[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By John Laird
Chair
Assembly Budget Committee

Last week Assembly and Senate Republicans presented their education budget proposal. This is a welcome move, as it shows they are concerned about the need to raise California's school funding levels out of the basement in national ranking—and it shows they're ready to engage in the discussion about how to solve California's budget crisis.

The Governor's January budget proposes to cut school funding by $4.8 billion. The legislative Republican proposal would restore only $2.1 billion of this reduction. By shifting funds around and making accounting changes legislative Republicans believe their proposal funds Proposition 98, the voter-approved minimum funding guarantee for schools. But what our schools need is not a reinterpretation of Proposition 98 formulas—what they need is adequate funding.

In their press conference releasing the proposal, they indicated their commitment to “maximize classroom funding,” and “hold schools harmless.” The challenge is to understand how they would do this given the fact that their proposal is still substantially below current education support.