Monday, May 23, 2011

Catfight At The School Board Despite Gov. Brown’s Funding Pledge

Catfight At The School Board Despite Gov. Brown’s Funding Pledge

Catfight At The School Board Despite Gov. Brown’s Funding Pledge

by DOUG PORTER on MAY 23, 2011

in: EDUCATION, THE CHRONICLES OF EDUMACATION

After months of warning the public about the impact that an “all-cuts” California budget would have on San Diego City Schools, you’d think that the SDUSD Board of Trustees would be at least “not sad” over news that Governor Brown’s “May Revise” version of the state’s spending plan for next year actually restores about 40% of the anticipated shortfalls. Forty (or Fifty, depending on which version of California Accounting 101 you use) extra million dollars is nothing to sneeze at. Even the GOP’s Darth Vader (R-Death Valley) 2011-12 budget, pledges a similar level of funding for K-12 public schools.

Sadly, the better-than-hoped-for State Budget proposal (better because it promises more long term funding stability) has deepened divisions within the SDUSD Board of Trustees. The prospect of a takeover by the County Office of Education, should the Trustees fail to pass a budget, is more real now than it ever was. Such a takeover, should it occur, will likely give