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If Lawmakers Get Their Way, California Won’t Slash Funding For Schools, Colleges
California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the legislature on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, POOL)
Last month, as part of a plan to make up for a coronavirus-triggered $54 billion state revenue shortfall, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed deep cuts to California’s education spending.
This week, leading State Assembly and Senate leaders proposed an alternative: Don’t cut California’s education spending. They propose…
- Rejecting Newsom’s proposal for more than $8.1 billion in cuts to Proposition 98 — the main source of state funding for K-12 schools and community colleges. (For some context, that’s a Great Recession-esque cut; and in some ways, the state’s K-12 system hasn’t fully recovered from that prior crisis.)
- Rejecting $770 million in proposed cuts to the University of California and Cal State University systems.
- …and more.
Senate President pro tempore Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) said in a statement:
‘Our economy has been pummeled by COVID-19, but thanks to a decade of pragmatic budgeting, we can avoid draconian cuts to education and critical programs, or broad middle-class tax increases.’
The legislature’s budget deal “flips the presumption,” banking on Congress coming through with an aid package. If it doesn’t, then cuts and spending reductions take effect — including delaying more than $5.3 billion in payments to school districts, which would basically force them to borrow this money.
- California lawmakers would spare K-12 schools from any budget cuts (EdSource)
- Newsom's Proposed School Budget Cuts Could've Been Worse, But They're Still In 'Great Recession' Territory
- LAUSD Warns Budget Cuts Plus Coronavirus Might Make Reopening Campuses Hard
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