The voters' smoldering anger and continued distrust of their elected officials in Sacramento received more vindication last week when state legislators passed, without any public comment or scrutiny, Assembly Bill 114. This very special-interest budget-trailer bill strips school districts of some of their bargaining leverage during annual negotiations in seeking concessions from teachers’ unions to help balance their school district budgets.
Teachers’ Jobs Now Protected
Even if state education funding is deferred or further cut halfway through the school year, as it has been the past three fiscal years, AB 114 still prohibits local districts from laying off any teachers during this next school year.
Gee, Only a Campaign Promise
But, didn't then-gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown run promising “to return the decision-making process to the school districts and local communities?”
Hmm… So much for that promise.
Works in Progress
Last month, union contracts were tentatively agreed upon and our Culver City Unified School District Board passed its 2011-12 budget on time. The Board understands that the budget process is never, ever really finished, that it is an on-going work-in-progress.
Since the state's funding of K-12 education has been in a fluctuating downward spiral, District employees need to consider that the District's budget and their union contracts are also works-in-progress.
Having Your Friends in High Places
AB 114, signed by Gov. Brown, undermines every school district's open bargaining position. It denies districts the leverage of proposing teacher layoffs as a means of cutting overall district spending. This law protecting teachers' jobs could force districts to balance their budgets by laying off even more of the other district employees not covered by the law.
Across-the-Board Cuts
With teachers' jobs now being untouchable and in lieu of the now mostly unacceptable option of balancing district budgets by cutting more days of instruction, school districts will have no other alternative but to look at other means of balancing their budgets. If state revenues are less than anticipated and large mid-year adjustments are called for, then an across-the-board cut of all employee salaries (a 10 percent District-wide cut happened here in 1992) and/or a step-and-column freeze might be the only way for districts to fairly balance their ever-shrinking budgets.
Mr. Laase may be contacted at gmlaase@aol.com
