State budget trick forces more schools to borrow

10-11-2010

By Sharon Noguchi/San Jose Mercury News

First, the good news for California schools: This year's budget cuts don't seem to be as deep as expected. Now, the bad news: The state still isn't paying all the money legally owed to education. The tricks used to stitch the budget together may well fail and require midyear cuts. And major chunks of the money -- $7 billion -- will arrive late. It's all part of the accounting sleight-of-hand the Legislature employed to break a stalemate and produce a budget early Friday. Lawmakers spent more than 20 hours in chambers before finally passing the latest budget in state history. While the vote was expected to be easy, given that the $125 billion spending plan would keep state services at the status quo with modest trims to health programs, there were arguments about such weighty matters as whether electronic highway billboards should have advertisements and whether the state needs a paid secretary of volunteerism. One thing that's not in dispute: the budget pushed tough decisions into the future, papering over most of the $19 billion deficit with clever accounting. (more…)

Personal tools

Sections

State budget trick forces more schools to borrow

Document Actions