(January 11, 2008) Saying California has no choice but to “face our budget demons,” Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger this week proposed amending the state Constitution “so that our spending has some relationship with our revenues.”
During his January 8 State of the State Address, Governor Schwarzenegger also called for using public-private partnerships to speed the delivery of infrastructure, vowed to continue pushing for more water storage and new water delivery systems, announced the state will focus on helping schools whose students are falling behind federal standards and urged action on his health care reform proposal.
Budget Reform
The Governor said the constitutional amendment he proposes is modeled after the process used in Arkansas and would set aside money in good years for use in bad years when the state’s revenue intake slows. In addition, the state would slow spending if a deficit appears during the year.
He compared the state’s previous use of higher revenues to operating on “sugar highs...Then the sugar is gone and we come down off our high. We spend it all one year and can’t sustain it the next. We need to budget more evenly.”
 |
| Joining California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (center) at the podium before his State of the State address on January 8 are (from left) Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi. Associated Press Photo |
Infrastructure The Governor pointed out that California has a water system “built decades ago for 18 million people” and now has a population of 37 million. “We must expand water storage. We must build new water delivery systems,” the Governor said. “We must fix the Delta and restore its ecosystem.”
Over the next two decades, the Governor said, the state has $500 billion worth of infrastructure needs to be met as well as digital infrastructure to keep the economy growing.
He called for expanding public-private partnerships to provide infrastructure and said he will be proposing legislation to make such partnerships more available to state and local governments.
Education
The Governor noted that 23 of the top 100 public schools in the nation identified in a recent survey are in California and that the number of high school students taking advanced math and science courses has increased 53 percent since 2003.
On the other hand, the Governor pointed out, the state has a dropout rate of between 15 percent and 30 percent (the exact number can’t be determined due to the inability to track students efficiently). The state also has a lower ratio of teachers and counselors to students than other schools in the nation, the Governor said.
Dramatic change in the schools requires reforms that will need funding, the Governor said. “In light of the current budget situation, of course, this is not the year to talk about money.”
He said 98 school districts in the state are out of compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The state must act when a district has been out of compliance for five years in a row and has identified several districts that “have persistently failed to educate children,” the Governor said.
He announced the state will be the first to use powers granted under the act to turn districts around, working with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, teachers, administrators, parents and elected officials “to make these districts models of reform.”
Staff Contact: Jeanne Cain