While Arnold is going around endorsing systemic failure, it appears he has some extra time to wax poetic about how bad of a job he has done. His legacy: abject failure. And why not go out in a blaze of failure? Something to really show the history books a thing or two about failure.
“If I don’t get what I need, I will not sign it and it could drag on to the next governor,” Schwarzenegger told reporters after meeting with the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce on Monday. (AP)
Sure, why not? I mean, I enjoyed ArnoldBucks the first time around, and if there is anything Arnold knows, it’s a good sequel.
On a more serious note, a budget fight that trails into the winter will have some serious consequences. Once again, the credit rating agencies will start trashing our rating. We’ll be paying interest on a bunch of IOUs. A slew of state employees, contractors, and suppliers will take a massive cut, continuing the devastation in the California (and Sacramento especially) economy.
On the plus side of the ledger, as MarkD pointed out in a comment, a protracted fight just might be the impetus that puts a majority vote budget measure across the line. Perhaps his little performance at the Chamber of Commerce will have some historical implications.
UPDATE by Robert: Steinberg calls his bluff:
“If the governor continues to insist on granting billions in corporate tax cuts financed by drastic cuts to public education and programs for working mothers and their children, I am prepared to grant his wish by waiting for the next governor,” Steinberg said in a statement.
This doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon.
because each school district has had to make an assumption about what the funding will be for 2010-2011 already. The schools won’t know if they assumed correctly until the school year is already underway and half the money is spent. In theory the $400 per student loss from 2009-2010 that everyone was told was probably a worst case might end up being $800. In a 1,000 student school, that’s $400,000, probably around 6 full time teaching positions.
So then that extra $400,000 comes out of the reserves, and that would mean not only that for 2011-2012, they’d have to cut the 6 positions, but they’d have to make additional cuts to make up for the damage to the reserve, potentially 10-12 teachers total. Maybe only for one year, but that still is very damaging.
Kids only get one year in each grade. Dramatic slashes like this can create tremendous holes in a child’s education. There’s only one junior year, where the college counselor’s work is essential. There’s only one kindergarten year, where reading and school habits are first established. The cuts made today, even if they’re only for one year, will reverberate through schools for the next 12 years and through the California workforce for a generation.