First published in the May 27 print issue of the South Pasadena Review.
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently unveiled the May revision of California’s budget plan, breaking $300 billion for the 2022-23 fiscal year, which included a staggering $97.5-billion surplus to distribute this year, and the news was more than welcome by many school leaders who have dealt with rising expenditures and low attendance brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Simply, without precedent. No other state in American history has ever experienced a surplus as large as this,” Newsom said after unveiling the historic $300.7-billion budget blueprint he is proposing to the state legislature, which has until June 15 to negotiate with Newsom and pass a budget.
General fund revenues are estimated to be nearly $55 billion higher than what was proposed five months ago, and a large portion of the spending will go toward K-12 education.
Geoff Yantz, superintendent of the South Pasadena Unified School District, said the allocation of funds from the state is still up in the air somewhat.
“At the state level, they still have quite a bit of negotiations to go through, so sometimes the revenue that is received by school districts, [state officials] put restrictions or place criteria on how that money can be spent, so it would be premature to suggest how it might be [used],” he said.
He added that the district itself goes through a budget process.
“In the end, we have over 500 employees and five schools and very strong academic program offerings that we plan to continue supporting, like we’ve been doing over the years, and continue making investments in our current programs and people,” he said.
The budget includes more than $128 billion in funding for public education and districts will receive about $22,850 per student — the highest per-pupil funding in California’s history. By comparison, the current state budget’s per-pupil funding is $21,555 when accounting for all funding.
“I see some of these governors out there, [and] their big idea of education reform is what you can’t say in the classroom. … It’s comedic, and that’s what all the time and attention goes to,” Newsom said. “That’s not education, let alone reform. This is education. This is about completely reimagining the public education system.”
Newsom’s blueprint includes a fiscal stability plan for schools that would update the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, to 6.56% for the Local Control Funding Formula, or LCFF, a budget formula approved by voters in 2013 that calculates a base grant for each student.
The proposed COLA is the highest in state history, and Newsom would also like to provide $2.1 billion more in LCFF base funding to allay some of the concerns expressed by superintendents, such as staffing shortages, rising pension costs and fluctuating attendance rates.
Regarding pensions, which can be expensive, Yantz said that’s tied to a state requirement.
“So, they might say, ‘Well, South Pas, you’re getting another $1 million of revenue this year, but you have to increase your pension contribution by $1 million,’” he said. “There’s a lot of mechanics that go along with it. But do we expect more revenue next year? Yes.”
He said it’s important to remember that the local tax base doesn’t go directly to school sites.
“There’s a formula at the state level that determines how much revenue each school district receives,” he said.
As the state goes financially, there are “boom and bust years,” which translate into boom and bust years for education, resulting in some volatility at times, he said.
The formula used to determine funding for schools is based on average daily attendance, or ADA, which has declined throughout the state as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Under Newsom’s proposal, he would allow districts to use one of three figures to calculate their LCFF funding: School districts can go with this or last year’s ADA, whichever is greater, or an average of the three prior years’ ADA.
State Sen. Anthony Portantino, whose district includes South Pasadena and who authored a bill that would base school funding on enrollment rather than attendance earlier this year, commended the governor for the May budget revise that proposes the “highest levels of funding for our public education system” and invests in after-school programs and special education.
“Also included in the proposal are important investments to tackle declining enrollment and infrastructure updates,” he said in a statement. “These investments are critical to helping our youth achieve academic success and preparing the next generation of leaders.”
