November 5, 2008
TO:
All SCCOE Staff
FROM:
Dr. Charles Weis,
County Superintendent of Schools
SUBJECT:
Staff Briefing: Budget Special Session
Hello, everyone--
You may have heard that the governor plans to
call a special session of the Legislature to address the issue of
the state budget shortfall.
To someone unfamiliar with the California budgeting process, this might seem
to be peculiar news--after all, it's been only a few weeks since we
were told the Legislature had "fixed" the budget issue for the year.
But we all knew that nothing really had been
fixed at all; and with the nation's recent economic misfortunes
suddenly compounding the problem in
California, the inadequacy of the "fix" has
become apparent in a very short time.
We are hearing now that the state's budget
shortfall may be as high as $10 billion. There are projections
that up to $4 billion will be cut from education spending, by
suspending the guaranteed funding of Proposition 98.
I don't need to tell you that this would be a
stunning hit to education. We don't know if it will really be that
much, but there is a lot of uncertainty in the air right now in
Sacramento, along with a sense that anything
and everything could be on the table.
Working with our legislative partners and
leaders, we will continue to strongly advocate for ways to revise California's inherently flawed revenue
system. In the short term, that should include developing new
revenue sources in order to avoid draconian cuts to our already
underfunded education system.
What does all this mean for us today at the
COE? First of all, we are not proposing a general reduction in
force; nor are we implementing a purchasing freeze, or any other
freeze. We won't make any such serious moves until it becomes
clear how any action in Sacramento will affect us.
With that said, I am asking everyone at the COE
to look very carefully at every expenditure. Ask yourself: Do
we really need that? If so, do we need it this year? ...Also,
I'd like to again urge everyone to think about ways we can save
money, and submit their ideas to the Idea
Center
on the Intranet.
One other note about revenues and costs:
I want everyone to know we are doing our best to explore ways to
reduce health and welfare costs for our employees. We are in
negotiations with our associations and unions now, and that is a
primary area under discussion. The seemingly endless increases
in health care costs are hurting all of us. It's a tough
problem, and there are no guarantees, but we are doing our best to
explore how to somehow mitigate the situation.
I know these are rather gloomy times
economically, but if we all pull together, and help each other stay
optimistic, it will be a lot easier to get through it. This
office has survived many a challenge before; by supporting one
another we will survive, and thrive, this time, too.
Thanks for reading.
--Chuck
|
