Your donation will help us produce journalism like this. Please give today.

By Chris Megerian 

As California staggered through years of budget crises, the state law intended to safeguard funds for public education was no defense against a flood of recessionary red ink.

School budgets were cut by billions of dollars, and thousands of teachers were laid off.

So it’s an incredible reversal of fortune that the Capitol is now awash in what one lawmaker described as “98 envy,” a reference to Proposition 98, the decades-old constitutional amendment that guarantees schools a major slice of state revenue.

As Gov. Jerry Brown prepares to release his updated budget proposal Thursday, the funding formula is expected to direct billions of dollars in unexpected revenue to schools and community colleges.

Click here to read the full story.