Is this a good budget for Education?

Yes, the budget provides for several items as listed below. However, the budget poses several concerns. Specifically:

·          The state’s revenues increase by 4.4% and expenditures increase by 8.4%, resulting in a structural deficit of $6.4B.

·          The deficit spending is funded with the use of nearly all of the $7B in the state’s reserves.

·          The Governor proposes no major spending cuts and no tax increases.

·          A provision to reinstate the Governor’s authority to make mid-year cuts in state appropriations is included in the Budget Proposal.

·          The Budget Proposal does not address schools with declining enrollment (thus, AUSD will lose $0.8M in revenue in FY06/07due to our continued decline in enrollment).

COLA

·          $2.27B to fully-fund the 5.18% estimated statutory COLA for Revenue Limits and Categorical programs ($1.65B for K-12 Revenue Limits, $162M for Special Education, and $462M for categorical programs)

·          AUSD:  Estimate of $269 per ADA for a total of approximately $2.57M

Growth

·          $156M to fund enrollment growth projected at 0.21%

Revenue Limit Deficit

·          $205M to reduce the revenue limit deficit from 0.892% to 0.299%

·          AUSD:  Estimate of $32 per ADA for a total of approximately $306K

Equalization Aid

·          $200M in funding to level up base revenue limits to the 90th percentile

·          AUSD:  Estimate of $48.64 per ADA for a total of approximately $465K

Mandate Reimbursement

·          $133M to fund new mandate claims, plus an additional $133M to fund prior year claims

Proposition 49

·          $428M to expand before and after school programs

Categorical Programs

New/Expanded

·          Physical Education:  $85M for physical education instruction in grades K-8, including teacher recruitment. Funding will provide minimum site award of $3K.

·          Arts and Music:  $100M to develop and implement fine arts and music instruction in grades K-8. Funding will provide $20 per ADA with a minimum site award of $3K.

·          Digital Classroom:  $25M for classroom technology. Competitive funding will provide $3K per classroom.

·          Career Technical Education:  $30M to improve and expand Career Technical Education courses.

·          California High School Exit Exam:  $40M for instruction and support services for students struggling to pass CAHSEE.

·          School Enrichment:  $100M to hire teachers and principals for hard to staff subjects and schools. Funding will provided $50 per student to schools in the bottom three deciles on the API with a minimum award of $5K per school.

·          Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment:  $65M to support teachers in schools ranked in the Deciles 1 to 3.

·          Science and Math Teacher Training:  $1.5M to increase the number of teachers trained in math and science at the UC and CSU.

·          Healthy School Breakfasts:  $18.2M to continue to reimburse 10¢ per meal with one to two servings of fruits/vegetables

Other Categorical Funding Rates

·          State lottery is estimated at $141 per ADA of which $118.50 is unrestricted and $22.50 is restricted under Proposition 20 for instructional materials.

·          Instructional Materials funding is estimated at $65 per PY CBEDS enrollment

·          Special Education is funded for 5.18% COLA and growth on state and local share only; no funding is available for COLA and growth on the federal share of funding

Other

·          No proposal to shift state portion of STRS to school districts

·          No proposal to address schools with declining enrollment

Adult Education

·          5.18% COLA and 2.5% growth are fully-funded

·          “Use it or lose it” formula goes into effect – programs that do not use their ADA caps in both FY04/05 and FY05/06 will have cuts in their FY06/07 caps equal to half of the amount not used

Regional Occupational Centers and Programs

·          5.18% COLA and 2.7% growth are fully-funded

Facilities

·          Strategic Growth Plan:  $26.3B in General Obligation bonds staggered over election cycles from 2006 through 2014

Authorization Amount (billions)

Purpose

2006

2008-2014

Modernization

$3.3

$8.8

New Construction

$1.7

$7.7

Charter Schools

$1.0

$1.4

Career Tech

$1.0

$1.4

·          Williams Settlement:  $107M for the School Emergency Repair Account (for schools in Deciles 1 to 3)

·          Deferred Maintenance:  $269M to fully fund the deferred maintenance program