Most States ( including California) Still Funding Schools Less Than Before the Recession

By Michael Leachman and Chris Mai[1]

▪    States Are Still Funding Higher Education Below Pre-Recession Levels

States are providing less per-pupil funding for kindergarten through 12th grade than they did seven years ago — often far less.  The reduced levels reflect primarily the lingering effects of the 2007-09 recession.  At a time when states and the nation need workers with the skills to master new technologies and adapt to the complexities of a global economy, this decline in state educational investment is cause for concern.

Our review of state budget documents finds that:

▪    At least 30 states are providing less funding per student for the 2014-15 school year than they did before the recession hit.  Fourteen of these states have cut per-student funding by more than 10 percent.  (These figures, like all the comparisons in this paper, are in inflation-adjusted dollars and focus on the primary form of state aid to local schools.)

▪    Most states are providing more funding per student in the new school year than they did a year ago, but funding has generally not increased enough to make up for cuts in past years.  For example, Alabama is increasing school funding by $16 per pupil this year.  But that is far less than is needed to offset the state’s $1,144 per-pupil cut over the previous six years. 

Read the report.  Get a pdf of the Report.  Oct. 16, 2014.

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=4213

k-12 Education Budget- The Governor's May Revise

California. The Governor’s May Revise. Education Funding- From Dept. of Finance.

With the passage of Proposition 30, the 2012‐13 and 2013‐14 budgets will reinvest in, rather than cut, education funding. From 2011‐12 through 2016‐17, the Proposition 98 minimum funding guarantee will increase from $47.3 billion to $66.5 billion, an increase of more than $19 billion.

For K‐12 schools, funding levels will increase by $2,754 per student through 2016‐17. As shown in Figure INT‐01, the May Revision increases funding for higher education by between $1,503 and $2,491 per student through 2016‐17.

2011-12	Budget	Spending per Student
k-12	Community Colleges	CSU	U.C.
$7,175	$4,893	$5,868	S10, 630
2016-17
K-12
$9,929	$6,396	$7,803	$13,121
Funding increase
$2754	$1,503	$1935	$2491

Figure INT-01

[Editor’s note.  Actual figures for prior years.  K-12 education.

2007/2008.  $9,158.            2008/ 2009.  $7, 712.]

Budget Increases Funding Per Student

The May Revision provides $1,046 more per K‐12 student in 2013‐14 than was provided in 2011‐12, with an additional $170 dollars per student to support the implementation of the Common Core—new standards for evaluating student achievement in English‐language arts and math. The upcoming Budget also provides the opportunity to correct historical inequities in school district funding. In January, the Governor’s Budget proposed an overhaul of school funding to create a more just allocation of resources and increase local flexibility. The May Revision makes modest modifications to this Local Control Funding Formula to address issues raised over the past few months—the basic approach remains the same. All California school districts can improve under this formula with new ongoing funding based on the number of students served. By committing the most new funding to districts serving English language learners, students from low‐income families, and foster youth, the formula ensures that the students most in need of help have an equal opportunity for a quality education.

Source  http://www.dof.ca.gov/documents/2013-14_May_Revision.pdf

Victory for California's Students

 Voters Protect Schools, Pass Prop. 30, Defeat 32

Contact: Claudia Briggs at 916-296-4087 or Mike Myslinski, 408-921-5769

SACRAMENTO—California students and working families won a clear victory today as voters clearly demonstrated their willingness to invest in our public schools and colleges and also rejected a deceptive ballot measure aimed at silencing educators, other workers and their unions.

“Today’s vote signaled that Californians believe in the value of public education and investing in our students and schools,” said Dean E. Vogel, president of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association. “They want to see funding restored to our schools and colleges. They want to stop the tuition hikes and class size increases. They want to see students have music, and art, and libraries and access to counselors and nurses. They want to see our schools flourish and our students succeed.”

Passage of Proposition 30 will stop $6 billion in midyear cuts to our schools and colleges. In addition, local communities will receive funding to keep police on the street and our state can begin to pay down the wall of debt it’s amassed over recent years.

Thank you.

