Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/250321
Advocacy Legislature GOOD NEWS ABOUT PROP. 98 $11,000 less per child than the top-ranked state of Wyoming. Had we not worked hard to pass Proposition 30 last fall, and if we didn't have a governor truly committed to providing an equitable quality public education for our students, we would be headed for complete devastation. The next day, Jan. 10, Gov. Jerry Brown released his proposed annual budget. He announced the state's revenues are much higher than projected, the state's debt was being slashed, and our schools and colleges would see an additional $10 billion in much-needed funding, including $6 billion to eliminate all deferral payments to school districts and colleges, plus $244 million for CSU and UC. The average increase for K-12 school districts will be 10.9 percent. Only once in the past 30 years has public education received an increase of more than 10 percent. "California teachers appreciate the governor's continued commitment to public education and to repaying the billions of dollars that had been cut from students, schools and colleges," says CTA President Dean E. Vogel. "Governor Brown's proposal will help our public schools and colleges continue to heal after years of devastating cuts. As we heal our schools, we heal our communities. This budget will allow local school districts to continue to restore critical programs and provide the resources that educators need to help students learn." You may be wondering what this means for you. Making Well, it means a lot. sure It means that through the newly adopted Local educators Control Funding Formula, for which regulations have a secure were recently adopted by the State Board of retirement Education, districts will be gettting more money is critical to to work with. And those with students who need more resources to educate such as English learnattracting ers, students living in poverty, and foster children and keeping get additional funding through supplemental and concentration grants. quality It also means that decisions about how this educators money will be spent will be made locally and in the with your input. It's now up to educators, school profession. districts, parents and communities to weigh in on what's most important for students and how Dean E. Vogel exactly to make sure they get what they need. CTA's budget specialists will continue their analysis of the budget, and your State Council members will have many conversations in the weeks and months ahead on all proposed legislation. "CTA continues to review the details of the governor's budget plan, including a rainy-day fund proposal, and the impact it will have on school funding," says Vogel. "We look forward to working with the governor and the Legislature on this state budget, as well as a plan to address the CalSTRS shortfall. Making sure educators have a secure retirement is crit- 38 Educator 02 Feb 2014 v2.1 int.indd 38 a minimum level of funding for public schools and community colleges that at least keeps pace with growth in the K-12 student population and the personal income of Californians and at best increases the amount schools receive. Several factors are used to set the minimum funding level, but the most important are the annual changes in statewide K-12 student attendance, per capita personal income, and per capita General Fund revenues. (The General Fund is the state's largest pot of money and is not dedicated to one specific program.) The Proposition 98 funding level for 2014-15 is estimated to be $61.6 billion. This is an increase of $6.3 billion over the previous year. Increases of $1.8 billion for the 2012-13 budget and $1.5 billion for 2013-14 give total prior-year increases of $3.3 billion. Combining all these increases provides the Prop. 98 funding level a total increase of $9.7 billion over three years for K-14 education. The governor's office is proposing a constitutional amendment to create a mechanism to help smooth year-to-year school spending to prevent damage caused by cuts. The amendment will not change the overall guaranteed level of funding for education. CTA is reviewing and analyzing the specifics of the proposal. P ROP OS ITION 9 8 G UA R A NTE ES ical to attracting and keeping quality educators in the profession. The state must ensure the retirement commitments made to our hard-working teachers." WHAT'S NEXT? Our work is cut out for us. It's a critical time to be aware, informed and active as important decisions are made. The tide will start to turn with the increase in education funding, and our schools and communities will start to heal. Students will be able to focus on their success in school. Educators will focus on student success. But we must be vigilant and ready to fight for what's right. In future editions of the California Educator, we will look more closely at the CalSTRS unfunded liability, which has been recently grabbing headlines. FE B RUARY 20 14 1/27/14 3:52 PM