Question posed by The Star on the Opinion Pulse page:

"Do you approve of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger considering suspending Proposition 98, which ensures a minimum percentage of the state budget is spent on K-12 and community colleges?"

Answer:

I very much oppose the governor's proposed suspension of Proposition 98 minimum funding guarantee for preschool through community college education. The electorate passed Proposition 98 when California's funding for education began to drop in the 1980s. The intent of the proposition was to move California's schools once again to the top 10 in funding in the nation. Since its passage, California's per-pupil funding has continued to slip further and further behind other states.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, a federal government entity, without adjusting for regional cost differences, the following rankings of California's per-pupil funding existed:

— 1969-70: California ranked 16th.

— 1979-80: California slipped to 22nd.

— 1989-90: California fell to 32nd.

— 1999-00: California held 37th place.

— 2004-05: California ranked 38th at $7,989 per-pupil funding.

A national education journal, Education Week, Quality Counts 2008 edition, reported that, when using regionally adjusted figures, California was nearly $2,000 below the national average based on 2005 expenditures. This figure of $7,081 placed California 46th in the nation, below Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas.

California below national average

Apparently, most states in the nation value their children's education more than California does. By comparison, one private school in the area charges $21,000 per year per pupil, and parents must also purchase textbooks and provide for extracurricular expenses, in addition to the cost of tuition.

If you do not believe me or these figures, maybe you will believe the brightest researchers in California who were commissioned by the governor, the state superintendent of public instruction and the legislative leadership in 2006 to conduct 23 independent studies of school funding. These studies were published by Stanford University (hardly a liberal institution) last year under the title, "Getting Down to Facts."

These top researchers concluded that Texas, New York and Florida spend between 12 percent and 75 percent more per pupil than California does, and that funding must be increased in California, possibly by as much as $40 billion.

The reality is that this year, California is faced with a $16 billion deficit and must either cut spending or generate new revenue. Some have speculated that the education-funding guarantee in the California Constitution placed there by Proposition 98 has caused the deficit. Let me dissuade you from that myth.

According to the independent Legislative Analyst Office, over the last five years, state General Fund revenues have risen 40.2 percent, while Proposition 98 funding has increased by only 30.4 percent. If the governor's proposal to suspend Proposition 98 is enacted, with its resulting 10 percent cut to kindergarten through community-college education, Proposition 98 funding will have increased only 21.7 percent over this time period.

According to the LAO, all other governmental agencies and programs, except the University of California, California State University and student aid, have grown faster than K-14 education over this time period.

In fact, it was recently reported that state revenues to our prison system, for the first time in the history of this state, exceeded the state revenue to our UC and CSU systems combined. Is this funding a reflection of our priorities, of our values? I am not an economist, but I doubt that investing in prisoners will have the same economic return as investing in college students.

On top of the precipitous drop in funding for education over the last four decades, this year, K-12 education is being told to absorb a 10 percent across-the-board cut, equating to $4.8 billion statewide, just to open schools next year.

What $4.8 million in cuts means

What does a $4.8 billion cut look like? You could cut $4.8 billion from California's K-12 education system by:

— Shutting down every school across the state for nearly one month, or

— Laying off more than 107,000 teachers, or

— Increasing class sizes statewide by as much as 35 percent, or

— Reducing per-student spending by more than $800, or

— Laying off more than 137,000 bus drivers, janitors, food-service workers, maintenance workers and other education support professionals, or

— Cutting more than $24,000 per classroom, or

— Cutting $7.76 million per school district (assuming an average enrollment of 10,000), or

— Eliminating all music, art, and career technical education programs statewide.

No fat left

It equates to $83 million less to schools in Ventura County than was projected under Proposition 98.

As school districts attempted to make these cuts, school boards and school administrators were smacked in the face with the reality that because California schools are some of the most underfunded schools in the nation and have been for some time, the fat is already gone, the muscles have atrophied, the flesh has already been stripped and they are beginning to amputate some bones. Not by choice, but out of necessity, due to inadequate funding, California now ranks:

— Last in the nation in number of administrators per student: 1 principal/assistant principal for 534 students compared with 1 to 366 in a typical American school. That's 61 percent more administrators on average.

— Last in the nation in counselors and other professional support staff. The typical American school has 92 percent more counselors than our children do in California.

— Last in the nation in librarians, nurses, elementary music and art teachers.

— And second to last (49th) in the number of classroom teachers, creating one of the largest class sizes in the nation. The average school in America has 30 percent more teachers for the same number of students.

This translates into some of the largest average school sizes, which results in school closures when school enrollment dips below 400 students. Ironically, 400 is roughly the average school size in the nation. In California, we have to maintain 600- to 800-student enrollment in order to fund adequate infrastructure, support staff and leadership.

This is not the way we should be treating our children. Children are the very future of our great state. If we do not provide them with an adequate education, the economy is likely to suffer. Additionally, our children are the promise of our democracy. Many scholars have reminded us that democracy cannot survive without an informed and educated electorate.

I will end where I started: I am very disappointed with the governor's proposed suspension of Proposition 98, which would result in a 10 percent cut to education. Budgeting should be an indication of our priorities. The governor should not balance the state budget by mortgaging children's futures. Proposition 98 should not be suspended. In fact, we should invest more, not less, in the education of our next generation.

— Charles Weis, Ph.D., is Ventura County superintendent of schools.