by Duane Campbell
On January 9, California Governor Brown proposed a budget for the 2014/2015 fiscal
year. It will be subject to
changes until July 1 when it should pass and become the state budget.
The California Budget Project describes one of the major
issues for schools.
1.
The
Governor’s proposed budget eliminates outstanding obligations to K-12 school
districts and increases funding for the state’s new education funding formula.
Specifically, the Governor’s proposed budget:
o · Eliminates $5.6 billion in
outstanding debt owed to schools. The Governor’s proposed budget provides more than $2.2
billion in 2014-15, and $3.3 billion in 2012-13 and 2013-14 combined, to repay
previously deferred payments to K-12 school districts, which reached $9.5
billion at the end of 2011-12.
o · Provides $4.5 billion to
continue implementation of the state’s new education funding formula. As part of the 2013-14 budget
agreement, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) restructured the state’s
education finance system. The LCFF provides school districts a base grant per
student, adjusted to reflect the number of students at various grade levels, as
well as additional grants for the costs of educating English learners, students
from low-income families, and foster youth. The Governor’s proposed budget
provides $4.5 billion to fund LCFF grants for K-12 school districts and charter
schools in 2014-15, and $25.9 million to fund LCFF grants for county offices of
education – all of which include cost-of-living adjustments.
What does this mean for you and I. First, this is not a gift. These allocations are required repayments to the schools for
debts owed under Prop. 98.
How will this budget be allocated? Most of this is up to the
individual school districts and boards of education. As you know school budgets were devastated by the economic
crisis and these “deferred payments” made it worse. Now, how to rebuild.
