Gov. Jerry Brown has consistently warned since taking office in January that education is one area that could take a severe hit if the current tax extensions are not extended.
And local school districts, like the Culver City Unified School District, could be forced to take measures that many might not have once considered.
CCUSD Superintendent Patricia Jaffe, who took office last month, is coming on board at a time when Sacramento is engaged in a budget battle that pits the governor and his Democratic allies in the Legislature against a group of Republican lawmakers who resist the notion of taxes at any cost.
“We’re all trying to figure out what [a failure to extend the tax extensions] will do to us,” Jaffe told the News in a recent interview. “We’re going to look very, very seriously at this.”
Culver City schools, like others around the nation, have made reductions in their administrative staff in recent years but unlike other school districts, have not been forced to lay off many teachers or seen a dramatic increase in classroom sizes.
But that may change if the state is unable to generate addition revenue.
At the Tuesday, April 12 meeting, Jaffe will be seeking input from the CCUSD Board of Education on the ramifications of the potential need for further cuts. She said that she and her staff are trying to put the best face on a tenuous situation. “We’re trying to keep morale up, but it’s been very difficult, given the circumstances,” the superintendent acknowledged.
For better or for worse, the fiscal crisis has been drawn along partisan lines, and some elected officials are not shy about where they think the blame lies.
State Republican lawmakers have called more cuts to social services and programs favored by unions, and reject the notion of any revenue enhancements. Democrats counter that corporations and the wealthy have not paid their share of taxes in years, and they are forced to consider tax extensions in order to save public education.
CCUSD board member Kathy Paspalis said partisan politics can result in a deleterious effect on school districts. “Our elected representatives agree that [the taxes extensions should be put before the voters] but there has been stonewalling by the Republicans,” Paspalis asserted. “It puts everyone in a difficult position.”
Her board colleague Patricia Siever says politics should not be the primary consideration when discussing the budget. “I think it’s bigger than [political] parties,” said Siever, a Republican. “We’re like a family: When one bleeds, we all bleed.”
Brown has also proposed redirecting funds from redevelopment agencies that would go to public safety and education by closing these agencies. The governor’s office says nearly $2 billion dollars can be saved by closing the state’s 397 redevelopment departments.
State Sen. Curren Price (D-Culver City) said that while he recognizes that redevelopment has been used for beneficial purposes, everything should be a part of any budget-reduction conversation, considering the circumstances.
“Coming from a background in local government, I certainly value the role that redevelopment plays,” the senator, a former Inglewood city councilman, told the News last month. “However, in the midst of the severe budget challenges that this state is facing, every program has to be reevaluated and reconsidered in the context of cuts.”
At a Culver City Chamber of Commerce event last month, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer stated that Brown’s recommendation was essentially a done deal. “The redevelopment fight is over,” Lockyer told the audience.
The treasurer, who served as the state’s attorney general for two terms, said there are legal constraints on how Sacramento can funnel money to local school districts. “The state can’t transfer redevelopment funds to schools,” Lockyer explained. “All the state can do legally is blow them up. That’s the alternative that was created by Proposition 22.”
Proposition 22, approved by California voters last November, prohibits state officials from taking revenue derived from locally imposed taxes, such as hotel, parcel, utility and sales taxes and local public transit and transportation funds.
A March 7 report from state Controller John Chiang’s office states that California school districts were improperly shorted more than $40 million by redevelopment agencies last year, which was applauded by advocates of closing the redevelopment agencies.
Jaffe feels that the Culver City Redevelopment Agency, which provides the school district with approximately $2 million annually, has been good for the city.
“I believe that some cities have not used their redevelopment money in the best way, but Culver City has,” she said. “They have done a great job with the downtown area and have eliminated some blighted areas.”
Paspalis and Siever agree. “I would not like to see [redevelopment agencies] closed down,” Siever said. “Our city has done a very good job with redevelopment.”
“I think Culver City has used their redevelopment money wisely,” Paspalis added.
Price, a former small business owner, reiterated feels that all options should be considered, but was guarded about abolishing redevelopment agencies.
“Everything is on the table; education, health, social services and redevelopment. That said, I am not willing to cut redevelopment unless there is going to be an alternative mechanism for cities to use to eliminate blight,” the senator cautioned.
Jaffe said there will be budget workshops for educators and the public over the next several weeks to analyze the possible ramifications of possible budget cuts.
“It’s going to take a lot of teamwork,” she said.
Siever is optimistic that the school district will not be forced to take drastic measures if more revenue is not generated. “We’ll be looking at a worst-case- and a best-case-scenario budget,” she said. “I would like to look at what savings we could see by using more solar energy and some other initiatives to bring in more revenue.”
Measure EE, a parcel tax passed by Culver City voters in 2009, has helped to stem the tide during a time when virtually all school districts, including CCUSD, are grappling with budget shortfalls. The parcel tax will bring in $1.5 million in revenue over a five-year period.
But Paspalis said without more money coming in, the board would likely face some very difficult choices very soon. “In the immediate future, I see a lot of heartache and heartbreak,” she predicted. “Good public schools don’t come cheap, and there’s so little left to cut that isn’t salary and benefits.”
As lawmakers like Price say that all options have to be explored, Jaffe finds herself in the same position if the time comes for hard budget choices, including increased classroom numbers and other consequences.
“We’re going to have to look at everything,” she concluded.
