State Budget Surplus Makes District Hopes Soar

By Jorge Casuso

If funding education were as easy as flying a kite, the local school district's budget would have risen sky high Monday afternoon.

Some three dozen teachers, district officials, students, school nurses and City Councilmen gathered on Santa Monica beach to help hoist green kites with dollar signs as part of a statewide call for more state funding for local schools.

The high-flying demonstration was one of hundreds of actions statewide mounted by the California Teachers Union to protest the lack of commitment to public education shown by the state, which ranks 40th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in per pupil spending.

"We want to send a message to the state to raise the money above the average," said Jim Jaffe, vice president of the local teachers union. "Fly a kite. Send a message which says let's bring us up to the average."

California allocates about $1,000 less per pupil than the average amount spent by other states, Jaffe said.

The demonstration, which included a march by thousands of teachers on the state capital, comes as Gov. Gray Davis prepares to release a new version of his budget proposal that will incorporate updated revenue and spending estimates. The updated proposal coincides with news that the state budget surplus has likely skyrocketed from a projected $6 billion to as much as $11 billion.

The California Teachers Union is calling for "significant increases" in per pupil spending, asking the governor and lawmakers to allocate at least 40 percent of new revenues to kindergarten through 12th grade education in both the current and the forthcoming budget years.

"It's up to us to call and write (the governor) and say, 'Put it on the line for our kids,'" said Rick Gates, the PTA District Council President.

"It's great to see those dollar signs," said Sue Gee, an assistant district superintendent, referring to the kites tugging in the stiff ocean breeze. "We're hoping the money will fly high in Sacramento."

As a young teacher in Vermont, Gee recalled that educators looked to California, "where the most progressive education was happening.

"We always checked (California) when we were writing a school proposal," Gee said. "Now we're 40th and we have 50 states. That's really very sad."

That wasn't always the case. In the 1960s, California ranked sixth in the nation in per pupil spending.

Education funding, however, received a major blow when Proposition 13, approved by voters in 1978, froze the property taxes that bankrolled public schools. As California's population swelled, education spending failed to keep up, resulting in the current shortfall.

The shortfall has made it difficult for districts to attract and retain qualified teachers, librarians, counselors and nurses, educators contend. The funding woes also have denied students access to up-to-date textbooks and materials, as well as individual attention from teachers, counselors and nurses.

"We need to have additional funds," Gee said. "If we get to the national average, there's no way but up from there."

City officials also called for the state to meet its obligation, noting that the city gives the district $2.5 million a year and recently helped bail it out of a projected $5 million shortfall with a one-time $2.1 million grant.

"It's the perfect opportunity for the state to give schools more funding," said Councilman Paul Roisenstein, who attended the kite-flying demonstration. "The city is helping, but there is no way the city can pick up the needs the schools have."

"If the state would fulfill its obligations," said Councilman Kevin McKeown, who also attended the event, "we wouldn't have the spectacle of local agencies picking each others pockets to try to help kids."