[Update] Hope Fading As Deadline on Tax Extensions Nears

[Update]  As of this afternoon, Governor Jerry Brown said he is no longer seeking a two-thirds vote to put the tax extentions on the June ballot.

"Yesterday, I stopped the discussions that I had been conducting with various members of the Republican party regarding our state's massive deficit," Brown said in a statement on his Web site released this afternoon. "The budget plan that I put forth is balanced between deep cuts and extensions of currently existing taxes and I believe it is in the best interest of California. Under our constitution, however, two Republicans from the Assembly and two from the Senate must agree before this matter can be put to the people.

Each and every Republican legislator I’ve spoken to believes that voters should not have this right to vote unless I agree to an ever changing list of collateral demands."

More on this story in a later report.

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As the deadline approaches for Governor Jerry Brown to persuade enough legislature votes to get initiatives passed on the June ballot, school districts across the state are anxiously awaiting word on the fate of future school programs and jobs.

While the first deadline has passed, Brown needs two Republican votes in the Assembly and two in the State Senate to get $12 billion in temporary tax hikes for a special election ballot in June. If voters are to see the initiatives on the June ballot, which would continue tax increases on vehicle license fees, income and sales taxes, a decision by the legislature must be finalized this week. However, hopes of that happening are fading fast.

The Republicans have issued a 53-item list of demands they want to see implemented before they approve the initiatives – including basing teacher layoffs on performance rather than seniority, limiting tax extensions to 18 months rather than five years and moving state workers' pensions from guaranteed-benefits to a mixed system. The seven-page document, which was delivered to the governor by senate minority leader Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) and Sen. Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar), effectively stalled tax negotiations.

Should the governor’s push for tax extensions fail, the next hope is possibly seeing those initiatives on a November ballot, said Dr. Robert Voors, Superintendent for Glendora Unified School District.

“That will really put us in a tough spot,” said Voors. “Out budget has to be completed in July, the latest August.”

But since the state has struggled to set a firm budget to address a $25 billion shortfall.

With not much encouraging news from Sacramento, school districts have been told to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

“We don’t even know where we truly are going,” said Glendora Unified school board President Doug Ferrell, in reference to the ambiguity surrounding the proposed June special election.  “This is where (the budget is) going today, but that could change next week (if there is no special election).” 

Glendora Unified projects a loss of $349 in ADA funding per pupil – 18 times the current funding. For Charter Oak Unified, that would mean a revenue loss $2 million each year. Currently, the district receives $6,493 for each student. If the tax extension doesn’t pass, that number will be lowered to $4,890 per student.

According to a letter from Charter Oak Unified to members of the legislature, the cuts will result in “dramatic cuts in staff, programs, and services in the Charter Oak Unified School District,” which has seen $20 million in cuts to its budget in the last four years.

But the proposed tax extensions would do nothing for the jobs and programs already lost. Both school districts have already sent out layoff notices to employees. Glendora Unified approved .

“This is certainly not fair for those teachers, it’s not deserved for those teachers and this is certainly not how we want to treat our teachers,” said school board member Chuck Gomer when the board approved the layoffs. “We have to do it from a financial point of view and we have to do it by a certain date, and I understand all of that, but this is not how you treat professionals.”

* Patch Correspondent John Sakata contributed to this report.