| Cuts would deal with triggered cuts and $13B 18 month deficit
by Brian Leubitz
What some are calling a "ransom note" others call the terrible truth. Jerry Brown's budget proposal sets a dark scenario for the state. And yet, somehow we have gotten to the point that a dystopic future with three less school weeks is somehow optimistic.
Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled his new budget plan, calling for a painful $4.8-billion cut in public school funds if voters reject a proposed tax hike that he hopes to put on the ballot in November.
Despite the possible reduction - the equivalent of slashing three weeks from the school year - the spending blueprint Brown released Thursday is a relatively optimistic document. It assumes he will have to close a $9.2-billion deficit, a vast improvement over last year's $26-billion gap.
Half of the deficit would be wiped out through the temporary half-cent sales-tax hike and increased levies on the wealthy that Brown wants voters to approve - or by the schools cuts. The remainder would be eliminated with reductions in welfare, Medi-Cal and other programs. (LA Times)
The plan calls for cutting three thousand state workers at a time when jobs are already scarce. It calls for additional Medi-Cal cuts, which frankly, I didn't think possible and might end up in court. And at this point our welfare system is essentially dead. So, optimism abounds.
Over [in Bloomberg, Dan Schnur http://www.bloomberg.com/news/... a Republican and former FPPC chair, has this to say about it:
"It's the most expensive ransom note in California political history," Dan Schnur, a former aide to Republican Governor Pete Wilson and now director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said yesterday in a telephone interview.
Which is really rather rather funny because how often legislative Republicans have played the ransom game. Try doing a search on Calitics for ransom note, you get lots of results. Like this one from March with their 57 requests. Or this one from 2009, where Sen. Hollingsworth wanted to do Intuit's bidding and get rid of a tax simplification tool. The hits just keep on coming.
But here's the thing, education is 40% of the budget, and we can't pretend that we can keep making cuts forever without touching education. Call it whatever you want, but unless we get revenues, it ain't going to be pretty. Telling voters the truth isn't a ransom note. |
