That quote is courtesy of Abraham Lincoln, who is very much sought after by school districts around the country right now, . With his words in mind, let鈥檚 check out a few states where education funding is a big issue in various ways.
It鈥檚 hard not to start in California, where Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, who is still staring goggle-eyed at his state鈥檚 roughly $16 billion budget deficit, has allowing school districts the option of cutting 15 days from the normal 180-day school calendar next year, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. California school districts already have the option of eliminating up to five school days from their calendars, but Brown鈥檚 proposal would be in addition to that, leaving districts with 20 days they could cut in order to save money.
Brown floated a numerically-identical proposal last year, when he said that 20 school days, or basically a month of real time, could be cut from school districts in the 2011-12 school year without more tax revenue, the Sacramento Bee . Of the $6 billion cuts Brown is forecasting if voters don鈥檛 approve a tax increase in a November ballot initiative, about 92 percent of that would come out of K-12 schools, the Chronicle report stated. In 2010, cutting five days of school would have $1.1 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times. Even that dated information gives you an idea of the scale of California鈥檚 budget and its budget problem.
Meanwhile, Republicans in North Carolina are apparently mulling increases (in a roundabout way) for public school districts鈥� funding, although Democrats believe it鈥檚 a sinister attempt to avoid any discussion of increasing tax revenues to help education. Basically, the state鈥檚 schools are due to shovel a certain amount of money back to the state next year as 鈥渞eversions鈥� (reversions have been imposed by state lawmakers on schools since 2008).
As opposing the reversion from the Buncombe County school board shows, officials are concerned that the recent state budget cuts to schools, the loss of federal stimulus dollars, and the upcoming reversions for 2012-13 (for Buncombe, it would be $8.62 million) will cripple schools, and that reversions damage the funding commitment made by the state legislature. GOP members say they are considering a push to reduce the $503 million North Carolina鈥檚 115 districts are scheduled to owe the state next year.
Finally, it鈥檚 a revered tradition to use creatively insulting language to describe an opponent鈥檚 budget ideas, but 鈥渋llegal鈥� isn鈥檛 a common word in those verbal attacks. Still, that鈥檚 how New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie鈥檚 proposed education budget is being by the Education Law Center, based in Newark, which advocates for educational equality. Essentially, the study argues that Christie, a Republican, is stamping all over the statutory timeline for changes to school funding formulas by recommending changes to funding and not waiting for the Education Adequacy Report, which comes from the state commissioner and recommends any changes to the formulas. NorthJersey.com that the center also accused Christie of shortchanging disadvantaged students through his proposed funding scheme.
鈥淚n sum, the Governor鈥檚 FY13 school aid proposal should be rejected as an unauthorized and legally improper incursion by the Executive upon the other branches of government, in defiance of clear legislative and judicial mandates,鈥� the center鈥檚 executive director, David Sciarra, wrote to legislators.