Tuesday, June 24, 2003 | 11:09 a.m.
State legislators' inability to pass a spending plan for K-12 education has Samantha Werner-Silva worried about a job and her children.
So two days before state lawmakers return for another special session to deal with education funding and taxes, the mother who hopes to be a teacher this fall joined more than 200 parents, teachers and students to urge the Legislature to hurry up and pass an education budget.
"It's very sad," Werner-Silva said after a Monday rally at the Frank J. Lamping Elementary School in Henderson. "It's a game of politics and the kids are the pawns. It's very unfair."
The legislators should get the budget for K-12 passed, and then deal with the tax issue, she said.
"Overall the consensus is that they should be separated," Werner-Silva said.
But for now the $1.6 billion two-year schools budget is tied to the controversial $869 million tax increase. Tax increases must be approved by a two-thirds vote, and so far a group of Assembly Republicans has blocked the tax increases.
If it wasn't tied to the tax plan, the education budget could be approved by a majority vote, those Republicans have said. The Legislature has passed a budget for everything but K-12 schools, but the Republican bloc also wants to reopen the rest of the budget to make more cuts.
Uncertainty over the education funding prompted the Clark County School District to leave nearly 1,000 positions open for the 2003-2004 academic year. Werner-Silva had hoped to fill one of those openings. Instead, the district looked inward, reassigning 411 literacy and technology specialists, as well as teachers in the Gifted and Talented Education program, to regular classrooms. If a schools budget is passed before July 1, which is the beginning of the fiscal year, the displaced teachers may be returned to their original assignments.
Assemblyman David Brown, R-Henderson, one of the Republicans that has stood against the tax increases, told those at the rally there that the legislators should separate the education and tax measures.
"When we start Wednesday that budget should be passed 15 minutes later," said Brown, who has a daughter in kindergarten at Lamping.
"Then we'll be left with the difficult task of figuring out the funding mechanism," he said.
Democrats who linked the education and tax measures say the two should be together, because one pays for the other.
Many at the Monday rally agreed with Brown.
Jan Bennett, Lamping PTA president, said, "We do not want our education used as a bargaining tool. We want a budget by July 1."
Bennett has said the Monday rally was inspired by a similar rally last week at the Katz Elementary School. Another rally is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at the Guinn Middle School at 4150 S. Torrey Pines.
County School Board President Sheila Moulton said many parents she's heard from just want the education budget approved, whether it's linked to the tax increases or not.
"Get the education budget passed and then deal with whatever else," Moulton said is the dominant feeling from people she's spoken with.
Moulton said all the state's legislators share the blame for not passing an education budget yet.
"It's politics from both sides of the aisle," she said.
Moulton said she's not sure if the education and tax measures should be separated. But if the legislature passed an education budget but not the tax increases, she would be a little hesitant to spend the money, she said.
Brown said he's been hearing from many constituents in recent days. Many are telling him not to give in on taxes, and many are asking him to support education, he said.
Brown said he thinks if legislators can trim $150 million from the state budget, the resulting smaller tax increases needed to fund the budget will be approved.
If the legislative deadlock persists, Lamping stands to lose a Gifted and Talented Education, or GATE, teacher, a literary specialist and a computer specialist who is shared with two other schools.
Lamping GATE teacher Sue Inghram said last week was hard for her, but she's optimistic the situation will work out.
"I think we can overcome," Inghram said. "I think we're going to be back here next year."
Her hope was met with cheers from the audience, which included about 40 students sitting on the steps in front of the speakers. The students held signs some of which read: "S.O.S. Save Our Schools," "It's not funny we don't have money," and "Pass the budget, don't delay, otherwise our kids will pay."
Werner-Silva said the children are the innocent victims of the political stalemate.
Her daughter Madisen, a third-grader at Lamping, said she hopes the lawmakers will resolve their differences and fund the schools.
"They got to have education when they were young," Madisen said. "We should have the same education."
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