Budget includes new money for schools

By Len Feldman

With the passage of the 2004-05 budget, K-14 public education is getting more than $2 billion in new funds, including appropriations to cover a cost-of-living adjustment and student enrollment increases for all K-14 programs.

"Our advocacy and our vigilance paid off," says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr. "Despite the state facing the direst financial situation and the largest deficit in its history, our schools will see new money. Students, teachers and schools will certainly feel pain in this budget, but we have deflected larger reductions that would have devastated our schools."

The new budget includes full funding of class size reduction, special education and programs that support the state's schools of greatest need. It protects the integrity of Proposition 98 and guarantees that any money owed to schools under the minimum-funding provisions will be restored. In addition, it restores $200 million to community colleges and includes money to allow an additional 6,000 students to attend the University of California and California State University.

Kerr, however, denounces the suspension of the teacher tax credit, an action that occurred late in the budget process. A last-minute trailer bill, SB 1100, suspends for two years the state income tax credit of up to $1,500 that offsets teachers' out-of-pocket costs for classroom materials. "Singling out teachers for tax increases in the middle of the year is outrageous," says Kerr. "Teachers don't deserve to be penalized a second time for providing what the state does not."

The state's $105 billion spending plan, signed into law Aug. 1, provides K-14 school programs with a 2.41 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) and contains 0.95 percent funding — $162 million — for enrollment growth at the K-12 level.

For the average unified district, the appropriations for COLA and the deficit reduction funding will raise the allocation per student (expressed as Average Daily Attendance or ADA) by $155. Elementary ADA increases by $149 and high school ADA goes up $179.

Other key funding elements include $110 million for equalization, $270 million for deficit reduction, $363 million for instructional materials and $250 million for deferred maintenance. The budget also restores $119.5 million for child care that was cut in May.

For special education, the COLA is 2.41 percent. Federal funds will increase $107 million over January.

The 2004-05 budget includes $208.6 million in state and federal funds to underwrite the third year of the High Priority Schools program, which provides up to $400 per student to the lowest-performing schools.

There's also $68 million for federal Title I Improvement Funds and $29.6 million in federal Reading First funds.

Like K-12 schools, the state's beleaguered community college system will gain a 2.41 percent COLA amounting to $100.2 million. It will also get $148.1 million to fund a 3.65 percent growth in enrollment, $80 million for equalization and $200 million to restore funds deferred during the 2003-04 budget crisis. On the downside, student fees are rising from $18 to $26 per unit.

Before signing the spending plan, the governor cut $1.7 million for the School-to-Career Program and $1.3 million for Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID).

K-12 classrooms have endured more than $9.4 billion in cuts and funding deferrals in the past four years. "Our public schools cannot continue to suffer losses of this magnitude and maintain the quality education our students deserve," says Kerr. "Politicians like to talk about putting students and public education first. It's time to stop talking and start looking for some real, long-term and stable funding solutions to meet the needs of our students. Without new revenues for our schools, our students will suffer even more."