaller than last year’s deficit of $26 billion. Still, a deficit of that size will have consequences manifested in cuts to certain programs.
K-12 education funding is reliant on a tax initiative Brown hopes to pass to fund his budget. If this does not pass, education will see $4.8 billion in cuts, equivalent to 15 furlough days for districts statewide. Brown is effectively forcing citizens to approve the tax increase because not doing so would devastate vital state programs like education.
Brown instead should make cuts to programs more evenly and across the board. He is currently attempting to make vast cuts to education if the tax initiative fails, while leaving other programs comparatively intact.
Brown does have other options, such as loans. Considering that the budget situation is more optimistic than last year, and seems to be staying on that path, California could temporarily rely on loans to make up the difference. The state can then pay those loans off in better financial times.
Furthermore, the state has a legal requirement to its citizens to uphold education spending. Proposition 98, passed in 1988, guarantees an increase in K-12 and community college education spending each year. Considering the state’s financial needs the most apt increase would be .5%.
Brown and the State Assembly cannot simply ignore this amendment to the state constitution. They are obligated to their constituents to take this measure into consideration
Supporters of Brown’s proposed budget claim that cuts have to be made in order to bridge the deficit and that education is a logical place to make cuts because it takes up a large portion of the budget.
However, education is an incredibly important part of the state’s role in public projects, and it cannot simply be cut so heavily to make way for other programs. Instead, the state should look to other places and make more equitable cuts or simply take out further loans to avoid disaster.
All things considered, California is facing a $9.2 billion deficit and cuts must be made. However, because of Prop 98 and the vital role of K-12 education in California, the state legislature must look for alternative measures before potentially creating $4.8 billion in education cuts.
Leave a Reply