K-12 schools to dodge budget tornado

01-05-2011

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

The Sacramento Bee is reporting and sources are confirming to me that Gov. Jerry Brown will spare K-12 schools and community colleges further cuts when he presents the state budget on Monday – but only if voters continue the $8 billion in temporary taxes that are set to expire this year. That scenario would be a big victory for schools in a year in which other parts of state government are expected to get whacked to wipe out an anticipated $28 billion state budget deficit over the next year and a half. That’s not to say K-12 schools won’t face further problems; federal stimulus money that has protected districts somewhat the past two years will dry up this year, and many districts already have greatly expanded class sizes and shortened the school year by five days. Proposition 98 funding is directly tied to state revenue. The expiration of the temporary taxes would lower the state’s minimum obligation by $2.2 billion, from $49.7 billion to $47.5 billion – a cut of 4.4 percent, according to LAO projections. In real dollars, K-12 schools have faced a 12 percent cut in state funding – $6.8 billion – since 2007-08. (more…)

Also: Sacramento Bee

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K-12 schools to dodge budget tornado

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