On December 13th, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown announced major mid-school year budget cuts to public education, removing all funding for school buses. The $79.6 million dollars cuts would further the damage the $18 billion dollars budget cuts have already made in the past few years. These budget cuts to education will go into effect on February 1, 2012.
In actuality, the impact public schools will soon suffer is more lenient than it would have been. Originally, K-12 schools were at risk of losing up to $1.5 billion dollars in funding, but revisions to the budget forecast have softened the blow. However, other funded areas weren’t spared from the knife. Colleges, child care, libraries, and services for the disabled will soon lose funding as well.
The removal of funding for school buses would hurt rural, low-income, and special education students in particular, for transportation is required for low-income and special education students by federal law. Because of this, some districts will make the cuts elsewhere in order to ensure bus transportation for disabled students.
Responses to the budget cuts have been controversial. Some districts have tried to rectify this problem by using their own funds to provide for transportation. Higher taxes have been proposed, but the specific type of statewide tax is currently being determined by poll. Some organizations have sought school funding initiatives. Other districts, such as the Los Angeles Unified School District, planned to file lawsuits against the state of California.
“There’s no way to solve the budget situation without making some people mad,” says Kevin Nguyen (’13). “Maybe it’s up to the parents to get their kids to school somehow. Carpooling is an option. The government can’t care for every kid. It’s a sad reality but it’s kind of survival of the fittest. It’s impossible to have the perfect society.”
well written article!