Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom presented his May Revision to the January budget. As expected, state revenues are significantly down, and almost every program will have funding cuts. Given California’s K-12 education system receives a large part of the budget’s funding, it is also receiving a large portion of the cuts. Governor Newsom stated that he would roll back some of the cuts if the Federal Government provides more fiscal relief to the states.

For those who can remember 2008 and the Great Recession, it appears there will be deferrals and reduced per-pupil funding. Below are the highlights of the May Revision, which the California Assembly and Senate Budget Subcommittees will hear over the new two weeks. It is unclear whether the Budget Conference Committee will meet or both houses will adopt the Governor’s budget, but the legislature will pass the budget by June 15th.

The budget provides a Proposition 98 General Fund level of $52.35 billion in 2019-20, a decrease of $3.54 billion under the 2019-20 Budget Act Proposition 98 guarantee estimate. It also provides a Proposition 98 General Fund level of $44.87 billion in 2020-21, a decrease of $11 billion from the 2019-20 Budget Act for schools and community colleges.

Here are the budget specifics:

Proposes total K-12 funding from all sources at $99.7 Billion in the Budget Year.
Projects Proposition 98 ongoing per-pupil spending to be $10,632 in 2020-21 and $11,585 in 19-20 a decrease of $1,375 per student and $422 per student, respectively, compared to the 2019-20 Budget Act.
Defers $1.9 billion in Proposition 98 funding in the 2019-20 budget year to the 2020-21 budget year, and defers an ongoing total of $5.3 billion in financing for the 2020-21 budget year to the 2021-22 budget year.
Proposes a payback schedule for Proposition 98 funding for the difference between Test 1 and Test 2 funding levels.
Proposes $4.4 Billion in discretionary federal funds for one-time COVID closure impacts on schools and student learning.
Suspends the 2.31% Statutory COLA
Eliminates the $589 million Education Protection Act fund to mitigate school funding cuts.
Provides $2.3 billion ($1 billion in Budget Year) funding relief for Local Education Agency (LEA) statutory contributions to the STRS and PERS retirement systems.
Proposes a reduction of $6.5 billion in Proposition 98 funding for the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), reflecting a 10% reduction.*
Provides $645 million Proposition 98 funding for special education services and school readiness supports.
Proposes $352.9 million in cuts to K-12 categorical programs*
Contains $164.7 million one-time state-level CARES Act investments to address COVID education impacts, including:
- $100 million to County Offices of Education for student wellness & health initiatives
- $63.2 million for educator training and professional development o $1.5 million for state agency operational needs
Contains over $23 million in federal IDEA funds for teacher scholarships, mediation costs, and various policy studies and workgroups.
Maintains a few January Budget new one-time proposals:
- $53 million for literacy grants (related to a court settlement)
- $15 million for CalNEW (refugee student support)
- $4.2 million for the SACS replacement project, and
- $4 million for dyslexia training/research and statewide conference.
Proposes to increase LEA inter-fund borrowing allowances
Proposes to allow the sale of surplus LEA property for one-time spending purposes.
Allows special education telehealth practices.
Moves the Transitional Kindergarten credential deadline to August 2021.
Caps the age that particular charter school programs can generate ADA at 26.

California Legislative Update: Anti-Charter School Bills Pass the Assembly Education Committee

Here is the latest California legislative update:
On April 10th the Assembly Education Committee held their regular bi-weekly hearing, but at 1:30p they had a special order to hear AB 1505, 1506 and 1507.
All of these bills are anti-charter bills and they all passed the committee with 4 votes from the Chair, Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, Assemblywoman Christy Smith, and Assemblyman Ash Kalra.
Assemblywoman Shirley Webber abstained and Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, the only Republican on the committee, voted no.

AB 1505

Taken together the bills would severely handicap all charter schools in California and could lead to their closure. AB 1505 by Assemblyman O’Donnell would take away the right to appeal a denial of a charter petition at any level and would not allow a county office of education to approve a county-wide charter. All charter petitions could only be approved by a local school board and they could be denied based on the financial impact to the district. This bill is headed to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 1506

AB 1506 by Assemblyman McCarty would put a cap on the number of charter schools in California. The cap would be the total number of charter schools in California as of January 1, 2020. After that date a new charter school could only open up after one closes in the state. This bill is also headed to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 1507

AB 1507 by Assemblywoman Smith would prevent a charter school from opening a facility in a neighboring district if it cannot find a facility in the district that it is authorized in. Additionally, the bill would only allow a charter school to have one resource center in the district that it is authorized in. This bill is headed to the Assembly Floor next.
To view, any of these bills go to https://www.legislature.ca.gov and hit the bill link at the top left of the page and put in the bill number.

After the polls closed in California and a long night of counting ended most of the state’s legislative and state-wide contests are complete. Overall the Democratic Party was victorious in every state-wide contest. Though several races were very close, Democrats swept each race.
The toughest, most expensive race was for the Superintendent of Public Instruction where the current Superintendent, Tom Torlakson, was seeking a second term in office. He was opposed by Marshall Tuck, a former charter school operator and education reform supporter back by numerous individuals who play heavily in education reform. Torlakson was supported by the California Teachers Association and some of the state’s other unions.
The race became the most expensive race in the state as total spending exceeded $30 million; this was more than triple the total amount spent on the race for Governor where Governor Brown cruised to an unprecedented fourth term. Both sides were well funded and were able to present their case to the voters; in the end the Superintendent will serve four more years.
In the State Senate the Democrats lost a race in Orange County where moderate Democrat Lou Correa was termed out of office. He will be replaced by Republican Janet Nguyen who defeated former Assemblyman Jose Solorio by 20 percentage points. The Republicans were able to hang on to their only ‘targeted’ seat as Senator Andy Vidak beat back his Democratic opponent Luis Chavez.
In a move of musical chairs three State Senators were elected to Congressional seats which will create three vacancies and require three special elections set by the Governor. This will be added to the current vacancy that exists in the 35th Senate district where an election has been scheduled for December 8th.
The 35th will elect a Democratic State Senator, one of the other vacancies will also add to the Democratic side of the aisle and the other two will go Republican. This leaves the State Senate breakdown as 25 Democrats and 11 Republicans; the Democrats currently sit two votes short of a 2/3 majority.
In the State Assembly the Democrats lost four seats but did pick up one vacancy. The Republicans picked up more seats in one election cycle than they have in the last few cycles combined.
The Democrats lost the 16th district where the California Teachers Association fielded one of their former employees Tim Sbranti. After defeating a moderate Democratic candidate in the June primary he lost to Republican Catharine Baker who ran a tremendous race.
In the 36th Assembly district Republican Tom Lackey defeated Assemblyman Steve Fox. Fox’s earlier election had been a surprise to legislative Democratic leaders and he was always considered a ‘target.’
In the 65th Assembly district Republican Young Kim defeated Democratic Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva and in the 66th Republican David Hadley defeated Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi for the Republicans fourth pick up of the night.
The Democrats did pick up Republican Assemblyman Jeff Gorrell’s seat as he vacated it to run for Congress. That leaves the Assembly breakdown 52-28 in favor of the Democrats again leaving them two votes short of a 2/3 majority.
To view complete election results go to www.sos.ca.gov and hit the election results tab.