Editorial: An open letter to Nathan Fletcher

Dear Assemblyman:

Congratulations on your November election victory. For at least the next two years you will be representing the voters of the 75th District, which includes Rancho Bernardo, Poway and 4S Ranch. We are optimistic that you will be an effective legislator. A recent issue of the Sacramento Bee, for example, labeled you one of five “newcomers to watch,”

As you were sworn into office last week (holding your formally attired 6-month old son), you were probably saying to yourself, “I guess the time has come to get to work.”

You’re right. The time is now.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger put you and the 25 other new Assembly members right to work, by calling for a special session of the entire Legislature to address THE issue facing California, the out-of-control budget.

Many of your constituents may have been lulled into a false sense of security when last year’s state lawmakers passed a way-overdue budget that was supposed to “solve” the state’s funding woes, at least for a while. Even before those elected officials were heading home for the summer, everyone knew that the “agreement” was a sham and a fraud, designed mainly to pass off the problems to the next Legislature.

Gov. Schwarzenegger tried to get the lame-duck Legislature to settle the budget matter last month, but failed to do so. Little progress was made getting Democrats and Republicans to resolve their differences: Republicans oppose any tax increases while Democrats oppose the relaxing of certain laws pertaining to businesses and the environment.

So now the budget mess has been dumped into your lap.

Before taking any hard stands on how you will proceed, allow us to draw a picture of how the state budget mess is affecting your constituents here.

The Poway Unified School District was forced to trim $10 million from its budget last summer. Fortunately, very few jobs were lost, but a lot of students are without bus transportation and other services this year.

School district officials are trying to plan for the rest of this school year and next year, but are unable to make sound judgments because they simply don’t know whether there will be mid-year cuts coming their way from Sacramento in January or what the 2009-2010 budget picture will be like. Their best guess at this point (and that’s just what it is) is that perhaps as much as $11 million may have to be trimmed this spring and that the 18-month outlook could be devastating, perhaps upwards of $20 million in cuts.

Keeping in mind that 85 percent of the school district’s budget is personnel, you and your fellow lawmakers need get your acts together soon. Otherwise there will be fewer teachers and staff members and larger classes in our schools by fall.

Schools aren’t the only agencies being affected by the budget crisis. A wide range of county services — from jails to welfare to health services, are funded largely with state money. Cities are being impacted as well, but to a lesser degree.

We know that as a good Republican, you’ve signed the “no new taxes” pledge. But the reality is that California cannot close an expected $27.8 billion shortfall over the next two years without finding new revenue sources to supplement falling property and sales taxes as the recession deepens. Yes, serious budget expenditure cuts are needed and we expect you to be at the forefront of that campaign. But cuts alone likely won’t do the job.

Welcome to Sacramento, Mr. Fletcher. Now roll up your sleeves and get to work. We will be watching.