California Governor Set To Cut 5 Billion From Education Budget

Black Like Moi reports:

California, one of the most embattled and divisive states in the union, is on the verge of widening the gulf between the haves and the have nots.

Due to a decrease in the projected budget, Governor Jerry Brown has decided to offset the lost by making extensive cuts to the public education system, in essence holding the school system “ransom” — unless voters approve other cuts that he deems are necessary.

“Cuts are never nice, because government does a lot of good things,”said Brown.”But we’ll have the tax measure proposal, we’ll have some cuts, and then we’ll have some trigger cuts in the event that the tax measure does not succeed.”

$200 million will be cut from the University of California and California State University systems.  $4.2 billion in cuts to the state’s welfare-to-work program, Medi-Cal and child care services are already included in his budget, reports the Associated Press.

This comes on the heels of the Department of Education accusing the Los Angeles Unified School District of providing sub-par education to black students. An investigation found that schools in predominantly black neighborhoods don’t have the technological or library resources needed to properly function. Additionally, black students are underrepresented in the “gifted and talented programs.”