February 3rd, 2004

CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT JOINS SCHWARZENEGGER AND WESTLY IN SUPPORT OF PROPOSITIONS 57 AND 58 AT SAN DIEGO TOWN HALL

SAN DIEGO – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Controller Steve Westly took their “Yes on 57 and 58” road show to San Diego today, where they were joined on stage by California Teachers Association President Barbara Kerr. At a town hall-style meeting at Monroe Middle School, the three urged voters to pass the two measures, noting that failure to pass both 57 and 58 would result in massive cuts to virtually every part of the state budget, including California’s public schools.

"A strong education system is key to California's future," stated Gov. Schwarzenegger. "Propositions 57 and 58 will help to put our past budget problems behind us and put our fiscal house in order without making dramatic cuts to critical state programs like education. I'm very pleased to have the 300,000 teachers of the California Teachers Association endorsing 57 and 58. Teachers from throughout California recognize the importance of both measures in making sure that our public schools and their students have the financial resources they need in the future."

“Propositions 57 and 58 prevent drastic cuts to education,” said State Controller Steve Westly. “Education is California’s greatest investment and the California Balanced Budget Package lets us continue to fund our children’s future.”

“If these initiatives fail there is no way to avoid drastic cuts to our public schools,” stated Kerr. “Propositions 57 and 58 will help fix the state budget mess and protect funding for public education.”

“Californians for a Balanced Budget – Yes on 57 and 58” is a broad and bipartisan coalition of elected officials, business and labor leaders, associations and advocacy organizations, as well as regular Californians, who have put aside partisan differences in order to come together to put the state’s fiscal house in order. Over the coming weeks, the campaign will announce a series of endorsements from all sides of the political spectrum, designed to show that California voters are united in their support of Propositions 57 and 58 on the March 2, 2004 primary election ballot. Proposition 57 provides for a one-time $15 billion Economic Recovery Bond to refinance past budget deficits while interest rates are low. This allows California to start over with a balanced budget and gets the fiscal mismanagement of the past behind us. Proposition 58 makes sure we never get in a deficit crisis again by requiring California politicians to balance the budget every year in the future and prohibiting bond financing of any future deficits. It also creates a “rainy day savings account” to be used for paying the bonds off early and helping the state through any future economic downturns.

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