Public schools in California are facing major budget cuts due to the recession, resulting in layoffs of teachers, increased class sizes, cuts to after school programs, and potential school closures. School districts and advocacy groups are suing the state, arguing that the cuts violate the constitutional requirement to provide an adequate education. School districts are asking voters to approve tax increases to offset the losses, but many taxpayers oppose further taxes in the struggling economy. The quality of education in California is declining as budget cuts continue.

1. Facts Sheet
Riverside cuts school busing, even to Related Articles:
distant homes
10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Recent News - School District Budget Cuts
By DAYNA STRAEHLEY
The Press-Enterprise
For many due to budget cuts, school is out for
summer, literally
Seventh- and eighth-graders' homes in Victoria Grove and
Lake Mathews are 11 miles from their "neighborhood" Inland school cutbacks may cause struggling
school in Riverside's Woodcrest area, and this year there's students to slip through cracks
no bus to get them there.
School budget cuts threaten gains
The Riverside Unified School District cut all middle school
and high school busing in March, saving $750,000 as the EDUCATION: California's school funding system
district closed a budget gap of more than $44 million. Last broken, speakers say
year's revenue from the state was down more than 18
percent, Deputy Superintendent Mike Fine said.
For the entire article, click here
Budget cuts postpone traditional start of LAUSD
school year
Students face closure of alternative schools
because of L.A. County budget cuts
Lawsuit aims to overhaul school
School librarians read writing on the wall: Jobs
funding system, provide schools are disappearing as the budget crisis deepens
with more dollars
May 20, 2010
Other Related Articles
Education funding must be increased by billions of dollars
to meet legal requirements under the California School budget cuts keep Snohomish County
Constitution, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday. kids off buses
The litigation, filed by the California School Boards Assn.,
School budget cut by $1 million
nine school districts and students and parents, arrives as
school districts are struggling from successive years of Budget cuts may close high schools
steep budget cuts brought on by a sputtering economy and
lawmakers’ reluctance to raise taxes. Frankford chops $20,034 from school budget
-- Howard Blume
California Teachers: Paying for School Supplies
For the entire article, click here — and More
Major cuts: High schools face hard economic
lessons

2. State faces new budget shortfall, new
tax ideas
March 16, 2009|By Matthew Yi, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
"I think we're in a period in time where everything's on the
table. We're going to be $8 billion down before the ink
dries on the current budget," said Assemblyman Curren
Price, D-Inglewood (Los Angeles County)...
"Education should be our prime priority," Price said. "We
frequently are shipping funds away from education. My
proposal is one way of ... trying to insulate education funds
from those kinds of cuts."...
Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murietta (Riverside
County), who became the Senate minority leader last
month after a coup during the marathon budget session,
said passing any more taxes or fees "would add insult to
injury to California taxpayers."...
For the entire article, click here
New tax increase today - and the
voters did it
June 17, 2009 |
South Pasadenans say "tax me." In the latest in a string of
mail-only votes in relatively well-to-do school districts in
the Los Angeles area, voters in South Pas apparently have
adopted a parcel tax to pay for schools. The ballot deadline
was yesterday; votes were counted almost immediately and
the finally tally gave Measure S just over the 2/3
supermajority it needed to pass.
For the entire article, click here

3. Caps should mean lower school tax
increases next year
By ANDREW SHAW The York Dispatch
Updated: 10/04/2010 05:02:33 PM EDT
Taxpayers ... rejoice?
There's a lot that can change before the 2011-12 school
district budgets are finalized next spring, but the state's
recently released property tax caps show it will be difficult
for school boards to pass tax increases approaching
anything near what they were a few years ago.
The average property tax cap in York County is 1.7 percent
for the upcoming budget year. That's compared to 3.6
percent this year and 5.1 percent last year.
For the entire article, click here
In hard times, 9-R seeks tax increase
Money needed for educational improvements, Durango school
district says
by Emery Cowan
Herald Staff Writer
Article Last Updated; Sunday, October 03, 2010 12:00AM
Faced with declining revenues and a gloomy economic
forecast, the Durango School District 9-R Board is asking
voters for a mill- levy increase to pay for educational
improvements the district no longer can afford.
School administrators say the tax increase - ballot issue 3A
- would raise $3.2 million per year for smaller class sizes,
quality teachers and innovative programs and technology.
If approved, property taxes for a home valued at $400,000
would go up by $60 a year, or $5 a month.
Officials say the increase is a necessity to maintain quality
education in Durango schools, but others in the
community are wary of another tax increase…
For the entire article, click here

4. School's budget passes despite tax
concerns
By GEORGE LEDBETTER, Record Editor Monday, October 04, 2010
Chadron’s Board of Education unanimously approved a
$13.88 million budget Monday and a total property tax
levy of $1.50 to support it, but only after hearing from two
residents who said the long term trend of increasing costs
and taxes must be changed.
“How can we sustain the increasing gap between income
and taxes?” asked Bill Cebula, who said he thinks it will
take decades to reduce current high levels of
unemployment. “How can we keep our youth from being
trapped in that bubble (unemployment)?”
“You are facing the need for a paradigm shift in how we
educate students,” said Bruce Dye. “Our nation is going a
lot more socialistic. We are going to be forced to figure out
a different way to educate our students.”…..
For the entire article, click here
See Summary pg. 5

5. Summary
Our public school system is in a financial crisis. The recession has not only cut down jobs, but the
quality of education as well. Because of the $14.7 million cut from the 2009-2010 budgets, schools are being
shut down, dropping afterschool programs, laying off teachers, custodians, librarian assistants, counselors, and
principals. Californian advocacy groups, school districts, families, students, administrators, and teachers are
filing lawsuits against the State of California, in hopes that the Superior Court will declare the state’s financial
cuts from public schools unconstitutional. This is an attempt to recapture the quality of education that once was
the customary in our schools.
School districts, in a desperate attempt to gain financial support, are asking the government to raise
taxes in order to keep or schools afloat. Over 40,000 teachers have already been laid off in an economy where
jobs are in short supply. Californians are angry at the idea of another raise in taxes in an economy where
parents are forced to move in with their children to stay afloat. If they are given the opportunity at all, students
are now being forced to pay for the necessary equipment to play in extracurricular activities such as football,
basketball, golf and other expenditures that were once free to our youth. After school programs that once
ensured working parents that their children had a safe environment to stay in until they were off of work are
now gone. Students are trying to learn in classrooms that are overfilled, while teachers that still have jobs are
taking pay cuts.
In a declining education system such as this, the government is still planning to cut $14.1 million more from
the upcoming school year’s budget. With parent’s already in a financial bind, where will they find the extra
money to pay for their child’s or children’s public education? Our Governor is trying to convince us that
education is still a top priority in California. Politicians are telling us they have a plan to get our schools back in
line, but until they are elected, we will never know. The fact of the matter is raising the taxes on our hard
working overtaxed community will not help the situation