OC schools can't sustain more cuts, educators say state, schools, budget - News - The Orange County Register:
"COSTA MESA Orange County's k-12 schools, community colleges and universities can't sustain another round of massive state budget cuts and continue to deliver a quality education to students.
That was the message today during a news conference by a coalition of teachers, school board members, union representatives, and other educators from schools throughout the county who gathered to raise awareness of the potential impacts of further cuts to schools."
"The game being played with our schools is not fair," said Kimberly Claytor, president of the Newport Mesa Federation of Teachers. "In order to reverse this trend, we're going to need to fix the state budget through tax reform."
The group said state-level tax reforms could help avert billions in cuts to schools expected over the next year. Reforms include reinstating the full vehicle license fee, returning the top tax bracket to the 10 percent and 11 percent rate, reassessing commercial properties, enacting a severance tax on oil produced in the state, and repealing loopholes that favoring big businesses from last year's state budget deal.
The group also supported repealing the two-thirds majority requirement for passing a state budget by lawmakers. Public schools receive up to 80 percent of all revenue from the state budget. In the past two budget years, state spending for education has been slashed by a total of about $15 billion.
"The rules as they stand now don't favor schools," Claytor said.
"COSTA MESA Orange County's k-12 schools, community colleges and universities can't sustain another round of massive state budget cuts and continue to deliver a quality education to students.
That was the message today during a news conference by a coalition of teachers, school board members, union representatives, and other educators from schools throughout the county who gathered to raise awareness of the potential impacts of further cuts to schools."
"The game being played with our schools is not fair," said Kimberly Claytor, president of the Newport Mesa Federation of Teachers. "In order to reverse this trend, we're going to need to fix the state budget through tax reform."
The group said state-level tax reforms could help avert billions in cuts to schools expected over the next year. Reforms include reinstating the full vehicle license fee, returning the top tax bracket to the 10 percent and 11 percent rate, reassessing commercial properties, enacting a severance tax on oil produced in the state, and repealing loopholes that favoring big businesses from last year's state budget deal.
The group also supported repealing the two-thirds majority requirement for passing a state budget by lawmakers. Public schools receive up to 80 percent of all revenue from the state budget. In the past two budget years, state spending for education has been slashed by a total of about $15 billion.
"The rules as they stand now don't favor schools," Claytor said.