Revised 2017-18 budget suspends Proposition 98
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (May 11, 2017) – Despite a modest funding increase that brings the Local Control Funding Formula to 97 percent of full implementation, the revised 2017-18 state budget proposal, released this morning, suspends the Proposition 98 guarantee.
“When Proposition 98 was approved by California voters, the intent of the measure was to get California into the top ten nationally in per-pupil funding for public education,” said California School Boards Association President Susan Henry. “Today, California instead ranks in the bottom ten, as the Proposition 98 funding guarantee has been consistently treated as a ceiling instead of a floor. Now, this budget cuts a hole in the floor.”
“California’s school districts are already struggling to balance budgets and avoid cuts to educational programs in the face of increasing cost pressures from pension contributions and other sources,” Henry added. “The notion of ‘over-appropriation’ for public education at a time when state revenues are still increasing defies the spirit of the Proposition 98 law, and is a step away from where we need to be, not toward it.”
For a summary of the 2017-18 California budget, please visit: www.ebudget.ca.gov.
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CSBA is a nonprofit association representing nearly 1,000 PreK-12 school districts
and county offices of education throughout California.
www.csba.org