Joel Anderson Says Democrats Using Education as a ‘Political Pawn’

State Sen. Joel Anderson of East County says Democrats in the state Legislature are using education as a “political pawn to try to leverage you [to support tax hikes]. … It’s outrageous.”

Speaking to 50 people at a La Mesa Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Gio in The Village, Anderson said education is not a priority with Gov. Jerry Brown and fellow Democrats.

“We’ve seen them give raises to others,” especially “Caltrans union operators,” said the Republican Anderson, a one-time La Mesan who in November 2010 moved from the state Assembly to the Senate in the 36th District.

Instead of tax hikes—he rejected the phrase “tax extensions,” saying they had expired—Anderson is promoting Senate Bill 851 to “create a system to localize highway building and maintenance” by “realigning” the California Department of Transportation, and saving money in that agency.

“When people say we need funding for education, we could absolutely do that,” he said.  “If the [Democratic] majority of legislators believe that education was important, it would be funded. It’s just that simple.”

Democrats outnumber Republicans 25-15 in the Senate and 52-28 in the Assembly.

He said that when the Democratic leadership in Sacramento says, “We don’t have enough money for education,” what they really mean is: “Education is not a priority.”

In a brief exchange after his talk, Anderson rapped local community college district chancellors and presidents, who at a recent news conference said “educational Armageddon” awaits their schools if an “all-cuts” budget is passed in Sacramento.

“Ask the CEOs [of local community college districts] what they make,” Anderson said. “It’s considerably more than the governor.”

Jerry Brown makes about $175,000 a year as governor. Chancellor Cindy Miles of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District, a La Mesa resident, is paid $245,000 a year.

Anderson said a Sacramento Bee analysis of his arguments on “bloated” Caltrans  salaries confirmed that his figure was correct—$104,000 for average annual pay.

“That doesn’t include … the cost of retirement, like health care,” Anderson said. “If you know a teacher, ask them how much they’re making—and then wonder where the priorities in the state truly are.”

He said $300 million in recent cost overruns at the road-building agency were “directly associated with a 40 percent pay increase they have received. Now I thought we had a budget problem … and yet we found the money to give raises to Caltrans workers.”

In its early March analysis of Caltrans pay, the Sacramento Bee found that nearly 2,600 members of that 22,400-employee department earn more than $100,000 a year in salary alone.

But, the newspaper said, “You would expect that for a department that employs about 5,000 workers under the job classification ‘transportation civil engineers,’ a cohort that tends to be well-educated and highly skilled. … The average annual pay, not including benefits, for civil engineers at a comparable level in the private sector nationally was about $102,000.”

In reaction to Anderson’s critique of Caltrans, which also includes mismanagement, a group called Professional Engineers in California Government released a  statement on what it called “Anderson’s misguided bill to put local agencies in charge of the state highway system.”

Caltrans is and will continue to be responsible for ensuring the safety and integrity of the state highway system,” said PECG President and State Engineer Matt Hanson.  “Caltrans delivered 304 of 306 projects scheduled for bid during the 2009-2010 fiscal year.  And over the past five year, Caltrans has delivered 99.8 percent of projects on or ahead of schedule.”

By contrast, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) reported last year that, local agencies obligated only 72 percent of their federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds while Caltrans obligated 100 percent of its funds.

“According to the Department of Finance, it costs twice as much to outsource engineering work at Caltrans.  Specifically, in the most recent budget, the Department of Finance concludes that a state engineer (including salary, benefits, overhead and equipment) costs the taxpayer $113,000 a year while an outsourced private engineer costs an average of $226,000 annually,” said Hanson.  “Local agencies outsource almost all of their engineering services through no-bid contracts.”