ESTA UPDATE

East Side Teachers Association/CTA/NEA 888 So. Capitol Ave San Jose, Ca 95127 January 29, 2003

Don McKell, President Julie Pratico, Vice Pres Carla Holtzclaw, Secretary Ralph Giannini, Treasurer

mckelld@esuhsd.org fax: (408) 272-7569 voice: (408) 272-0601 x213 website: www.EastSideTA.org

THE STATE BUDGET CRUNCH

WHAT CAN WE DO?

The governor’s proposals currently call for "across the board" cuts in education spending. If enacted, such one-size-fits-all cuts would be devastating to the East Side and to most K-14 educational institutions in the state. As an alternative, CTA has embarked on a campaign to focus on protecting four key areas of public education financing in California. Those areas are:

 

• Preserve the Base Revenue Limit

   

   

• Preserve funding for Class Size Reduction

   

   

• Preserve funding for Special Education

   

   

• Preserve funding for Schools of Greatest Need

   

ESTA members have a prime motivation to help promote this agenda. Here’s why:

� Downward changes in the Base Revenue Limit may affect salary and other compensation. Even in the dark days of the Wilson administration, shortfalls in meeting the statutory COLA computed by Prop 98 were dealt with by deficit spending. Pete Wilson admitted that the state owed us the money, but just sent an IOU instead. If the Davis plan is passed by the legislature, the losses to the Base Revenue Limit will be virtually permanent.

‚ East Side participates in 9^th grade class size reduction in English and other core subjects. Loss of the special funding to support these initiatives will likely force the district to raise the class sizes to contractual levels. Not only will this impact the delivery of education to our youngest students, it could also force the district to lay off less senior teachers.

ƒ Regardless of the funding action taken by the state, no changes in federal mandates in Special Education will be forthcoming. Thus, California schools will still be obliged to provide the same levels of service to Special Education students as we are presently providing. Fewer state dollars flowing to offset these costs means an even larger encroachment into local dollars. To meet the mandates of the law, East Side already encroaches into the General Fund by over five million dollars.

„ No relaxation in the state’s expectations for increased API scores has been mentioned. Thus, districts such as East Side will continue to be under the gun to increase literacy rates, computational skills, and other basic academic measures. It is only appropriate that the state continue to provide at least the extra dollars in pursuit of this goal as it already does.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Write to the governor and to your representatives in the state legislature. Demand that any necessary cuts in state funding to schools be made in areas apart from the four key areas listed above. According to studies, a handwritten letter is still the most effective method of impacting legislative thinking. Next in the ranking of effectiveness come phone calls, then computer printed letters and faxes, and finally emails.

Governor Gray Davis Hon. Xxxxx Xxxxx*

State Capitol California State Assembly, Room Xxxx

Sacramento, CA 95814 Sacramento, CA 95814

(916) 445-2841