Galatolo predicts that some of the state’s community colleges and K-12 districts will actually go broke as state budget problems continue into the foreseeable future. However, he says his college district’s finances can weather the storm. Also, some of its bond-funded construction and remodeling can continue. The college district receives most of its money from local property taxes, a stable income source that the state has begun to covet and tap, calling the money "loans." The state legislators who voted for these takeaways have essentially begun to remove education as the top state priority and put it on a back burner. The opportunities for a perfect storm in California have begun to appear. If the state releases 27,000 prisoners (some of them habitual criminals) due to overcrowding, and you add those to the 10 percent of California adults who are unemployed, and mix in thousands of high school grads who can’t get into college due to overcrowding or unaffordable tuition (and can’t find a job), you have an unstable society.

Read full article [here].
by Bil Paul, The San Jose mercury News.

Posted: September 9th, 2009, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.