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Gov. Jerry Brown and the the California legislature reached a deal on a $108 billion budget for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.
Here, as examined by John Fensterwald of EdSource, are some of the major education components:
Proposition 98: $60.8 billion for K-12 schools and community colleges in 2014-15 through Proposition 98, the voter-approved school funding guarantee; $53.6 billion of that will go to K-12 districts. This will be $3.6 billion more than appropriated for them in 2013-14.
Local Control Funding Formula: $4.75 billion more than districts received this year. Gov. Jerry Brown had projected it would take seven years to fully fund the formula. The additional money for 2014-15, the third year implementing the formula, will bring districts more than halfway there.
Common Core: $450 million that the Legislature said is intended to help implement the new standards in math and English language arts, although districts would be able to use the money however they want. This differs from the $1.25 billion for Common Core this year, which had to be spent on materials, technology and teacher training related to the standards.
Career Technical Education: An additional $250 million in competitive one-time grants for individual and multiple districts that build partnerships with community colleges and businesses.
Early Childhood Education: Transitional Kindergarten will remain as is, but early education programs will get $264 million more, with $155 million to enable 11,500 additional low-income children to attend preschool. Parent fees for part-time preschool programs will be eliminated.
CalSTRS: Brown proposed and lawmakers agreed to a 32-year plan to eliminate the $74 billion unfunded liability for teachers’ and administrators’ pensions. Districts eventually will pay about 70 percent of the $5.35 billion in extra annual costs, with the state contributing 20 percent and teachers about 10 percent. Districts’ increases will ramp up over seven years; next year’s first installment will be $175 million.
Late payments: Late payments of state money, known as deferrals, created a hardship for many districts and grew to $9 billion during the recession. Brown has made wiping out this obligation a priority. Only $500 million in deferrals will remain after next year, and Brown has made eliminating what’s left the top priority if state revenues run higher than projected.
Read the full story here.