Education Coalition Position Paper: The 2013-14 CALIFORNIA STATE BUDGET
FROM THE EDUCATION COALITION (SEE FOLLOWING)
School Finance Principles for the 2013-14 Budget
The Governor’s Budget proposal to fund Proposition 98 at a level that reflects the increased revenues from the November 2012 election and his effort to eliminate the wall of debt by paying down deferrals is supported by the Education Coalition. This reflects the Coalition’s long standing principle to protect the integrity of the Proposition 98 guarantee.
The Education Coalition also reaffirms that the use of new revenues to fund cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), enrollment growth, and to start reversing the deep budget cuts that were made to California’s public schools should be a priority. California continues to be the 8th largest economy in the world and our academic standards are among the most rigorous in the country, but our investment in education is among the lowest compared to other states. California is 49th in per-pupil spending at $8,482, which was 28 percent below the national average of $11,824 according to the Education Week’s annual survey released in January 2013.
| Outstanding obligations and cuts exceed $20 billion: Deferrals (after Governor’s Proposed 2013-14 repayment) | $5.6 billion |
Mandates | $3.8 billion |
QEIA | $0.2 billion |
K-12 Williams Emergency Repair | $0.5 billion |
K-12 Revenue Limits | $9.2 billion |
K-12 Categorical | $1.3 billion |
Preschool | $0.2 billion |
Total | $20.8 billion |
After five years of sustained cuts, restoring these funds to the base budgets is important to get schools back on the path of providing high quality educational services to our students.
During deliberations for the 2013-14 budget, the Education Coalition urges the Legislature and the Governor to consider the following additional principles:
1. Long-term Goal. The long-term school finance objective is to provide adequate funding to ensure CA is in the top ten states of per pupil funding in the United States. This is consistent with the goals specified in Proposition 98.
2. No cuts. There should be no cuts to any school district or