One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.
Brown calls state budget crisis ‘unprecedented moment of reckoning’
California Governor-elect Jerry Brown begins budget briefing on future education spending at UCLA on Dec. 14, 2010. A spokesman says Brown is putting concrete numbers to the severity of public schools cuts to come.
(
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/KPCC
)
About 200 people gathered at UCLA Tuesday morning to hear incoming Gov. Jerry Brown detail how California’s poor fiscal state is set to affect public education. It’s going to be bad, Brown told the group made up mostly of school administrators.
“We’re at an unprecedented moment of reckoning, this perfect storm is, I think, the worse that it’s ever been because we’re not quite in the same position,” said Brown. “In the Depression, (the) government played a much smaller role in the life of our community than it does today.”
Brown did not propose specific solutions to the coming budget deficit. He said some of the decision-making should be in the voters’ hands.
Some in attendance believe the forum is laying the groundwork for a tax measure to help close the state’s massive budget deficit.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
