Saying that K-12 education had borne the brunt of past years’ cuts, Gov. Jerry Brown proposed a state budget that spares schools from cuts in state aid next year. Community college students and especially families relying on state-funded child care would be hit hard, however, and K-12 schools could face huge cuts if voters fail to extend $8.8 billion in temporary taxes for five more years. The budget would also fall apart if the Legislature rejects Brown’s plan to eliminate local Redevelopment Agencies – a centerpiece of the plan to wipe out an 18-month, $25.4 billion deficit (the latest estimate, down $3 billion). Doing so would shift $1.7 billion in property taxes to schools and local governments that have been diverted to the agencies.
Brown wants to put the tax package – a 1 percent sales tax surcharge, a 0.5 percent increase in the vehicle license fee, a quarter percent increase in the state income tax – on the ballot in June. But first he’ll need a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to authorize it, and on Monday Republican leaders were saying no way; Brown will need a few Republicans to cross over to join Democrats.
Total K-12 spending would still decline, by $2.6 billion, to $63.8 billion, because of the end of federal Edujobs and stimulus money. While basically flat, state revenue through Proposition 98, a combination of General Fund revenue and property taxes, would decline slightly, by $400 million, to $49.3 billion, because of cuts to child care funded through Prop 98.
The state would not fund a projected 1.67 percent cost of living adjustment; instead, $967 million would be added to the $10 billion that the state owes districts for shorting its Prop 98 obligation in past years.
Sacramento observers had predicted that Brown would ask the Legislature to pass a budget in the next 60 days, assuming the $8.8 billion in tax extensions, and then lay out big cuts to K-12 schools if voters said no. But Brown said at a press conference Monday that he could then be accused of “putting guns to the heads” of voters, so he is not saying where cuts would come from. But without that extra money, the Prop 98 minimum funding would fall by $2.3 billion, so K-12 cuts would be out at least that much.
Brown is not proposing midyear K-12 cuts. Total per-student spending from all sources next year would be $10,703 per student, down from $11,154 this year.
Total Prop 98 per-student spending would be $7,344, down $14 from $7,358 this year.
Deferrals: Brown is proposing to delay paying an additional $2.2 billion owed to K-12 schools and community collages next year into sometime the following fiscal year. Deferrals would now total about $10 billion, or nearly a third of the state’s Proposition 98 obligation, creating higher interest payments to cover the state IOUs and potentially creating cash flow problems for districts that have difficulty borrowing.
Categorical spending: Contrary to predictions, Brown is not proposing to give districts more flexibility to spend some of the remaining $10 billion in restricted expenditures known as categorical programs however they want. However, he is asking the Legislature to give districts control for an additional two years, beyond 2012-13, over those categorical programs whose restrictions were lifted two years ago.
Brown really had no choice. Forcing districts to return to 20:1 student-teacher ratios under the class-size reduction program, a large categorical, would force many districts into bankruptcy.
CALPADS: Last fall, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed money for the Department of Education to continue operating the statewide data system past early December, leading to predictions by Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell that the system would collapse, throwing the state’s ability to meet deadlines for supplying data to the federal government in jeopardy. Well, that hasn’t happened yet. Brown wants to set up a working group that will work through oversight issues and decide what must get done in coming months.
Community colleges: Two months ago, the chancellors and trustees of community colleges agreed in principle to support fee increases tied to inflation, as long as additional revenues were plowed back into the system, not the state’s general fund.
Brown is proposing instead a 6.9 percent, $432 million cut, to $5.8 billion, while raising fees 38 percent, from $26 to $36 per credit.
Brown argues that half of the students would qualify to have their fees waived and that at $1,080 in fees for a full course load, students would still pay a third of what comparable community colleges nationwide charge.
He also argues that the $432 million cut reflects truer costs, since one sixth of students quit courses they enroll in, and the state reimburses colleges based on course enrollments early in the quarter. Brown wants to move toward an incentive system in which the state rewards colleges with high success rates in transfers to 4-year universities, associate’s degrees, and certificate completion.
Children’s services: A big piece of the $12.5 billion in cuts that Brown is proposing would affect low-income children. Brown has proposed a 25 percent cut – $1.5 billion – to CalWORKS, which provides cash assistance to 1.1 million low-income children whose parents are looking for work. The number of families receiving it would drop from 580,000 to 458,000. Brown would cut $750 million in child care funded by Prop 98 by eliminating child care assistance for 11- and 12-year-olds and reducing eligibility from 75 percent of state median income to 60 percent ($36,000 cutoff for a family of three).
California’s social services would still hold up well compared with many states, Brown said, though not so well when compared with most European nations. “It depends on what yardstick you use,” he said.
