State Senator: Education Funding will be Cut $1.4B

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KCBS)-- State Senator Joe Simitian says state funding for education next year will be "bad,” the following year "unbelievable," and by the year 2011"really scary.”

Simitian, a member of the education committee, told nearly 150 parents and educators at a town hall meeting in Palo Alto that the budget mess in Sacramento is far from a quick fix. He said federal stimulus money will help soften the blow, but education is being forced to cut $1.4 billion dollars during the current budget that ends in only two-and-a-half weeks.

KCBS’ Tim Ryan reports

“I think it’s important to remember that every dollar we don’t put into our schools is another moment we don’t have a caring and thoughtful adult paying attention to the needs of our kids in our community.”

The state senator said that lawmakers have been able to help provide local districts with some flexibility as to how they choose to spend their federal dollars, but “less is less.”

“I think we’re in for a tough couple of years,” said Seth Rosenblatt, a member of the San Carlos School Board. “We’re just in a situation where there’s structurally such a significant problem in the way that education is funded in California that districts like ours [and] across the state are going to face severe cuts. Already they have this year, but certainly they will [again] over the next several years.”

Simitian says those cuts will likely be near 10 percent each year. Palo Alto Board Member Camille Townsend says that every reduction made is another staff member lost.

“Eighty-five percent of our budget is our staff. ...So if you cut money, you’re cutting staff.”

Kristen Wu, a San Carlos resident and mother two children, says she’s not surprised about the severity of the cuts and is hopeful that they can make the best of it.

“This is not a surprise. …We’re all just trying to figure out what we can do and try to make every dollar that we have in the district count, [and] not just the state money.”

School boards must pass a budget by the end of the month with overall cuts of 10-percent figured in.