The Sacramento Bee

Editorial: Not giving up
'Year of Education' – tempered by realism

Published 12:00 am PST Saturday, January 19, 2008

Californians might be baffled by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's championing of 2008 as the "Year of Education" as he proposes to cut the education budget. But his approach is not as contradictory as it might seem.

Schwarzenegger sees a state budget shortfall of $14.5 billion as a "blip." And in fact, the current budget problem is small compared with the 1991 deficit during the tenure of Gov. Pete Wilson. The deficit is $14.5 billion of a $101 billion budget, compared with a $14.3 billion deficit of a $53 billion budget in 1991. Schwarzenegger believes all parties working together can solve the short-term problem without losing sight of the big issues facing the state.

So he's laid out a proposal for cuts, while saying he's open to other ideas: "If someone comes in with a better way, that's great. Let's find out what it is." He admits that "we need to put money into education, as much as possible." Let negotiations begin.

Schwarzenegger is straightforward that he wasn't able to launch as ambitious a rollout as he wanted for his 2008 Year of Education because the health care reform that he expected would be done in 2007 remains in negotiations. And, as he said Wednesday, you can't propose major education reforms, announce $4 billion in cuts and expect to get needed support from the education community.

So he sees 2008 as the year where California commits to education measures that have broad support: a world-class data system, a system for handling districts that persistently miss performance targets and creative public-private partnerships to address teacher shortages. Beyond that, he wants to use this year to bring all interested parties together to hammer out other reforms. Then, he says, we'll see a "big push" next year.

Despite the tough budget situation, Schwarzenegger's goals remain high for completing health care reform and launching an ambitious education agenda, a good thing for the long-term prosperity of the state. His approach is tempered by realism, but he's not giving up on bold solutions for California's education challenges. That's good news in a tough year.

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