New Constitutional Challenge To Budget Cuts In California
A lawsuit based on the state’s failure to provide the minimum funding required by Art. XVI, §8 of the California Constitution (commonly known as “Proposition 98”) was filed in late September 2011 by the California Schools Boards Association, the Association of California School Administrators, and the Los Angeles, San Francisco and Turlock school districts—California School Boards Association v. State.
The basic purpose of Proposition 98 is to provide public schools with a guaranteed and stable source of funding and to ensure that, over time, education spending grows with the economy and state General Fund revenues. The proposition has a number of complex procedural mechanisms for calculating the minimum amount that the state must allocate in any year for public education.
Plaintiffs in this case claim that the state undermined the constitutional purpose and the required procedures by diverting approximately $5.1 billion in sales and other taxes from