Brown's May budget adds more money for schools and child care, but mixed bag for higher ed
Rosier-than-expected budget revenues have prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to restore some cuts projected in January – most notably to child care – and to send over $1 billion in additional funding to schools than anticipated.
“California has spent enormous sums of money, particularly in education,” Brown said during a Thursday press conference announcing the May revision of his $183.4 billion budget. “The increase is phenomenal.”
Under the May revision, a $5.8 billion shortfall in revenues was reduced to $3.3 billion, which allowed for the $1.4 billion allocation in 2017-18 to the Local Control Funding Formula that pays for K-12 public schools. With this increase, the formula – which was slated to grow annually over several years – is now at 97 percent of the promised final funding levels, or up about $4,058 per student over 2011-12 levels.
State data show that the Proposition 98 minimum guarantee of funding for K‑14 schools has fluctuated over the years, dropping to a low of $47.3 billion in 2011‑12. The May revise proposes $74.6 billion in 2017-18 — an increase of $1.1 billion since the proposed budget was released in January.
The extra revenues in the May revise also eliminated the need to defer some school funding, a delay included in January’s proposal.
According to the state’s Local Control Funding Formula, districts receive additional money to serve low-income students, English learners and foster youth. It is up to school boards to approve Local Control and Accountability Plans that reflect these spending priorities.
But Brown said individual communities should ensure that their school boards spend the money in ways that will best benefit local students.
“We want the activists, we want the parents and the teachers to go to their local boards and put the pressure on them, using the transparent accountability plan,” he said, explaining that advocates no longer need to go to Sacramento to lobby for specific expenditures.
Also, a one-year delay in increases for child care funding projected last Brown’s May budget adds more money for schools and child care, but mixed bag for higher ed | EdSource:
