Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget plan likely would put
dollars into local small school districts
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to give California schools a
shot in the arm and San Benito County educators couldn’t be
happier.
San Benito County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley said the
county has a reason to be happy. Under the governor’s proposal, the
state would repay San Benito County schools $19.1 million it
deferred during the past few years.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget plan likely would put dollars into local small school districts
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to give California schools a shot in the arm and San Benito County educators couldn’t be happier.
San Benito County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley said the county has a reason to be happy. Under the governor’s proposal, the state would repay San Benito County schools $19.1 million it deferred during the past few years.
Schwarzenegger’s plan, revealed in his State of the State address Jan. 5, calls for the sale of $68 billion in general fund bonds during 10 years, or an average at $6.8 billion per year. A total of $222 billion from bonds, federal funding, and other sources would be spent under Schwarzenegger’s plan to build schools, highways, prisons, rehabilitate levees and fund new development.
The administration has already announced that it will spend $1.7 billion on K-12 education above what is legally required and waive proposed state college tuition increases for next year.
“What that means for us is that we’ll have a large chunk of money available soon, possibly next year,” Foley said. “And with infrastructure grants available, we’ll likely be able to modernize many of our current buildings. We won’t be eligible for everything, but 25 percent of the money being set aside in one of the building funds is reserved for small school districts and that’s us, so we welcome that.”
Foley could not say exactly how much money San Benito County could be eligible for, but he seemed confident that brighter days are in sight.
Correctional facilities within San Benito County could also stand to benefit from some of the governor’s proposals.
“We’re very positive about the funding that could be available for jail/juvenile hall construction,” said San Benito County Chief Administrative Officer Susan Thompson. “The need is here and we have done some preliminary stuff thus far, but without the necessary funding there is only so much you can do.”
Thompson said that she’s heard that there may be bond money available to help get their project moving forward, which would be a great deal of help.
San Benito County High School District Superintendent Jean Burns-Slater is more cautious. She was pleased to see that the educational budget had more proposals for physical education, the arts and vocational studies, but she also sees where there will be restrictions.
She said that she is sure that even if a budget is proposed this week, nothing will become finalized until at least June. However, she said that the high school could definitely benefit from additional funding if it were available. The greatest needs are more quality teachers in addition to another high school, she said.
“We’ve looked very strongly at the possibility of getting another high school started, but we’re in a position where we’d have to raise $20 million to have the state match that, we’re not there yet. Hopefully when the moratorium is lifted we’ll be able to make more headway.”
Santa Clara County Sup. Don Gage, who represents South Valley, hadn’t fully reviewed the governor’s proposed budget yet so he could not say what he thought about it. Still, he was adamant that transportation funds should not suffer because of cuts. The South Santa Clara County area could benefit from road improvements as some of the county roads are in a dire state.
Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), who represents parts of Morgan Hill in the 27th Assembly District, is the chair of the State Budget Committee. Upon hearing the governor’s State of the State address, Laird said he was concerned with the fiscal responsibility of the state.
“The state is $4 billion in debt and the governor wants to add billions more. The message the special election should have taught the governor is that he needs to narrow his proposals before going to the public, I’m not so sure that he learned that lesson.”
