Fahrfenugen

First paragraph of Daniel Weintraub’s March 11 Sacramento Bee column: “California’s budget rollercoaster is more than just an annoyance to the green eyeshades who track state spending and taxes deep inside the government. The volatile nature of the state’s revenue mix, combined with spending formulas that are locked into law, pose a serious problem for the schools our kids attend, the doctors and hospitals who care for the poor, and the cities and counties that provide our public services.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s press secretary Aaron McLear, speaking to a Bay Area newspaper group reporter the evening of March 11 about San Francisco educators rallying against the governor’s education-spending cuts: “The governor doesn’t want to have to make these cuts any more than the parents or students do. And that’s exactly why we need this budget reform, so schools don’t go through this roller coaster of unstable funding year after year.”

McLear, speaking to a Los Angeles Times reporter on March 13 about a Santa Ana protest against the governor’s education-spending cuts: “That’s why we need budget reform, so that we don’t have to put the kids through this roller coaster of instability every year.”

Schwarzenegger, at a March 14 Santa Monica news conference to discuss his blue-ribbon panel’s just-released Education Excellence report, which calls for billions in additional education spending despite his own budget calling for massive education-spending cuts: “It is inexcusable that our budget system is sending our teachers, students and parents on a roller-coaster ride.”