Cuts to education spending in CA

More evidence showing the impact of the subprime lending crisis on education spending - which I still believe is simply a head start on a bigger crisis to come:

California's deteriorating budget could derail Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's much-anticipated "year of education reform" – a year in which he was expected to take on the state's underperforming school system, education advocates said Tuesday.

As he prepares his proposed 2008-09 budget for release in January, the governor this week directed all state departments to work up spending plans that are 10 percent less than current spending.

Such a move could reduce K-12 education spending by $5 billion or more for the fiscal year that begins next July. And it also would require lawmakers to take the politically tenuous move of suspending Proposition 98, which guarantees schools a cut of state revenue.