11 January 2011

State Budget Funtimes.

Brown's budget apparently maintains current K-12 funding (except the general fund is smaller, so the 98 MINIMUM is smaller).  He is assuming some temporary taxes are continued, which involves the GOP minority allowing the voters to vote on that and the voters voting affirmatively.

HOWEVER, that's his budget.  So we shouldn't be playing doom times again in SFUSD, which needs to budget based on the Governor's budget.  I predict that they will budget based on doom times, however, because SFUSD is only ever able to balance its budget through layoffs (being absolutely unwilling to consider alternative proposals; where's that report on the alternate budget again?  Or the budget equity report?  Would that be: NOWHERE?).  And while SFUSD will be fully able to do late layoffs (after the 15 March/May deadline) again this year (YES: you can lay off tenured staff legally, and the 15 March/May thing is not the only window), why do that when they can lay those complainy teachers off now?

After all, equity matters only when there are adequate funds for it.  Otherwise, let the same system continue!

I do hope that SFUSD will take some personal responsibility for its decisions in re cuts this year rather than assuming a saint-like posture of blamelessness and rueing the naughty bad state.  It's true the state budget is an annual atrocity.  It is also true that equity requires radical action in the face of atrocity.  Shifting the blame is institutional racism.  There really isn't any way to get around that.

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