On Wednesday, January 6, 2010 Governor Schwarzenegger promised in his State of the State address that he would not cut funding for public education.  The Governor specifically stated:
“Because our future economic well-being is so dependent upon education, I will protect education funding in this budget.”

On January 8, 2010 he released his budget containing $2 billion in cuts to public education and proposing to outsource classified employee jobs.

 
The Governor has also called the Legislature into an emergency session to deal with the budget.  The emergency declaration requires lawmakers to act within 45 days on his proposals or pass their own combination of cuts and revenue increases.  Lawmakers are barred from adjourning or considering other issues until they act on his plan.
The Major Proposals Include:

K-12
• Contracting Out — A cut of $300 million to school districts and county offices of education by repealing or significantly weakening the provisions of SB 1419.
• A reduction of $1.2 billion to school district central administration that includes classified positions.
• County Office of Education Administrative Consolidation — A cut of $45 million to “streamline and consolidate” county offices of education.

Community Colleges
• The Governor proposes a constitutional amendment to that would ensure that future funding for higher education is greater than funding for prisons.  However, the Governor defines higher education to include only UC and CSU, not Community Colleges.  This is an effort to privatize prisons.
• Cuts $10 million from Extended Opportunity Programs and Services.

Other Major Proposals
• The Governor is proposing significant cuts to the Healthy Families program as well as other safety net programs and threatens total elimination of these programs if the federal government doesn’t provide additional funding.

What’s Next?
The Legislature has 45 days to address the fiscal emergency.  The Legislature does not have to agree with the Governor’s proposals, but must submit their budget response within the required 45 days.  The Legislature cannot take any other action until the budget is resolved.

Caution: The Governor’s proposals are not final.  Both houses of the Legislature will analyze the Governor’s proposals and make their independent recommendations on the budget.