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Copyright 2009 California Association of School Business Officials
2009-24

May Revision taking all cuts approach?
May 6, 2009
By Dennis Meyers, CASBO Assistant Executive Director, Advocacy & Policy

In a short briefing with education stakeholders held this afternoon, representatives from the governor’s office laid out scenarios that they are likely to address in the upcoming May Revision.

Without any updated revenue or spending figures to work from, the governor’s office is looking at what would happen if the legislative analyst’s estimates are correct. In his March update, the analyst estimated that the Proposition 98 guarantee would fall another $3.6 billion in 2009-10. While we have been reporting that legislators and others are inclined to merely lower school funding to whatever is the level of the guarantee, administration officials in today’s briefing didn’t even flinch when mentioning that possibility. Obviously absent from the briefing was any sign from the administration that schools have given more than their fair share and will be spared the full brunt of further declines in revenue.

One bit of good news that came out of the briefing was an indication that the May Revision will target 2009-10 only and not add to the current year cuts made in February. Or course, we will have to wait and see how that actually plays out.

By the time the actual May Revision comes out, there may be updated revenue estimates available to the Department of Finance. Until those estimates are prepared by Finance, they are using the LAO numbers. So, what would $3.6 billion equate to? The administration laid out several statistical comparisons.

NOTE: The issues outlined below are not Department of Finance proposals; but mathematical calculations of the sizeable impact of $3.6 billion in further cuts to schools.

What does $3.6 billion equal? According to the Department of Finance:

• Laying off 51,429 teachers
• Closing every school for 18.5 days
• Increasing class sizes statewide by 17 percent
• Reducing per pupil spending $610
• Laying off 90,000 classified employees
• Eliminating ALL music, art and CTE programs

Also noted by Department of Finance was the fact that if the entire $3.6 billion was taken out of the flexible categorical programs, only $900 million would be left for LEAs to use for local priorities. Or, if applying the $3.6 billion reduction to ALL categorical programs, it would result in an across-the-board cut of one-third.

What today’s briefing represented was not the actual May Revision but a courtesy extended by the governor’s office to the education community to keep everyone in the loop on what may be on the horizon. They are also briefing all of the other stakeholder groups in other segments of the budget.

What to do now?

The timing of this briefing was helpful in that it came before May 15 and before disbursement of the federal ARRA funds to schools. As we have been writing, since more cuts are likely to come, LEAs must proceed cautiously when committing flexible categorical funds, ARRA funds, and when considering rescinding layoff notices before the May 15 deadline. 

Proceed cautiously and don’t over-commit.

We’ll keep you posted.

All CASBO NewsBreaks are posted on the CASBO website at www.casbo.org. The legislative status indicated for the bills in this report reflect the location of each of these measures as of the day the report was posted. To get up-to-the-minute status of bills including additional information on bills, bill text, analyses, legislative vote records, and veto messages, log on to the state’s Official Legislative Information website at www.leginfo.ca.gov. For other questions regarding topics covered, you may contact Dennis Meyers, CASBO Assistant Executive Director, Advocacy and Policy, at dmeyers@casbo.org.