School funding will be focus, source of contention, of Brown’s revised budget - by John Fensterwald
by John Fensterwald
Democrats in the Legislature may find themselves at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on two issues that will factor large when Brown reveals his revised state budget Tuesday: how to spend billions in unanticipated revenue and how to reshape Brown’s sweeping plan for funding K-12 education.
As of now, the state is on target to collect $4.5 billion more than expected in personal income taxes, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. Democratic leaders in the Legislature have no shortage of ways they’d like to see that money spent, such as expanding mental health care, restoring adult dental care, eliminating fees for preschool that went into effect this year, and providing more state aid for college students.
Brown expected to change
plan for adult education
By Susan Frey
Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to offer new solutions to funding adult education programs in the May revision of his state budget, expected to be released Tuesday.
Since his January budget proposal to shift control and provide $300 million in dedicated funding for adult ed to community colleges, many districts have given preliminary layoff notices to adult school staff for the 2013-14 school year, potentially further eroding adult school programs throughout the state. The new plan is expected to attempt to protect funding for K-12 adult schools, but still keep community colleges in the picture.
Adult schools are an important strand in California’s safety net, offering community-based classes to some of the state’s neediest adults. Classes include English as a Second Language, basic education, high school diploma and GED, citizenship, parenting and vocational education.
In 2009, $634 million in state funds previously earmarked for adult education became “flexible,” allowing school districts to use the money for any educational purpose. With budgets tight, many districts channeled those funds into K-12 programs. Only an estimated $300 million in state funds – less than half of what was available before the recession – is currently being spent on district-run adult education programs. Under the governor’s budget in January, districts would be able to keep those funds, but they would not be dedicated to adult ed.
An EdSource survey of the state’s 30 largest districts asking what the impact of the governor’s budget proposal would be on a district’s adult education program came back with mixed results. Of the 25 districts that still support adult schools, almost half (12) said the proposal would cause them .”School funding will be focus, source of contention, of Brown’s revised budget | EdSource Today:
The problem for them is that as much as 90 percent of that extra money may be legally bound for K-12 and community colleges. Normally, under
