State budget at a standstill...still

From Association of California School Administrators, Governmental Relations Department:

RE: Still no sign of land: Latest on State Budget

As tempers flare and vacations are cancelled we finally head into another late night Senate session tonight, August 1, 2007. As many of you know by now the budget has been stalled in the state Senate over Republican demands for further cuts to the budget that was hammered out and approved by the state Assembly.

This goes to show how volatile and dynamic the budget process can be. A few weeks ago, most budget analysts were expecting the state budget process to be completed fairly close to the July 15 deadline. Legislators were hoping to get voters to approve a change to the state’s term limits law in February, it was reasoned, and therefore they would want to impress the public with their “can do” abilities.

But that was when state revenues were looking fairly stable. Then at the last second came word that revenues had taken an unexpected dip, which only exacerbated a situation in which the state has been facing a structural deficit for the past few years.

Politicians had been able to gloss over that structural imbalance with a combination of state bonds and other fiscal legerdemain, but now, unlike Felix the Cat, they seem to have exhausted their magic bag of tricks.

However, two weeks ago the Assembly passed a budget that made inroads toward addressing the structural deficit, reducing it significantly. But Senate Republicans demanded more. They wanted to see the deficit completely erased.

That meant making hard choices on budget cuts. Despite assurances from the governor and Democrats, the education community is still uneasy about the possibility of more cuts to education. They have called on educators and those concerned about education to contact their local Senators to let them know that education has seen enough budget cuts in recent years, and to request they pass the budget the Assembly has given them.

As developments occur on the budget, ACSA will keep members apprised. Should the budget get passed and signed, please visit ACSA Online at www.acsa.org, for an analysis on the impact to education.

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For more information on ACSA, visit www.acsa.org