Albany Board of Ed Endorses Gov. Brown's Tax Initiative

Before the summer school break last June, the voted unanimously to support Governor Brown's tax initiative on the November ballot, now known as Proposition 30: "Temporary Taxes to Fund Education. Guaranteed Local Public Safety Funding. Initiative Constitutional Amendment."

The Board took no position on Proposition 38: "Tax to Fund Education and Early Childhood Programs. Initiative Statute." Note, however, that the California School Boards Association, of which AUSD BOE is a member, endorses both propositions.

By law, a school board can vote to endorse a budget proposition, but cannot advocate for it. We can provide objective information about it, and that's what I'll try to do in this blog posting. For a detailed comparison of the two propositions, the resolution passed by the Board, and an analysis of the fiscal implications of the success or failure of Proposition 30 for our school district, see the AUSD website November 2012 Election page.

Here's what our State funding for Albany schools looks like since the start of the current fiscal troubles:

"ADA" stands for "average daily attendance". The State prorates the money they provide per student according to the percentage of time the average student attends school. Thus, if our average attendance rate is 93%, then we get 93% of the maximum the State is willing to give us per student.

The upper line on the graph shows how much we should be getting according to Proposition 98, which amended the State constitution to guarantee funding for schools. The center line shows what "flat" funding would have been since 2007. The lower, orange line shows what funding has actually been. And the final data point labeled "Loss due to potential midyear cut" shows what we expect to happen if neither Proposition 30 nor 38 passes.  

In other words, we're being underfunded now by about $1,500 per pupil, and if neither tax proposition passes, the gap will increase by another $450 per pupil—a loss to the school district of about $1.66 million for 2012-13 and presumably for each year after that until the economy improves.

The three most important points to get out of this:

• The State is already underfunding our schools by about $1,500 per pupil per year.
• If Proposition 30 passes, the State will still be underfunding our schools by that amount.
• If neither Proposition 30 nor 38 passes, we will lose about another $450 per pupil.

We are already spending more than our revenues, which we can do because we have maintained a healthy reserve balance. However, at the present rate of spending, the reserve will be gone in a couple of years. Although parcel taxes and private donations help to offset the loss in revenue from the State, it's not enough to keep us solvent. We are going to have to cut expenditures next year. If neither Proposition 30 nor 38 passes, the cuts will have to be extensive.

After the November ballot, the AUSD Board of Education will meet to decide what our priorities will be: what we will try to save, and what will be first to be cut. It will be up to the voters of California to determine how drastic those cuts will be. 

That's the end of my objective analysis in my official capacity as president of the AUSD School Board. Now for my personal, nonofficial appeal:

Regardless of what you think of the importance of your vote for the presidential election, your vote on the propositions and local elections is crucial. Please vote in November, and please vote to help save programs and personnel in our schools.

Thank you.