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Governor's proposed cuts would impact city's schools
Education could lose money for their energy bills and programs
By Jana Seshadri
Gov. Gray Davis' proposed $800 million cut in education funding surprised local educators who were not prepared for another setback after dealing with mounting energy costs last year. The major cut would be the $250 million earmarked to cover high energy bills, which the governor has proposed dropping.
"We were promised relief from high energy bills, and now some of that relief is going to be taken away from us," said Joseph Rudnicki, superintendent of the Sunnyvale Elementary School District. "We will not receive the $193,000 in energy relief and $65,000 in discretionary funds."
The discretionary funds were used by SESD for special education needs such as transportation. Rudnicki is not anticipating cuts in major programs, but it's not entirely clear yet how the different programs will be affected.
"We have to figure out how to balance all of our programs," Rudnicki said.
The beginner teacher support program, which received $75,000 in funding, might have to be eliminated next year, he said.
Sunnyvale schools face a unique situation this year. Based on a computation done at the state level, school districts statewide are either property-tax-based or not, depending on that city's housing income. The escalation in housing prices from past months has resulted in Sunnyvale becoming a property-tax-based district, which means Sunnyvale schools will receive more revenue from that source. However, the loss from the governor's cuts will still be felt. Several programs were planned based on that revenue from the state.
Associate Superintendent of the Fremont Union High School District Mike Raffetto shares Rudnicki's concerns about the governor's cuts.
"We will lose $300,000 in energy relief and $100,000 discretionary funding," Raffetto said.
"It's basically like a pie," Rudnicki explained. "We all get a slice of the pie, but now the pie has become much smaller, so the slice will be smaller too."
As a result, the proposed cuts could affect any or all of the programs. However, they will take effect only if the state Legislature concurs with the governor, and several educators are already lobbying to keep some of the funds from being cut. If the state Legislature approves the governor's proposed cuts during the special session in January, the new bill will take effect 91 days after the adjournment of that session.
"I don't think the legislature will turn [the proposed cuts] down," Rudnicki said.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
