Two-thousand ohhh-eight
by Jim Groth, CTA Director, District P, Chula Vista Elementary School District

Happy 2008! It is the year I am calling ohhh eight.

Ohhh eight starts with a budget battle. January is deja vu all over again. In October 2003, Gray Davis was recalled and replaced by current Governor Schwarzenegger due to a 15 billion dollar state budget shortfall. In January 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger faces a 14 billion dollar state budget shortfall. Budget experts agree that if the Governor had not taken his first official action of rolling back DMV fees, we would not be in this situation. Now, the battle will be to protect Proposition 98 and school funding. Updated information is available at the CTA.ORG and SDEA.NET websites. Ohhh my, another battle.

Ohhh eight also means election season. The first of three California elections is the primary on February 5th. In December, the CTA Board of Directors voted not to make an endorsement in the presidential primary. This decision will be reviewed prior to the CTA State Council meeting that will be held in Los Angeles on January 25-27. A final decision to endorse or not to endorse a presidential candidate will be made by the State Council.

Proposition 92 is one of several propositions on the February ballot.
CTA State Council has taken a position of voting "No" on 92. While we all support community colleges and the important role they play in educating Californians, Proposition 92 will cause more problems than it claims to solve.

Consider the facts on Prop 92:

• Prop 92 would lock in new state spending during a time when we face a serious budget crisis. It is estimated that the increased cost for the first three years is nearly one billion dollars.
  
• Prop 92 would threaten California's ability to fund K-12 schools, state universities, health care, and public safety.
  
• Prop 92 would expand bureaucracy but contains no accountability or independent oversight.
  
• Prop 92 claims to improve access but does nothing to help low income students with costs. Fees were waived for 740,000 low and middle income students in 2005/2006. Community college fees actually account for less than 10% of the total educational costs.
  (California currently has the lowest community college fees in the nation - a third of the national average.)
  
• Prop 92 is OPPOSED by a broad based list of taxpayer and community groups. These groups include: CTA, the California Chamber of Commerce, California Faculty Association, League of Women Voters of California, California Business Roundtable, and California Taxpayers' Association.

Ohhh eight is easy when it comes to Prop 92. Voting "No" on 92 is the answer.
(Jim can be contacted at Jgroth@cta.org or through the SDEA office.)