Dan Walters: Cloudiness over California school funding increases
Published: Wednesday, Mar. 14, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Wednesday, Mar. 14, 2012 - 8:10 am
Educating 6 million kids is not only the largest single piece of the state budget, but its most popular one – which explains why it always drives the Capitol's annual budget ritual.
The school finance picture is even cloudier than usual this year. It's the focal point of a contentious debate over raising taxes, and the Legislature is struggling with Gov. Jerry Brown's proposals to overhaul how school money is distributed.
The Education Coalition, an amalgam of school unions, school boards, school administrators and parental groups, is at the center of the turbulence.
The coalition has fragmented on the three major tax measures, all of which purport to bolster