Budget breaks last year’s promise

Budget breaks last year’s promise

As a parent and member of the Brookside PTA, I am deeply concerned about the effects on children of the governor’s 2005-06 state budget proposal. The proposal funds education below the Proposition 98 guaranteed minimum and further harms public schools that already suffer from inadequate resources.

This budget breaks the promise made last year to California’s schools and our six million public school students to pay back the money borrowed from Proposition 98 and to avoid more harmful cuts in future years, despite the fact that state revenues are now higher than projections indicated when the promise was made.

Legislators must consider the long-term, negative effects of inadequate funding on California’s children as they deliberate the proposal. We must meet our obligation to provide our children with a quality education that prepares them and our state to be competitive in a global society.

Natalie Friedman

Oak Park