Budget Victory: The Age of Newsom Begins in State Education
Still pending in a follow-up budget bill is language that would limit the ability of charter schools to cherry-pick enrollment.
“Learning Curves” is a weekly roundup of news items, profiles and dish about the intersection of education and inequality. Send tips, feedback and announcements of upcoming events to braden@capitalandmain.com, @BillRaden. Abby Kingsley contributed to this column.
California governor Gavin Newsom racked up significant wins last week when his first education budget sailed through the legislature mostly intact. A minimum increase, mandated by Prop. 98, will bump funding for K-12 and community colleges by $2.9 billion, to $81.1 billion in 2019-20. The best news for the Golden State’s chronically cash-strapped school districts may be the estimated $850 million freed up over the next two years by the $3.15 billion pension obligation paydown Newsom unveiled in January. Also included is spending that emphasizes Newsom’s commitment to early education:
- A $1.8 billion down payment on the governor’s long-term plan to institute universal preschool and vastly expand subsidized childcare for low-income families.
- $646 million for special ed, with nearly $500 million earmarked for preschool.
- $300 million in one-time facilities funding for districts expanding to full-day kindergarten (a reduction by half of the $600 million requested).
Still pending in a follow-up budget bill is language that would limit the ability of charter schools to cherry-pick enrollment, by banning the requirement of student academic records for admissions and outlawing the “counseling out” of low-achievers and students with learning disabilities.
For higher ed, lawmakers signed off on Newsom’s pledge to keep college tuition flat for 2019-20 and provided money to expand in-state undergraduate enrollments at the 10 UC campuses by 4,860, and by 10,000 in the 23-campus Cal State system. There is also aid for homeless and hungry students, and up to $6,000 for students who are parents of dependent children to pay for tuition and living costs.
One area where Newsom’s spending priorities are out of step with average Californians—not to mention the majority of Democrats vying for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination—is college affordability. According to a policy brief released this week by the nonpartisan research center, Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), Golden State voters ranked the costliness of attending college as the second most important education CONTINUE READING: Budget Victory: The Age of Newsom Begins in State Education | Capital & Main
