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 Important AnnouncementBe sure to check the Newsletter page for the most current updates on the Budget by looking at the most recent In-Between. January 18, 2008
House Hearing Held on Social Security Fairness Act
Submit Your Personal Stories for the Record
On January 16th, the House Ways and Means Committee, Subcommittee on Social Security, held a hearing on the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision. Peg Cagle, an NEA member from California and recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, testified before the subcommittee, giving a voice to educators’ concerns about the offsets and calling for their immediate repeal. This hearing, and the Senate hearing held November 6, 2007, represent a major step forward in our ongoing campaign to repeal these unfair offsets, and was a direct result of the pressure exerted by NEA members and other activists across the country.
Statements are being accepted for the hearing record until close of business on January 30, 2008. To submit your personal story electronically, go to http://waysandmeans.house.gov/Hearings.asp?congress=18 and select the January 16 hearing entitled, “Hearing on Social Security Benefits for Economically Vulnerable Beneficiaries.” Then, select “Click here to provide a submission for the record.” Once you have followed the online instructions, completing all informational forms and clicking “submit” on the final page, an email will be sent to the address which you supply confirming your interest in providing a submission for the record. You MUST REPLY to the email and ATTACH your submission as a Word or WordPerfect document, in accordance with the following rules:
- All submissions and supplementary materials must be provided in Word or WordPerfect format and MUST NOT exceed a total of 10 pages, including attachments. Witnesses and submitters are advised that the Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.
- Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
- All submissions must include a list of all clients, persons, and/or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears. A supplemental sheet must accompany each submission listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers of each witness.
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January 18, 2008
Budget Proposals: What Do We Do?
Don’t panic!
The state legislature is in a 45 day fiscal emergency session until late February. After that we will know specifically if any reduction impact will occur midyear. The proposal is to take this year’s needed money from unused state categorical monies.
Know that next year’s (08-09) reductions will not be known until after the May 2008 Revise. The 6.99% deficit in revenue for the 08-09 year you are hearing about (2.4% less monies for schools than this year) is still a proposal. Nothing is final yet for 07-08, and until an 08-09 budget is adopted, we will not know for sure what reductions will be made next year.
Know that MVEA is in your court!
MVEA will work toward any future cuts being as far away from the students and educators as possible. Your President and Executive Board have asked to reconvene CAMM (Classified, Administrators, MVEA and MVUSD), a group of presidents and top management that was used during the 2003 state budget crisis. Through CAMM, the JFMC (Joint Fiscal management Committee) and during other meetings, MVEA will do all it can to keep any possible reductions away from the classroom. MVEA will continue to share information we get from CTA so that you are educated on the issue.
Stop any rumors. They are not productive.
Nothing is for sure until the Legislature enacts legislation which takes a 2/3 vote. If you hear rumors about reductions or any other budget-related issues, PLEASE check the source and contact MVEA so that we can follow up. Let’s try to react in a logical manner based on fact, not fiction or assumptions.
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January 11, 2008
CONTACTS:
Sandra Jackson, CTA, 916-325-1550
Julie White, ACSA, 916-329-3832
Brad Sherwood, CSBA, 916-669-3244
Education Coalition Statement on
Governor’s 2008-09 Budget Proposal
The Education Coalition, representing more than 1.7 million parents, teachers, school board members, school employees and administrators, released the following statement today on Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed 2008-09 state budget.
“The Education Coalition appreciates the extraordinary challenges the governor faces in balancing the state’s budget, but we strongly oppose his 2008-09 budget proposal and plans to eviscerate Proposition 98. Our students and schools did not create this budget problem, and their education and future progress shouldn’t be undermined because of it.
“The governor’s budget reductions would be disastrous to public schools. A $4.8 billion cut to Prop. 98 would mean laying off tens of thousands of teachers, statewide increases in class size and the further erosion of the support classified and paraprofessional staff provide to our students. This would threaten the progress that our students are beginning to make. Reading scores are up 25 percent and math scores have increased 17 percent in the last four years. This progress cannot continue with these proposed cuts to our public schools.
“Voters passed Proposition 98, the minimum school funding law, almost 20 years ago. And they overwhelmingly supported it again in 2005. Any proposal to suspend Prop. 98 flies in the face of the will of voters to protect minimum education funding.
“This week Education Week, reported that California spends $1,900 less per student than the national average. The “Getting Down to Facts” studies show that billions more are needed to give our students the opportunity to meet the state’s rigorous academic standards. California has 30 percent fewer teachers and 60 percent fewer principals than the average American school. Other studies show that we have some of the most overcrowded classrooms as well as the greatest shortage of librarians, counselors and other critical support staff in the nation.
“A state budget proposal that looks at cuts alone is not a real solution. We can not talk about spending cuts without also talking about increasing revenues. We must enact a balanced budget that continues the momentum of educational improvement that has been built since the late 1990s. Anything less is unacceptable.”
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