Thank you.  Every vote was important.

Great victories in California.

We defeated the billionaires efforts to  crush organized labor and to continue the anti tax radicalism.

We defeated the anti labor proposition 32.

We passed Prop. 30, to fund schools, universities and social services.  The schools will be funded this year and next year.  This is a floor under austerity.   It raises taxes on the rich to pay for services.  It does raise income tax by ¼ of  percent – but 90% of the tax increases are on the rich . A tax of 1-3 % on those who make over $250,000 per year.

My own Congressional district is so close that it can not be called yet. 

Why is the vote on Prop 30 so close ?

 And, what can we do about it ?

by Duane Campbell

            A new Field  Poll says that if the election were held today 48 % would vote Yes on Prop. 30 to fund schools, colleges and public services, 38 % would vote no, and 14 % are undecided. That is too close.  This vote is our best opportunity to reverse the austerity cycle of budgeting used in California for the last 4 years since the economic crisis.

            My experience in tabling for Proposition 30 in  on the Sac State campus  for the last 6 weeks  has reminded me of a major problem – we are not communicating  with and educating the vast majority of people of the need to support public education and other public services.

In one recent experience a beyond middle age African American woman stopped by the table to discuss California Prop. 30, an effort to fund schools, universities, and public services.  I will use her case as an example.   Her experience as a college student was that her fees went up.  Over the last 4 years university fees went up over $ 2,400.  Her experience was that her fees were pushing her out of the university.   Her question,  why do my fees go up ?  Doesn’t the federal government pay for our education ?   Why should I have to vote on this ?

80% of California Trigger cuts come from K-12 education

The California  Budget Agreement Assumes Voters Approve the Governor’s Ballot Measure in November

Additional “Trigger” Cuts Will Be Made if Voters Reject the Governor’s Ballot Measure in November

The budget agreement would automatically trigger an additional $6.0 billion in midyear spending cuts if voters reject the Governor’s November ballot initiative. These reductions would take effect on January 1, 2013 and would primarily affect public schools, colleges, and universities. If voters do not approve the Governor’s measure, the following cuts would be triggered:

·       ·  $4.8 billion from public schools, with schools authorized to reduce the school year from the current minimum of 175 days of instruction to 160 days of instruction in each of 2012-13 and 2013-14 ;

·       ·  $550.0 million from the California Community Colleges (CCC), with the CCC chancellor authorized to reduce college enrollment proportionately;

·       ·  $250.0 million from the University of California;

·       ·  $250.0 million from the California State University;

·       ·  $50.0 million from the Department of Developmental Services;

·       ·  $20.0 million in reduced funding for a new grant program for city police departments;

·       ·  $10.0 million from the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection;

Diane Ravitch - NCLB

 Diane Ravitch is speaking in Sacramento this evening.

