AFT: Publications: American Teacher: September 2003: Special Report

Political theatrics were in full swing in Texas during the 2003 legislative session. When House Democrats fled the state to protest a Republican congressional redistricting proposal, and the GOP responded by ordering state troopers to hunt them down, it made national news.

That event told the story of a house divided. But it was just one chapter of this legislative session. As the Texas Federation of Teachers (TFT) would learn, when it came to education issues, the division was among legislators, not parties.

The Republican leadership was “so greedy,” says Eric Hartman, TFT legislative director. “They wanted so many things at once that it helped us bring their agenda down.”

Member and community outrage over a myriad of education proposals helped the TFT mobilize its membership and cultivate coalitions with other organizations to fight back. With bipartisan support, the coalition defeated attacks on public education, including a voucher initiative, a proposal that would have killed teacher contract rights and another measure that would have allowed school districts to opt out of state quality standards for public education.

Meanwhile, TFT successfully secured a paperwork burden reduction that it had sought since 1995, reimbursement for classroom supplies starting in 2005 and funding for the paraprofessional tuition program.

Texas lawmakers wouldn’t budge on many other education-related budget issues, however, notes Hartman, who says, “The budget was balanced at the expense of students and teachers and other school employees.

“We took more than a $1 billion hit on healthcare alone,” laments Hartman, noting that the out-of-pocket healthcare costs for retirees will grow, and the healthcare supplement for full-time school employees was cut from $1,000 to $500.

But the conclusion to the 2003 session has not been written. The Legislature, which reports that it has $800 million available, will convene a special session on school finance this fall at which the union “will be looking to undo the budget damage,” Hartman says.

The numbers are daunting: total budget cuts of nearly $200 million statewide, resulting in almost 3,000 school staff losing their jobs. But beyond talking about numbers, Education Minnesota leaders want to “put a face” on those bleak projections for school budgets next year. “We must educate the public about the real cuts that have already been implemented in our school districts and campuses in the last two or three years, and what those cuts have meant to our students,” Education Minnesota president Judy Schaubach said at the state fed convention earlier this year. “We need to talk about larger class sizes. Fewer teachers. Cancelled programs. Lost opportunities.”

Statewide, Education Minnesota estimates show that two-thirds of all districts will receive less money for the next school year than they did in 2002-03. In Minneapolis, for example, the school board approved a budget for 2003-04 that’s almost 5 percent lower than last year’s.

The cuts include almost 300 teaching positions, which will raise average class sizes by three or four students. About 50 educational assistants also lost their jobs, many of them in positions working with bilingual students. “What will happen to the children who no longer have those services?” asks Mary Jo Connolly, president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers paraprofessional chapter.

“This is the Titanic,” says Richard Schwarz, executive director of AFT Oregon, referring to the state’s $3 billion budget shortfall for the 2003-04 biennium. “And we are down by the bow. You can’t convene a committee to see if it would have been better to sail around the iceberg.”

In Oregon, where public education is predominantly funded by the state, there has been a lot of talk among lawmakers about the shipwreck, but very little action taken to fill the bulging budget gap that is sinking public programs from education to social services, Schwarz says. As a result, about one-fourth of the state’s public schools shortened the 2002-03 school year; districts are setting up classrooms for the coming year without teachers because the Legislature does not have a budget plan; and the seven state universities are raising tuition by 32 percent this fall because state funding for higher education has been cut by about 10 percent or $75 million.

Oregon’s iceberg: years of tax-related ballot initiatives that slowed the state’s revenue stream, including one that capped the personal property tax, and policy decisions that provide frivolous tax credits or deductions, says Schwarz.

Tax reform is the only way to salvage the budget, he explains, noting that Oregon’s reliance on income taxes as a primary funding source is particularly troublesome during the state’s current economic slump, which has contributed to an 8.5 percent statewide unemployment rate.

Instituting a state sales tax and tightening tax credit and deduction policies are two reforms AFT Oregon has been lobbying for in partnership with the Fund Oregon’s Future Today coalition.

Oregon communities approve new tax to boost education funding

Just as Republican lawmakers in Congress were ironing out the $350 billion federal tax giveback measure in May, voters in Multnomah County, Ore., which encompasses Portland, approved a new three-year 1.25 percent county income tax.

Proponents of the federal tax giveback and supporters of the county tax ushered their initiatives through with strikingly similar arguments. Congressional Republican leaders and President Bush insisted the tax cut was necessary to prop up the economy and create jobs. Multnomah County voters reasoned that the new county tax was needed to save jobs and preserve public services, both of which are important to the community’s economy and quality of life.

The ballot initiative is expected to generate $128 million annually through June 2006. The money is earmarked for schools, public safety and social services.

Without voter approval of the tax, “we would have had layoffs,” says Louise Currin, treasurer of the Portland Federation of Teachers and Classified Employees/AFT.

Voters in Beaverton, Ore., just outside Portland, also approved a special property tax levy that is expected to raise $17 million a year for schools.

In late May, the New York Legislature overrode Gov. George Pataki’s vetoes of its budget, which restored billions to the state’s education and healthcare systems. It was an intense lobbying effort led by the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) and others—as well as overwhelming public support for adequate funding of education and healthcare—that prompted the historic action. The last time the Legislature used its power to override a governor’s veto was in 1982.

State lawmakers had passed a $93 billion budget in early May, which included $2 billion more for K-12, higher education and healthcare than the budget Pataki had proposed at the beginning of the year. The revised budget restored funds devoted to smaller class size, teacher centers, mental health services and research, and much more. In mid-May, Pataki vetoed the provisions in the budget. Within 24 hours, the lawmakers overturned all 119 of the governor’s vetoes.

The legislators were buoyed by an unprecedented turnout of more than 40,000 educators, parents, students, administrators and supporters at the March for Public Education on May 3 in Albany. Healthcare workers and state employees also held several rallies to protest the proposed closings of state research and psychiatric centers.

“Legislators made the right choices. Because of their political courage and leadership, New York will have better public schools and stronger colleges and universities,” says Alan Lubin, NYSUT executive vice president and an AFT vice president.

The budget situation in California has grabbed national headlines in recent months. Confronted with the largest deficit of any state—currently estimated at $38 billion—lawmakers in California have had to face some tough decisions.

“The problem can’t be solved by cuts alone,” warns the California Federation of Teachers. “We need to increase state revenues with carefully considered tax increases, especially closing tax loopholes for those who can afford to pay: the wealthy and larger corporations.”

In early August, California Gov. Gray Davis signed into a law a budget passed by the state Legislature after months of tough negotiations. There remains, however, a shortfall of around $10 billion this budget year and a projected deficit of $7 billion to $8 billion next year.

CFT legislative representative Mike Weimer says the state plans to use the portion of sales tax revenue normally earmarked for local governments to help close the budget deficit.

“It’s possible that school districts will have to lay off teachers and classified employees to cover their budget shortfalls,” Weimer says.

The state’s budget also jeopardizes the funding that districts have used for staff development and technology programs.

Meanwhile, the CFT, which Weimer says will be “closely monitoring” the budget situation, has joined with other California education groups to form the Education Coalition, which is dedicated to keeping any education cuts “as far away from the classroom as possible.”