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.

Census Bureau ranks California 36th in school spending

California’s  per-pupil spending was $1,421 below the national average in 2011, placing  it 36th in the nation according to a just released report Public Education Finances 2011, by the Census Bureau.

In 2007/2008 California spent $9,158 per pupil, before the economic crisis, and in 2008/2009, we  spent $7,712 per pupil. This year’s budget proposal   does not return school funding to the pre crisis level.

Gov. Brown currently  proposes  to  change  how state and local school funds are distributed in  the state budget.   He proposes to  give more dollars  to districts with large numbers of poor and/or English-learner students.  The Governor’s  latest budget proposal recommends  per-pupil spending in 2011-12 from state and local revenues at $7,175 ( not including federal funds).  The voters passed Propositions 30 and 39, which made additional state available.

There are currently active law suites challenging the adequacy of California school finance.

California school spending; How do we rank?

How Do California’s Education Spending and

Staffing Levels Compare  to Other States?

California’s spending for public schools lags that of the rest of the US.1 California’s schools:

·      Ranked 44^th among the 50 states in K-12 spending per student, spending $2,546 less per student than the rest of the US in 2009- 10 (Table 1). To reach the level of spending per student of the rest of the US, California’s schools would have had to spend an additional $15.4 billion in 2009-10, an increase of 28.9 percent.

·      Ranked 46^th in education spending as a percentage of personal income – a measure that reflects the size of a state’s economy and the resources available to support public services. To reach the level of the rest of the US, California would have had to spend an additional $15.3 billion on education in 2008-09, an increase of 29.5 percent.

California has more students per school staff than the rest of the US. California’s schools:

• Ranked 50th in the nation with respect to the number of students per teacher.

California averaged 21.3 students for each teacher in 2009-10, more than 50

percent larger than the rest of the US, which averaged 13.8 students per teacher.2

• Ranked 46th in the nation with respect to the number of students per

administrator.3 California’s schools averaged 358 students for each administrator

in 2007-08, compared to 216 students for each administrator in the rest of the US.

• Ranked 49th in the nation with respect to the number of students per guidance

counselor. California’s schools averaged 809 students for each guidance counselor

Source: California Budget Project.  Race to the Bottom.

Meanwhile the anti tax radicals continue to denounce our schools.  

California drops to 47th. in School spending

Cal drops to 47th in public school spending
Education Week magazine, in its annual state-by-state survey of public education, gives California an overall "C" grade, but the California Teachers Association is jumping on the state's "F" in school spending, which has dropped to 47th in the nation on a per-pupil basis.

"With the dismal budgets passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor in recent years, we are not surprised to learn that new figures released by Education Week...reveal that California's ranking has dropped another spot to 47th in the nation and lags the national average by nearly $2,400," CTA president David Sanchez said. He called it "appalling that the state with the eighth largest economy in the world would allow this to happen."

The Education Week data were released as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators wrestle with a budget deficit estimated at $40 billion over the next 18 months with schools the largest single item in the budget and the most contentious spending issue. Although Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders have agreed that school spending must be cut, they disagree on the extent and form of the reductions.

Although California received an "F" in school spending, its overall grade on education finance was a "C" due to its "A-minus" rating for equity of finances. The only other area in which it scored in the top ranks was in setting and enforcing academic standards, another "A-minus."

The full California summary is available here.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/qc/2009/17src.h28.html
Or by clicking on title of this post.