California policymakers initially said 2008 would be “the year of education.” Instead, it’s turned out to be the year of the multibillion-dollar budget deficit.

A slumping housing market and other factors have brought on a state shortfall of approximately $16 billion, and the governor has pledged not to raise taxes to make up the difference. It all adds up to big-time challenges for K-12 school districts, which will be significantly impacted in 2008-09, if not sooner.

So what does this all mean for Irvine?

Governor Schwarzenegger’s most recent budget proposal to strip $4.8 billion from public education would create a budgetary gap of $12.5 million in the Irvine Unified School District. Though the Governor’s spending plan will likely undergo many changes before an actual budget is adopted this summer, IUSD and other districts are bound by deadlines that force us to make cuts very soon. In fact, we are required to finalize our budgets by June 30 – which will be weeks or months before a state budget is adopted.

For information visit the IUSD at: http://www.iusd.k12.ca.us/IUSDBudgetWatch.html