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CFT files suit to protect schools, community colleges |
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May 8 — The California Federation of Teachers, AFT/AFL-CIO yesterday filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court to force the state to repay nearly $12 billion slashed from the K-14 public education budget over the past two years. The CFT was joined by Service Employees International Union Local 99 in the lawsuit, which seeks to enforce voter-approved Proposition 98 minimum funding guarantees.
The CFT filed the suit following an announcement by Governor Schwarzenegger threatening to cut another $3.6 billion from the education budget. The plaintiffs said that going to court to restore school funding is a better option than passing Propositions 1A and 1B in the May 19 Special Election.
“Voters need to know that we don’t have to lock flawed and dangerous formulas into the constitution in order to repay our schools. Proposition 1A will turn the Proposition 98 minimum funding guarantee for our schools into a cap instead of a floor, and Proposition 1B could mean that schools won’t even get all the money they are owed if more cuts happen in the coming year,” said Marty Hittelman, President of the California Federation of Teachers. “This lawsuit will fund schools at the level required by law to reflect the voice of the voters who made our children’s education a clear constitutional priority through Proposition 98.”
1B would give schools the repayment Proposition 98 requires only if voters also approve Proposition 1A, and, unlike the lawsuit announced today, Proposition 1B would not guarantee that any additional education cuts made for the 2009‐10 year would have to be repaid.
CFT and SEIU Local 99 said the legal merits behind their lawsuit are clear. If schools receive less state funding than required by Proposition 98’s minimum guarantee, they must be repaid a “maintenance factor” in subsequent years. Because the legislature “suspended” Prop. 98 in the 2007‐08 and 2008‐09 fiscal years, schools will be owed a total of $9.3 billion in back payments, a level that could reach $12 billion if an additional $2.3 billion in cuts are made in FY 2009‐10 as projected in February’s state budget agreement. Earlier this week, Governor Schwarzenegger threatened to increase 09‐10 school cuts to $3.6 billion. Proposition 1B would restore only $9.3 billion in cuts, and then only if formulas that would cause serious long‐term damage to education are cemented in the constitution with Proposition 1A.
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