Legislature Overwhelmingly Rejects Governor's May Revision Budget
By Robin Swanson
Education Coalition
On Wednesday the Governor's May Revision proposal to cut billions more from California's public schools was overwhelmingly rejected by the California State Legislature, falling 29 votes short of what was needed for passage.
With $17 billion in cuts already made to public schools over the past two years, nearly 30,000 educators in California's public schools have been laid off - driving up class sizes, denying students individualized instruction and leaving sparse adult supervision on school campuses.
The Governor's failed budget proposal would have further reduced revenue limit funding -general purpose support for schools - by $1.5 billion. This represents a cut of about $250 per student. The Governor also proposes cuts of $1.4 billion to child development programs, $28 million to county offices of education, $550 million from the K-3 Class Size Reduction program, and $206 million from virtually all K-12 programs to impose a negative cost-of-living adjustment.