The nonprofit group Advancement Project plans to gather signatures for a November 2012 ballot initiative that would raise money for schools, The Bee reported Wednesday. This is in addition to the 2012 Kids Education Plan, also aiming for the November ballot, which would also raise revenue for schools. And Thursday, Gov. Jerry Brown released a plan for yet another November ballot initiative to fund schools.

It is heartening that concerned Californians want an alternative to the state's current plan for funding education, which seems to involve prayers, "hail Mary" passes, magical math, cuts, hand-wringing and more cuts.

So a year from now, there may be new proposals for funding schools on the ballot, depending on the success of signature gatherers outside various grocery stores across the state. And the success of these ballot initiatives will depend on voters who have turned down statewide tax increases in the past.

In the meantime, California schools are literally and figuratively crumbling while we hope for the best.

As someone once told me, hope is not a strategy.

Recently, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson asked me how midyear "trigger cuts" and further possible budget reductions for 2012-13 will affect the Sacramento City Unified School District. He wanted to hear from those of us on the ground.

I was glad he asked. I also wish that he was with me at community meetings held this month at A.M. Winn, C.P. Huntington and Freeport elementary schools, three Sacramento City Unified campuses recommended for closure next year. There, he could have heard directly from hundreds of constituents – parents and grandparents, children and neighbors – who packed the schools' multipurpose rooms. Many waited in line for a chance to speak. Some cried. Some lashed out in anger. Some pleaded. All delivered the same message: Do not compound our already overwhelming struggles in this economy by leveling urban neighborhoods yet another blow. Don't close our schools.

When the state's economy was booming and middle-class jobs were plentiful, California couldn't open schools fast enough. But years of state cuts to K-12 education and declining enrollment have left districts across the state scrambling to find the funds necessary to provide students the quality education they deserve and need. Over the past decade, SCUSD has slashed more than $177 million. We have raised class sizes, gutted adult education, shortened the school calendar, cut administration, deferred building maintenance, cut funds for new textbooks and implemented employee furlough days. We have exhausted one-time revenues, swept categorical funding and resorted to reserves. Still, our costs, health benefits chief among them, continue to rise.

If the aptly named "trigger cuts" are enacted, we face cutting at least $12 million from our budget mid-year. Unlike other districts, SCUSD opted last year to retain smaller classes and bring back as many teachers as possible. This was not a reckless decision or a gamble: SCUSD's 2011-12 budget reflects the state's directives and the state's accounting. We staffed our classrooms based on flat funding. We returned 367 out of 408 pink-slipped teachers to their campuses. With no reserve, trigger cuts will leave us very near the financial breaking point.

But even if it was possible to mitigate the trigger cuts via a reserve, and even if the state retains K-12's funding for 2012-13 at this year's level without further reductions, next year we will face another $25.26 million projected shortfall because of rising costs and falling enrollment. Our future is shuttered campuses and crowded classrooms. This cycle is madness. It has to stop.

From The Bee, I recently learned that California has decided not to seek $49 million in Race to the Top money and likely will not seek a No Child Left Behind waiver that would give districts the flexibility to use mandated set-asides to help shore up finances.

There have been reports of what the state will not do.

My question is: What will our elected leaders do to save schools now?

Even if a November 2012 ballot initiative makes it past voters, the money won't arrive in time to stop midyear trigger cuts. It won't help us budget for schools in 2012-13.

The education of 6.3 million public schoolchildren – a great many of whom live in poverty as we unhappily wade through this Great Recession – must come first over the special interests of adults. What is the long-term fix? Where is our leadership?

California's children and grandchildren and future generations are entitled to answers.

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Jonathan Raymond is superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District.

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