When you're reporting on reality, that reality has a way of writing its way into you; and sometimes it can be difficult to avoid that symbiotic process turning one into a Debbie Downer or Gloomy Gus. Cases in point:
- The school district is headed for a steep 16 percent budget amputation that may only aggravate the bleeding for local educators. District and county officials have been lobbying state legislators for help, but my feeling is they'll promise what they most often do: Pledge solidarity to whomever's in front of them while looking for the most politically expedient escape hatch. The state is facing a $40 billion shortfall that will almost certainly have to be made up through a mix of painful program cuts and unpopular tax hikes. No one will escape unscathed or be spared tough decisions. When it comes to schools, that's doubly true.
One thing a reporter quickly learns on the education beat is that the rhetoric is rarely more charged than when dealing with kids and classrooms. Even relatively minor fluctuations - say, a high school dance that must be delayed or a cafeteria menu that stops serving sloppy joes - can be met with charged emotions. So when the situation is as dire as it is now - district Superintendent Dick Glock warned of schools shifting into a mere "existence mode" - I expect the reactions to be potentially volcanic. There's already been a swift mobilization against the proposed elimination of 11 maintenance positions; if teachers are next - notifications have to go out by March 15 - expect the lava to flow.
The reality is that schools across the country only have so many options. Swallowing a 16 percent budget reduction would be three times worse than last year, when dozens of students and parents successfully lobbied the school board to keep a combined high school music program intact. I'm afraid opponents of whatever cuts are suggested will need more than their moral high ground to be convincing. They'll need viable alternatives like the ones proposed Wednesday to school board trustees. The district can help by doing what the Folsom Cordova Unified School District recently offered: posting an online survey for those in the district to suggest ideas and prioritize spending needs. That might help the community gain a greater understanding of just how impossible this process is, while also giving the public more input on the inevitable sacrifices.
- Our annual update of the paper's Panorama guide, a glossy directory of services, resources and recreation options in Amador County, drove home the point that county budget troubles are forcing the reclassification or elimination of some public agencies. Gone is the Health and Human Services Agency (though the new building remains), to be replaced by three separate departments dealing with public health, social services and behavioral health. It sounds like more bang for one's taxable buck, but the sobering reality is that already underfunded programs for mental health and alcohol and drug dependence will be scaled back in scope. Some reorganizational changes may result in greater efficiency - the public conservator's office is making a logical switch to the auspices of social services, finally giving the district attorney's office room to house its victims-witness program - but others will simply result in reduced services.
Concurrently, 11 county employees recently volunteered to be laid off, while 10 to 20 others may have to be terminated. Meanwhile, more than 80 people lost their jobs at three shuttered auto dealerships in Martell, contributing to Amador's spiking unemployment rate, which matched the state exactly at 9.3 percent for December. Despite local lobbying efforts, the Preston Youth Correctional Facility and Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp may be institutions of a past the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is transitioning away from, further darkening the county's future employment prospects. And despite some claims that local economic development efforts have yielded success, sporadically opened retail chains are not the cornerstones of a self-sustaining local economy.
It was in this context the county's lawsuit to block a second Indian casino was dismissed on technical grounds. That may prompt some to reconsider their opposition to a project that promises to bring hundreds of new jobs to a county suddenly starving for them. Before they do, however, I would suggest they look at the questionable financial resilience of Indian gaming. Both the Sacramento Bee and National Public Radio have performed recent examinations of the industry, showing it to be far from immune to a growing recession. A casino near Ione may be neither the economic salvation some think it is nor the harbinger of doom some fear it will be.
| Raheem Hosseini |