Educated Guess » Funding suit’s goal: return to local control:
"In their long-anticipated suit over adequate funding, the California School Boards Assn. and its parter in the Education Coalition, the Association of California School Administrators, will challenge the state not only on how much it spends on public schools — no surprise there — but also how it funds them. They plan to revisit the ’70s, with its historic Serrano decision, which equalized school spending, and Proposition 13, which shifted control funding and power to Sacramento. They’ll argue that it’s time to take another look and this time do it right.
In an interview, CSBA Executive Director Scott Plotkin confirmed the Mercury News story that the two organizations will file suit in coming months over the state’s failure to adequately fund eduction. And he outlined what will be the thrust of the suit: a demand to return to more control. They’re turning to the courts, because the Legislature and voters, by initiative, have severely limited locals’ ability to raise money.An adequacy suit has been talked about for years. The slashing of more than $14,5 billion in K-12 spending in the past two budgets, with additional cuts all but certain this year and next, have made the suit inevitable. California is in the bottom half of states in school funding — 46th if cost of living is factored in, according to Education Week, and may be headed to dead last."
"In their long-anticipated suit over adequate funding, the California School Boards Assn. and its parter in the Education Coalition, the Association of California School Administrators, will challenge the state not only on how much it spends on public schools — no surprise there — but also how it funds them. They plan to revisit the ’70s, with its historic Serrano decision, which equalized school spending, and Proposition 13, which shifted control funding and power to Sacramento. They’ll argue that it’s time to take another look and this time do it right.
In an interview, CSBA Executive Director Scott Plotkin confirmed the Mercury News story that the two organizations will file suit in coming months over the state’s failure to adequately fund eduction. And he outlined what will be the thrust of the suit: a demand to return to more control. They’re turning to the courts, because the Legislature and voters, by initiative, have severely limited locals’ ability to raise money.An adequacy suit has been talked about for years. The slashing of more than $14,5 billion in K-12 spending in the past two budgets, with additional cuts all but certain this year and next, have made the suit inevitable. California is in the bottom half of states in school funding — 46th if cost of living is factored in, according to Education Week, and may be headed to dead last."