After the chaos of last week surrounding Super Tuesday, one California proposition that can affect funding to the school system is not on the ballot. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing a suspension of Proposition 98 which would cut down on guaranteed funding for schools across California.

The proposition was enacted in 1988 as an amendment to the state constitution, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO). It offers a minimum of guaranteed funding to every school in the nation from kindergarten to community colleges. The minimum changes every year, but is calculated through a complex formula connected to the average income in the state. With this system, when the economy goes up, the minimum guaranteed funding goes up with it. Due to a deficit of tax dollars, Schwarzenegger wants to reform Prop. 98 so that more drastic cuts to education are possible if necessary.

According to English teacher Lisa Clausnitzer, there are two basic methods by which schools calculate how much money they get. In one method, the school gets money for average daily attendance. The more people who go to the school, the more money they get.

The system used by Homestead, and other school districts such as Palo Alto and Los Gatos, calculates funding based on property tax. In other words, the more expensive the homes within the school’s attendance area, the more money goes to the school.

Clausnitzer describes it as a kind of symbiotic relationship – house prices go up because people want to live near good schools, and the funding of the nearby schools goes up accordingly. Prop 98 does not affect these methods, but provides a minimum. That way even schools located in a slum or with only a handful of students will get a certain amount of funding to pay for the resources they need.

Clausnitzer thinks that Schwarzenegger’s intention is not really to cut the proposition. “Many of us think it’s a political move,” she said. Although it is true that California is looking to cut down on its spending to catch up with its tax deficit, Clausnitzer suggested that the proposed suspension is just a way to hurry up the negotiations for a new system which will lower the funding for schools in a more controlled, proportional way. “It’s his way to say to our state legislature, ‘Fix this’,” she said.

Clausnitzer is a negotiations team representative on the Fremont Education Association (FEA), a governing body of teachers comprised of representatives from all over the FUHSD. The FEA’s action on the Prop. 98 issue is simply to raise awareness and campaign. Although the issue is not going on the ballots, the popular opinion can affect Gov. Schwarzenegger’s actions. “We can garner support for or against any political maneuver,” said Clausnitzer.

As for Clausnitzer’s personal stance on the matter: “I don’t think Governor Schwarzenegger should suspend anything, especially not educational funding. Absolutely not,” she said. “Talk to any teacher and they’d say the same.”

Clausnitzer added, “If you’re going to educate people to go out into the world as informed, educated citizens – you need funding to do that. You can’t do that halfway.”