JUNE 12, 2014Budget deal shifts payments to cover mandate claims
(Calif.) A tentative budget agreement still under negotiation would delay Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to pay off all the money owed schools from past apportionment deferrals and use some of those dollars – perhaps as much as $450 million – to begin paying down the estimated $4.5 billion in unpaid mandate claims.
Legislative leaders and the governor have agreed to use the administration’s revenue projections for next year – not the higher estimates offered by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst, according to memos released by the Budget Conference Committee.
Additional spending on education programs includes $250 million more than the governor proposed in May for the Local Control Funding Formula and another $300 million that would be shared between new support for child care programs as well as career technical education.
The proposed deal would provide overall Proposition 98 funding of $60.9 billion, consistent with what the governor proposed in May. The agreement also includes the administration’s plan to shore up the teacher pension system and creating a rainy day fund.
If state revenues do begin to approach the numbers suggested by the LAO – as much as $2.2 billion higher than the governor’s estimates – the proposed budget agreement contemplates a trigger to pay off about $900 million in deferral debt.
At issue, however, is a last-minute budget proposal to cap the amount of money districts may set aside for economic uncertainties – a nod, some say, to public employee unions opposed to tying up money in reserves.
The Education Management Group, which represents school boards, administrators and superintendents, fired off a letter to law makers and members of the Brown administration Budget deal shifts payments to cover mandate claims :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: