Legislation Information Alert
April 4, 2011
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Children in jeopardy as
budget talks break down
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Governor Brown announced last week that budget negotiations to
garner four Republican votes for the necessary two-thirds
legislative approval had broken down. The deadline has passed to
put a measure on a June 2011 ballot extending the existing tax
revenue sources critical to closing the state’s budget deficit
and funding education and public safety. This could force the
deficit to be closed by an “all-cuts” budget.
What’s next? We face great uncertainty at the moment. Without a
June election to continue existing revenue sources, school
district budgets for the next fiscal year will need to be adopted
assuming the all-cuts budget, with every district required to
finalize its budget by June 30. An all-cuts budget would mean
cutting an additional $12 billion to 14 billion from the state
budget. The Legislative Analyst has suggested that this could
mean as much as $5 billion in additional cuts to K-12 education.
On top of $18 billion in cuts over the past three years, this
would decimate public education in California. It’s hard to
imagine what is left to cut in our schools. Additional cuts to
health and human services would place further burdens on our most
vulnerable children and families.
Thank you to the thousands of you who visited the Capitol, made
calls, sent letters or e-mails to your legislators. You spoke up
urging legislators to “Let the People Decide” about the value of
education to our children and the future of our state. Your
voices and your energy will be critical going forward.
Over the coming days, we will be talking to our allies in the
Education Coalition, in the “Protect our Children, Protect our
Future” coalition, and others to determine possible next steps.
We must continue to speak up for the more than 9 million children
of California. Stay tuned.
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