June 28, 2011--The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) today responded to the Democratic legislators’ budget sent to Governor Brown. CFT issued the following statement:

“We commend the Governor and the Democratic legislators for putting together a budget under very difficult conditions. Unfortunately, because of Republican obstructionists, this budget continues to hurt public education and millions of Californians who depend on state services,” said CFT President Josh Pechthalt. “This budget continues to protect the wealthiest 1% and the corporations at the expense of the vast majority of Californians.

“The successful efforts of the CFT and its allies to pass Prop. 25 meant that for the first time in many years legislators had the majority vote tool to adopt the budget. However, Prop 25 did not solve the problem of raising the necessary revenues to fully fund the State's priorities. As long as we have a threshold of 2/3 for raising taxes, well-intentioned legislators don't have the ability to run the state responsibly.

“We continue to assert that California does not have a spending problem, but rather a revenue problem, which falls squarely at the feet of the Republican legislators, who refuse to talk about raising taxes on the top 1% richest. This simple majority budget, with the Governor's approval, protects working families from the draconian reforms that the Republicans demanded in return for their vote on potential taxes.

“The Republicans have largely abdicated their responsibility as elected officials to govern, choosing to protect the top 1% and large corporations from fair tax levels instead of protecting children, the elderly, the infirm, and the disabled.”