California Per Pupil Spending Increases

Spending Per Student Increases, Nearly Returning to the Pre-Recession Level – California Budget Project

California’s public schools serve 6.2 million students in more than 1,000 school districts. The Proposition 98 guarantee, which is designed to ensure a minimum level of funding for California’s schools and community colleges, did not prevent deep cuts to state spending for schools during the Great Recession and its aftermath.1 In response to sizeable budget shortfalls, lawmakers reduced the state’s annual Proposition 98 spending level for schools by more than $7 billion – or nearly 15 percent – between 2007-08 and 2011-12. As a result, spending per K-12 student – after adjusting for inflation – dropped from $9,261 in 2007-08 to $7,401 in 2011-12, a decline of $1,860 (Figure 1).

State revenues have increased during the past few years due
to a recovering economy and voter approval of two revenue measures – Propositions 30 and 39 – in November 2012. Higher revenues have, in turn, boosted the Proposition 98 guarantee. The Governor’s proposed 2014-15 budget includes Proposition 98 spending per K-12 student of nearly $9,200, an increase of almost $1,800 – or nearly one-quarter (24.2 percent) – from 2011-12, after adjusting for inflation. With this significant increase, spending per student would nearly return to where it was before the recession.

See the entire report at California Budget Project. www.CBP.org

Ed.Note: The NEA ranks California 34 of the 50 states in per pupil funding in 2012.

California continues to underfund its schools

Valuable new report from California Budget Project.

Rising to the Challenge: Why Greater Investment in K-12 Education Matters for California's Students

A new CBP School Finance Facts compares California student demographics, education spending, and school staffing to that in the rest of the US, and finds that the state's investment in K-12 schools lags the nation even as California faces unique challenges in educating its 6.2 million public school students.Rising to the Challenge: Why Greater Investment in K-12 Education Matters for California's Students shows that:

• California invests less in K-12 education than other states, despite having greater financial resources. California's per capita income ($47,115) was higher than for the rest of the US ($43,905) in 2012-13. This same year, the rest of the nation invested 4.04 percent of total personal income in K-12 education, a level more than one-fourth (27 percent) higher than the 3.18 percent in California.

• California's 1.3 million English learners (ELs) nearly equal the combined number of ELs in the next four most populous states -- Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois -- even though these four states together have roughly twice as many students as California.

California School Budgets

Budget Agreement Maintains the Minimum Funding Level for Schools and Community Colleges in the May Revision

Approved by voters in 1988, Proposition 98 constitutionally guarantees a minimum level of funding for K-12 schools, community colleges, and the state preschool program. The 2013-14 budget agreement assumes a Proposition 98 funding level of $56.5 billion for K-14 education programs in 2012-13 and $55.3 billion in 2013-14. These are approximately the same levels included in the Governor’s May Revision, but significantly above the $47.2 billion Proposition 98 funding level in 2011-12. Specifically, the budget agreement:

·       ·  Provides $4.3 billion over two years to partially restore previously deferred payments to schools and community colleges. In 2011-12, $10.4 billion in annual Proposition 98 payments to K-14 schools (21 percent of the total Proposition 98 funding level) were delayed until 2012-13. Of these deferred payments, the budget agreement repays schools and community colleges $4.0 billion in 2012-13 and $272 million in 2013-14. Outstanding payment deferrals at the end of 2013-14 – that is, the amount the state still owes schools and community colleges – will be $6.2 billion under the budget agreement.

·       ·  Provides $2.1 billion in 2013-14 Proposition 98 funds to begin implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The LCFF restructures the state’s education finance system by providing all school districts with a base grant per student, adjusted to reflect the number of students at various grade levels, as well as additional resources to reflect the higher costs of educating English learners, students from low-income families, and foster youth.

·       ·  Provides $1.25 billion in one-time funding to support implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), $250 million more than was included in the Governor’s May Revision. In August 2010, the State Board of Education adopted CCSS for California’s K-12 schools. The budget agreement provides school districts and county offices of education (COEs) with CCSS implementation funding of $1.0 billion in 2012- 13 Proposition 98 dollars and $250 million in 2013-14 Proposition 98 dollars. These funds are provided on a per pupil basis and may be used at any time during 2013-14 or 2014-15. The budget agreement requires school districts and COEs to:

o UseCCSSimplementationdollarsforspecificpurposes,includinginstructionalmaterialsandprofessional development for teachers, administrators, and other staff involved in the direct instruction of students;

o AdoptaplandelineatinghowCCSSimplementationdollarswillbespent;and o ReportbyJuly1,2015howCCSSimplementationdollarswerespent.