Guaranteed School Funding Not-So-Guaranteed

PALM SPRINGS – As school budgets continue to be cut, educators hold on to a proposition protecting funds from going *too* low.

“Proposition 98 guarantees our schools receive a minimum amount of funding,” says Palm Springs CTA President Bev Bricker. “That’s about 40 percent of the state’s general fund revenue.”

But, those funds were almost lost.

Governor Schwarzenegger pushed to suspend Proposition 98 and it’s guaranteed funding for schools around the state, but educators fought back.

“Teachers across the state wrote and emailed the legislature and begged them not to suspend prop 98,” said Bricker.

And, it didn’t. Educators breathed a huge sigh of relief. That was until another shoe dropped.

“As opposed to eliminating Proposition 98 and suspending funding. They decided to do a one time cut that will be on-going,” claims Bricker.

This takes $250from each student from every district across the state. That maynot sound like a lot, but let’s put it into perspective. This money could buy each student about 3 textbooks. Take away the money and something has to go.

“Unlike other states, everything your child needs when they walk into school is provided,” says Bricker. ” We provide paper, pencils, books, everything. To take away 250 dollars is huge, it’s huge.”

As the cuts continue, teachers foot the bill. Each year, many spend hundreds of their own dollars to pay for supplies.

“We need help,” says Bricker. Unfortunately, it appears help isn’t on the way any time soon.

“It’s impacting our students and it is going to make a difference,” says Bricker.

For Palm Springs Unified, it adds up to a nearly $6-million dollar cut. Educators say in retrospect suspending prop 98 would’ve worked out better. Still, both options leave students with less.

“The bottom line is our legislature and state doesn’t seem to value education, and our students are paying the price for that,” said Bricker.