ABC Union Coalition pledges support of California tax extensions

Board-member Pulido resigns to take Council seat.

ABC School Board member Mark Pulido said good by to his fellow board members at the Board’s Mar. 15 meeting. Pulido, who was elected to the Cerritos City Council in the Mar. 8 city elections and was sworn Mar. 16, told his colleagues his tenure on the school board was a continuation of his education and as a city councilmember and that he would work to continue the close relationship between the city of Cerritos and the District.
He also took the time to chide those who blame the unions for the deficits in Sacramento, saying the problem should not be laid at their doorstep.
On April 5 the Board is expected to decide on the process for interviewing candidates to serve as an interim member until the November elections when a candidate will be elected to fill the remaining two years of Pulido’s term of office.
In other business the Board adopted two budget scenarios requested by the Los Angeles County Office of Education. The first, Budget “A”, assumes passage of the tax extensions proposed by the Governor resulting in state funding for education remaining flat . Budget “A” would result in a $3.4 million ABC deficit for the fiscal year 2011-12.
Budget “B” would assume the rejection of the proposed tax extension and funding for education would be reduced by the Proposition 98 amount of $2.3 billion. This would result in an ABC budget deficit of approximately $10 million .
Superintendent Gary Smuts explained passage of the two budgets did not mean there would be immediate cuts. He said the District is required to submit them to the Los Angeles Office of Education this week. He said the figures would change when the Governor made his May budget revise, adding they would in all likelihood change again when a final budget is approved by the legislature.
He said the Board was no stranger to the cuts mandated by failure of the legislature to balance the budget. “We have done this four times,” he stated, “to the tune of $28 million. “ He said in his many years in education he has never seen such disarray in funding the state’s schools, describing it as catastrophic.

A recent survey shows overwhelming support of tax extensions among Californians, 59%-39%.
Present at the meeting were union members and management representatives united under the banner of “ Coalition of United Public School Services “ who declared they were one family and were ready to walk the precincts to obtain passage of the tax extension if the legislature puts it on the ballot.
Former School Board member David Montgomery agreed with the Coalition members that they are all one family when it comes to the education of the students. He added now they must bring in the rest of the family to help, the community-at- large.