2008 Woodie Awards
Budget cuts affecting public schools throughout the state
By: Spencer Marshak
Issue date: 3/19/08 Section: News
In terms of per-pupil spending, the state of California currently ranks 47th in the nation, spending about $2,000 a year or less on each student than the national average.
Multiply those $2,000 by 6.3 million, which is the number of students currently enrolled in California's public schools, and it is seen that the state would have to spend over $12 billion more on education a year just to reach the national average.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to cut $4 billion in education spending for both the 2008-09 and the 2009-10 school years.
For those keeping tally, come 2010, California would have to increase spending on education by $20 billion just to reach the national average.
California is suffering a very large deficit crisis, and ever since Schwarzenegger reduced the vehicle license fee, which former Gov. Gray Davis had raised, money for education has been hard to come by. However, these new budget cuts are preparing public schools for their worst financial crisis ever.
To comply with the new budget cuts, California schools would have to turn to some very ugly possibilities just to be able to remain afloat.
The loss of the $4 billion a year would force schools to either raise class sizes by almost 25 percent, shorten the school year by one whole month, lay off more than 50,000 teachers and employees, or some combination of the three.
The lack of money is not entirely the state's fault, as No Child Left Behind took money away from 97 different school districts throughout the state who failed to meet federal standards. However, a large majority of a school's budget comes from the state, and the current budget cuts will affect every school, no matter how well they have performed under federal guidelines.
A few months ago, Schwarzenegger claimed that 2008 would be the "Year of Education" in California. He asserted that California would break out of current declining trends and reclaim its standing as being one of the front runners in the nation in public education.
Multiply those $2,000 by 6.3 million, which is the number of students currently enrolled in California's public schools, and it is seen that the state would have to spend over $12 billion more on education a year just to reach the national average.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to cut $4 billion in education spending for both the 2008-09 and the 2009-10 school years.
For those keeping tally, come 2010, California would have to increase spending on education by $20 billion just to reach the national average.
California is suffering a very large deficit crisis, and ever since Schwarzenegger reduced the vehicle license fee, which former Gov. Gray Davis had raised, money for education has been hard to come by. However, these new budget cuts are preparing public schools for their worst financial crisis ever.
To comply with the new budget cuts, California schools would have to turn to some very ugly possibilities just to be able to remain afloat.
The loss of the $4 billion a year would force schools to either raise class sizes by almost 25 percent, shorten the school year by one whole month, lay off more than 50,000 teachers and employees, or some combination of the three.
The lack of money is not entirely the state's fault, as No Child Left Behind took money away from 97 different school districts throughout the state who failed to meet federal standards. However, a large majority of a school's budget comes from the state, and the current budget cuts will affect every school, no matter how well they have performed under federal guidelines.
A few months ago, Schwarzenegger claimed that 2008 would be the "Year of Education" in California. He asserted that California would break out of current declining trends and reclaim its standing as being one of the front runners in the nation in public education.
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