For the few Long Beach voters who disapproved of Measure K, Governor Schwarzenegger yesterday gave a reason to change your mind.
California is in an economic meltdown, as we all know, and to deal with this the Governor proposes more cuts to public education and other services. In a press conference at the State Capitol, Schwarzenegger noted, “the mortgage crisis has deepened, unemployment has increased and the stock market has lost almost 20 percent of its value.” As a result, according to Schwarzenegger, we will make an additional $4.5 billion in cuts to education and other state services.
What does this mean for Long Beach? Our public school system, like others, will scramble in the middle of the year to close 5-10% budget shortfalls we previously did not expect. Let us not forget that we are already working on a skeleton budget after previous slashes from Sacramento. Our public university will also feel the effect, as the Governor’s plan makes more cuts to the CSU system – $66 million in fact.
This is too bad for our 90,000 students at Long Beach Unified. It’s too bad for their teachers, for their parents, for citizens of Long Beach who will see the quality diminish and morale take another nose-dive.
When things like this happen (all too often lately), school administrators tend to de-prioritize deferred maintenance and funding for capital improvements. Thanks to Measure K, Long Beach voters approved $1.2 billion on Tuesday for infrastructure and other upgrades. So while the Governor’s plan may take away curriculum support for our hard working teachers and lessen morale across the system, at least we will have aesthetically pleasing buildings in years to come.
Please do not take my levity as opposition to Measure K. I excitedly voted “yes” for this local measure and for the students, teachers, and every other Long Beach resident who will benefit from its positive implications on student safety, class size, and availability of after-school programs. It’s just too bad that school systems are forced to further tax their residents with expensive bond measures to do the things our state already taxes us to do.
But, once again, our Governor proposes we climb out of a problem on the backs of students; students who are the answer to long-term economic woes, whose receipt of our investment will be returned to society ten times over.
Supporters of the Governor will note that he has no other choice. The money is simply not there, so what else is he supposed to do? Well, I have one idea. California spends $30,000 on average, per year, for each inmate in jail or prison. Each student receives about $8,000. Seems like a simple answer to me?