School officials dissect Gov.’s plans

Leaders keen about some parts of Schwarzenegger’s proposals but say more local control would best serve district’s students.Members of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District gave a mixed review to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s education budget proposal this week -- some praising the spending increase, and others accusing the governor of ignoring schools’ needs.

On Tuesday, two days before his State of the State address, Schwarzenegger revealed a plan to increase education spending by $4 billion, a response to improved state revenues last year. The proposal includes funds allocated to physical education, arts and music grants, high school exit exam courses and other items -- although it stops short of restoring the $3.8 billion owed to schools under Proposition 98.

Newport-Mesa administrators and board members grumbled about the ongoing debt, which some state education groups have said will grow to $5.5 billion by the end of the next fiscal year. However, most found something to like in Schwarzenegger’s plan.

“Generally, what he’s proposing, I think, is in a positive direction,” said Supt. Robert Barbot, who added that he was pleased with the increased funds for after-school programs and arts education -- especially with Newport-Mesa planning to construct a new performing arts center under the Measure F bond.

The items on Schwarzenegger’s list include an additional $30 million for career technical education programs at high schools and community colleges, $85 million for physical education, $100 million for arts and music grants and $40 million more for high school exit exam support services.

Several of the governor’s funding proposals coincide with parts of Newport-Mesa’s five-year strategic plan, which it adopted late in 2004. Among the district’s hopes are to increase health and physical fitness among students and to provide more after-school programs.

Nevertheless, several board members said they would prefer to let the district decide how to allocate funds. Board president David Brooks said Schwarzenegger’s proposals did not address some of Newport-Mesa’s most pressing needs, particularly special education, which cost the district one-ninth of its entire budget this year.

“We feel that we can make the best decision as to what our students need,” Brooks said. “Lets not take a state average. We know where our students need improvement. However, we are not going to turn down money in all those areas -- after-school programs, art, the ... [exit exam] -- because they’re all good areas where we’d like to expand.”

Judy Franco, the clerk of the school board, voiced a similar opinion about the governor’s plan.

“The items that he’s targeting are very worthwhile items,” she said. “They’re issues that, however, should be left to the discretion of a local board as to how to spend the dollars. It’s not something that he should mandate from Sacramento.”

School leaders also raised concerns about the Proposition 98 funding, an issue that has rankled the education community for two years. In late 2003, Schwarzenegger borrowed $2 billion from Proposition 98 funds, which cover basic expenses for public schools and community colleges. Over the last year, as the state economy improved, the amount owed to schools grew to $3.8 billion.

In Proposition 76, an item that voters rejected in the November special election, Schwarzenegger proposed paying back the $3.8 billion as a one-time reimbursement over 15 years. While the debt represents only a fraction of total Proposition 98 funds, administrators throughout the state have still accused the governor of breaking his promise.

“I’d like to see Sacramento honor the spirit of Prop 98 and develop a stable source of funds for education. And then not tinker with it,” school board member Tom Egan wrote in an e-mail to the Daily Pilot. “It will be more efficient in the long run, because schools won’t have to waste time and money every year scrambling to find ways to compensate for the vagaries of Sacramento’s politics.”

He added: “The problem is, when the state has a poor year and has to scrimp, schools can’t ‘lay off’ students, then ‘hire’ them back after the economy turns around; we have to keep providing schooling to every kid, every day of every year, rain or shine.”

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