The Downey Patriot - Popular programs victim of budget cuts

The Downey Patriot - Popular programs victim of budget cuts

Popular programs victim of budget cuts

May 26, 2011 | 37 views | 0 | 1 | |

California school districts -- wielding new fiscal flexibility granted by state lawmakers -- cut deeply into several popular programs to balance local budgets, according to a study of 10 diverse districts released this week.

Local educators in 2009 were granted total control over $4.5 billion that previously funded 40 regulated programs, a change made as Sacramento lawmakers cut educational spending by almost one-fifth. The new study begins to illuminate how local school boards changed spending on adult education, special programs for gifted students, new textbooks and other programs.

“District actions were driven mostly by the need to plug deficits in their budgets, rather than from careful evaluation of programs and priorities,” said Brian Stecher, a study co-author and senior social scientist at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization. “How this continues to evolve will have important impacts on K-12 students across California.”

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