Governor proposes minimal funding increase for K-12 schools next year
Citing recent revenue declines and uncertainty about the future, Gov. Jerry Brown has lowered funding for schools by $500 million in the current year and is proposing little more than a cost-of-living increase in the 2017-18 budget that he presented Tuesday.
And in a press conference surprise that will likely frustrate school districts and the construction industry, Brown said that his administration would not issue any of the $7 billion bonds for K-12 school facilities that voters approved in November until the Legislature established better auditing procedures to document how the money will be spent.
Michael Cohen, the director of the state Department of Finance, said, “We must continue to have commitment to taxpayers that the money will be accounted for appropriately.”
Brown was responding to a 2016 Department of Finance report that criticized the Office of Public Construction’s failure to fix weaknesses in auditing procedures for $7 billion in school bonds that that voters authorized a decade ago. Eric Bakke, interim co-director of Los Angeles Unified’s Office of Government Relations and the district’s expert on facilities, said it could take a year to 18 months to pass Governor proposes minimal funding increase for K-12 schools next year | EdSource:
