Schwarzenegger seeks education cuts

Schwarzenegger seeks education cuts – Sacramento Politics – California Politics | Sacramento Bee
California schools could eliminate a week of instruction and increase class sizes next year under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new plan for solving the state’s budget crisis.  

Vowing to give schools maximum flexibility to cut costs, the proposal unveiled Wednesday also would allow districts to eliminate one of two science courses required for high school graduation.

Schwarzenegger’s plan would provide no teacher salary increases, eliminate a program providing subsidies to overhaul low-performing schools, and suspend participation in a program encouraging teachers to obtain national certification.

Students could see dramatic impacts from the governor’s proposed $2.1 billion in education cuts this fiscal year and $3.1 billion from what schools anticipated in 2009-2010.

Wow.  It is a shame that the public school students are going to have to suffer.  If only California could find a way to easily slash $981 million in police, judicial, and correctional budgets, and if only California could raise $105 million in new tax revenues, that would be more than half of the proposed $2.1 billion Schwarzenegger is cutting from education.

You can educate children or you can arrest and lock up potheads.  Your call, Guv.

[UPDATE: More “States in Crisis” news after the jump:

Paterson will slash budget of center that helps abused children

“Everybody’s going to feel the pain as a result of the budget cuts,” Paterson said in December, 2008.

Paterson has been blunt about his budget. And after digging through the numbers herself, Deborah Merrifield, the Executive Director of the Joan A. Male Family Support Center, is feeling the pain.

“We could lose up to $1.1 million out of our relatively small $3 million budget, so that’s a 35-percent cut,” said Deborah Merrifield.

This support center prevents child abuse and neglect through different programs and a parent helpline. But the programs are in jeopardy of cutbacks and closings. On New Year’s Eve, five people there were laid off.

New York: $565M savings, $65.5M taxes from legalizing cannabis.

Corzine seeking more cuts in budget

TRENTON – Gov. Corzine is proposing cutting $812 million from New Jersey’s budget in response to estimates that the state’s financial shortfall has leaped from $1.2 billion to $2.1 billion.

The governor plans to raid the rainy-day fund, use unspent money from the previous year’s budget, freeze salaries of government workers, and use other measures, he said yesterday. He also is counting on at least $300 million in new federal aid.

Cuts may include $90 million in discretionary spending, $15 million in municipal aid, $75 million in educational aid for kindergarten-through-12th-grade schools, and $160 million in the state’s pension contributions.

New Jersey: $197M savings, $23.9M taxes from legalizing cannabis.

Rendell seeking more budget cuts

In Pennsylvania, Gov. Rendell has announced several rounds of budget cuts and has proposed tapping the rainy-day fund, diverting money from the sale of oil and gas drilling rights, and using federal aid to make up for a revenue deficit.

The state Revenue Department yesterday released figures showing Pennsylvania’s general fund taking in 6.8 percent less than expected for the fiscal year that ends June 30. Projected for the entire year, that would leave a $2 billion deficit in Pennsylvania’s $28.3 billion budget.

Pennsylvania: $198M savings, $34.9 taxes from legalizing cannabis.