I know you are touring schools in Japan and soaking up lessons for us as you travel. Since you have Internet access, I'd like to share some thoughts about a momentous occasion: the 10th anniversary of No Child Left Behind, which occurred on January 8.
After 10 years of NCLB, we should have seen dramatic progress on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, but we have not. By now, we should be able to point to sharp reductions of the achievement gaps between children of different racial and ethnic groups and children from different income groups, but we cannot. As I said in a recent speech, many children continue to be left behind, and we know who those children are: They are the same children who were left behind 10 years ago.
In my travels over the past two years, I have seen the wreckage caused by NCLB. It has become the Death Star of American education. It is a law that inflicts damage on students, teachers, schools, and communities.
When I spoke at Stanford University, a teacher stood up in the question period and said: "I teach the lettuce-pickers' children in Salinas. They are closing our school because our scores are too low." She couldn't finish her question because she started crying.
When I spoke at UCLA, a group of about 20 young teachers approached me afterwards and told me that their school, Fremont High School, was slated for closure. They asked me to tell Ray Cortines, who was then chancellor of the Los Angeles Unified School District, not to close their school because they were working together as a community to improve it. I took their message to Ray, who is a good friend, but the school was closed anyway. The dispersed teachers of Fremont are still communicating with one another, still mourning the loss of their school.
When I spoke to Citizens for Public Schools in Boston, a young man who works as a chef at a local hotel got up to ask what he could do to stop "them" from closing his children's school. It was the neighborhood school, he said. It was the school he wanted his children to attend. And they were closing it.
In city after city, across the nation, I have heard similar stories from teachers and parents. Why are they closing our school? What can we do about it? How can we stop them? I wish I had better answers. I know that as long as NCLB stays on the books, there is no stopping the destruction of local community institutions. And now with the active support of the Obama administration, the NCLB wrecking ball has become a means of promoting privatization and community fragmentation.
I have often wondered whether there is any other national legislature that has passed a law that had the effect of stigmatizing the nation's public education system. Last year, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that 82 percent of our nation's schools would fail to make "adequate yearly progress." A few weeks ago, the Center for Education Policy reported that the secretary's estimate was overstated, and that it was "only" half the nation's schools that would be considered failing as of this year. Secretary Duncan's judgment may have been off the mark this year, but NCLB guarantees that the number of failing schools will grow every year. If the law remains intact, we can reasonably expect that nearly every public school in the United States will be labeled as a failing school by 2014.
If you take a closer look at the CEP study, you can see how absurd the law is. In Massachusetts, the nation's highest-performing state by far on NAEP, 81 percent of the schools failed to make AYP. But in lower-performing Louisiana, only 22 percent of the schools did not make AYP. Yet, when you compare the same two states on NAEP, 51 percent of 4th graders in Massachusetts are rated proficient, compared with 23 percent in Louisiana. In 8th grade, again, twice as many students in Massachusetts are proficient compared with Louisiana, yet Massachusetts has nearly four times as many allegedly "failing" schools! This is crazy.
More evidence of the invalidity of NCLB. The top-rated high school in the state of Illinois, New Trier High School, failed to make AYP. Its special education students did not make enough progress. When outstanding schools fail, you have to conclude that something is wrong with the measure.
The best round-up to date of the catastrophe that we call NCLB was published by FairTest in its report, "The Lost Decade." I know you have read it, as this is an organization dear to your heart. I recommend this report to our readers. It shows in clear detail that progress on NAEP was far more significant before the passage of NCLB.
Congress, in its wisdom, will eventually reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. I hope that in doing so, they recognize the negative consequences of NCLB and abandon the strategies that have borne such bitter fruit for our nation's education system. NCLB cannot be fixed. It has failed. It has imposed a sterile and mean-spirited regime on the schools. It represents the dead hand of conformity and regulation from afar. It is time to abandon the status quo of test-based accountability and seek fresh and innovative thinking to support and strengthen our nation's schools.
Diane
- Diane Ravitch

Governor Brown promotes race to the bottom

Governor Makes Deep Cuts to the Safety Net

On Thursday, January 5, Governor Jerry Brown released his proposed 2012-13 spending plan, addressing a $9.2 billion projected shortfall for the remainder of 2011-12 and the upcoming 2012-13 fiscal years. The Governor proposes $10.3 billion in “solutions” to close the identified gap and provide a $1.1 billion budget reserve. The gap stems from a $4.1 billion shortfall in 2011-12 and a $5.1 billion projected shortfall in 2012-13.

 The Governor continues his poorly informed, misguided austerity program which proposes  to reduce the budgets through cut backs in services, cuts to public employment, and reduction in public pensions.

Budget cutting to balance the budget will not get us out of this hole.  Look at Ireland, Greece, or Spain. Do we  really want to follow the lead of Michigan, Wisconsin, or Mississippi (each of these economies is smaller than California)?   Budget cuts only start a downward spiral of pain. We can not simply cut our way out of the crisis, budget cuts and lay offs make the recession worse. Budget cuts and lay offs lead only to more budget cuts and lay offs.

The current budget crisis was caused by the real estate crisis, the sub prime loan crisis, and the  national economic crisis.  This crisis was created by finance capital and banking, mostly on Wall Street ,ie. Chase Banks, Bank of America,  Washington Mutual,  Country Wide, AIG, and others.   Finance capital produced a $ 2 trillion bailout.