Tag Archives: california budget

Education

California’s Budget Shortfall Causes Increase in Class Sizes

By Judy Pinegar

Judy Pinegar is the Manager of the California Department of Education Waiver Office. The function of the Waiver Office is to manage the process of school districts, charter schools and county offices of education requesting waivers of state statute (Education Code) or regulation (Title 5 California Code of Regulation) which are then heard by the State Board of Education. Recently she was interviewed about the increasing trend of local educational agencies requesting waivers of the statute which charges a penalty if the class sizes rise above certain levels.

Current state limits set in 1964 are as follows: 1) Kindergarten: Average 31, not to exceed 33 in a single classroom; 2) Grades 1-3: Average 30; 32 maximum; and 3) Grades 4-8: Average 29.9, or whatever the class size was in 1964. Local educational agencies requests to increase class sizes is a reflection of  their lack of funds and attempts to avoid teacher layoffs.

Sacramento Bee, Friday, Aug. 13, 2010

“California students returning to school this month are finding some of the biggest class sizes in more than a decade. And they are likely to get even bigger. Large numbers of school districts are bombarding the state with requests to expand classes beyond the legal limits.

The California Board of Education which reviews class-size waiver requests, gave out 16 exemptions in an 11-month period ending in July. Since then, the board heard 16 more waiver requests at its board meeting Aug. 2 and expects another 16 in September, said Judy Pinegar, manager of the waiver office at the California Department of Education.

The state had no requests for class size increases between 1999 and 2009. “It’s the hot item right now,” Pinegar said. “I’m expecting almost every district in the state to request one.”

The state allows an average of 31 students in kindergarten, 30 in first through third grade and 29.9 in fourth through eighth grade. The waivers allow school districts to avoid stiff financial penalties for going over allowable class sizes. Without a waiver, districts can lose nearly all the state funding for each child over the limit.

The state school board has been accommodating. “The board is recommending up to 33, no higher than that,” Pinegar said. “No district has otherwise convinced the board.” The main criteria for an exemption, said Pinegar, is if paying the penalty would hurt student learning.

The requests have not been without controversy. The California Teachers Association protested the waivers at the August meeting, Pinegar said.

But research on whether class sizes affect student learning isn’t clear. A five-year study paid for by the state and conducted by a consortium of research groups could not determine whether class-size reduction was responsible for increases in achievement test scores during that time.”

To read the whole article go to:Sacremento Bee

Education

California’s Governing Body Postures While California Collapses

3 Comments
Rome Burning
Rome Burning

Anyone watching our legislature and Governor try to come up with a budget solution knows if they were running a private company, they either would have been fired by now or standing in a soup line because the company would have gone bankrupt. Incredible, watching them posture while those of us in the private sector have seen companies go bankrupt, business decrease and our income and assets go down downhill in a bread basket.

Yet those clowns governing our state posture while trying to figure out how to raise more taxes, or not raise taxes, afraid of cutting any fat because they are afraid of offending the powerful state employees unions which taints their decision making in balancing the budget. But of course, why should they worry, they are receiving full pay, a generous car allowance, per diem and of course free lunches from the special interest lobbyists.

In the mean time, State employees, many with salaries under $30,000 get a hit of a 14 percent pay cut. School teachers are being laid off instead of school superintendents and their staff. Proposition’s 98 monies purpose was to fund K-14. K-14 has seen an enrollment drop of 70,000 students since Prop. 98’s passage. Yet the various school districts use of Prop. 98’s monies have increased the overhead costs of running their school districts to a record 76 percent! Do you think they might cut overhead instead of laying off teachers? (See my blog, California Board of Education Cooks Their Books)

So while one side of the political aisle is blaming the other side of the political aisle for the budget crisis, California still holds the title that no other state in the nation has: “The Lowest Bond Rating.” On July 6, 2009, Fitch Ratings slashed the Golden State’s long-term bond rating from A- to BBB. The BBB rating is just two clicks above a rating for junk bonds. Junk bonds are not sold in a junkyard; instead, junk bonds are low-grade bonds issued by companies without long track records or with questionable ability to meet their debt obligations. They are referred to as junk bonds because most investors do not invest in the low-grade bonds. The bolder investors purchase the risky securities because of their very high interest rates.

Fitch cited the reason for its actions was the state’s inability to close the Budget gap and using IOUs to pay its obligations. Despite Fitch’s decision, Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s did not lower the state’s rating quite as low. Maybe they see something we don’t?

The BBB rating will result in the state incurring higher issuance costs for its general obligation bonds. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer said such a rating cut could cost the state $7.5 million in interest over a 30-year period. The State Treasurer’s projected issuance costs are significant when they are put into the context of the ongoing battle to close the State’s Budget deficit.

This seems like something from Roman times, the governing body of California, like Caesar Augustus, playing a fiddle while California burns. By the way, it wasn’t too much later that the Roman Empire started its collapse wasn’t it? Anyhow, what do you think?