Commentary: California’s schools are hurting

As state legislators missed the budget deadline at the end of June, six San Luis Obispo County school districts let state education officials know they may not be able to meet their future financial obligations due to California’s budget crisis.
Days later, the North Monterey County School District adopted a budget that is 20 percent below what’s called for in the state’s funding formula.  
“It’s very frustrating that the state government doesn’t have the wisdom to invest in the future of our state,” Gary De Amaral, North Monterey board president, said after his board’s budget vote.
Here in Santa Cruz County, Scotts Valley Unified School District has seen a $2.6 million drop in funding since 2007, while in Pajaro Valley Unified School District spending has been cut a net of 13 percent in the past three years, amounting to about $827 per student.
Right now, there is legislative gridlock in Sacramento. No budget again. They are more than two weeks late, with no end in sight. And yet, there is not a public discussion on the Central Coast of what’s at stake. Californians are rightfully angry at the annual circus in Sacramento.
According to the nonpartisan national publication Education Week, California passed a new milestone this past year — dropping from 46th to 47th among the states in per-pupil spending, earning California an F from Education Week.
At the heart of this year’s Sacramento deadlock is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to cut $250 more per pupil from state support for kindergarten-through-12th-grade education, a reduction of 11 percent for local schools over the past three years. Republicans in the Legislature support the governor’s proposal. I don’t.
Alternative legislative ideas propose more K-12 education support. Teacher layoffs, higher class sizes — and the basic ability to educate our children for the challenges of the changing job market — all hang in the balance. I support this proposal.
The winner of the Aug. 17 special election for the 15th District Senate seat may cast the deciding vote in this choice over the future of California’s schools.
Rather than flooding the airwaves with false and misleading negative ads that don’t address California’s education crisis, education is what candidates should be talking about. Voters have a right to know each candidate’s plans for turning around California’s school system.
As we begin to come out of the Great Recession, one thing is clear: We will create jobs only to the extent that we have a workforce coming out of the public school system prepared to take the complex jobs that are the basis of the information technology world. We must also have career tech programs for students who choose hands-on vocational jobs as their alternative. Both of these directions are threatened by the governor’s budget proposal.
As has been pointed out by author Thomas Friedman in his work on future economic trends, our ability to compete with the economies of other nations depends on our ability to turn out students proficient in math and science. We are falling behind.
That is why I supported initiatives by the University of California to mentor high school students on math and science. That initiative, and others like it, is at risk in the current state budget. We can’t lose sight of the state’s long-term economic competitiveness. We must do more to compete in the world economy — not less.
This is my challenge to all the candidates in the 15h Senate District race: What are your specific plans for public education? If you don’t like my position to add money in this year’s budget and stop the cuts of the past three years, what is your specific proposal?  
Platitudes don’t educate today’s students. Our kids’ futures — and that of California — are at stake in this budget and this election. Let’s start talking about that.
• John Laird is an educator and former state assemblyman who represented the 27th Assembly District from 2002 to 2008. To learn more about Laird, go to www.lairdforsenate.com or www.facebook.com/lairdforsenate. He is a candidate in the Aug. 17 special election for the 15th Senate District.