Topic: Education Funding

Top University of California administrators made headlines in August when they declined the offer by state legislators to provide the system an additional $25 million. The offer was contingent on the university accepting another 5000 in-state resident students.

Two years ago, the University of California system changed the way it distributes state funds and tuition revenue to the campuses. In the past, all tuition dollars and state dollars were sent to the Office of the President and redistributed according to unknown formulas. 

On January 16, the State Board of Education adopted emergency spending regulations for the supplemental and concentration grant funds that Local Educational Agencies (districts, county offices of education and some charter schools) will receive under the Local Control Funding Formula.

Public school educators face a new threat in the form of the Vergara v. California lawsuit, which aims to declare unconstitutional five provisions of the Education Code that ensure seniority, due process and other rights for K-12 teachers.

Community support saved an innovative cooking and gardening program that faced closure last spring, but only leftovers remain after the Berkeley Unified School District cut two-thirds of the budget. 

“Even the chickens in the garden were given away because no one was left to tend them,” said Daria Wrubel of the Berkeley Council of Classified Employees. Wrubel taught gardening to 450 students at Thousand Oaks Elementary before she and more than half the classified staff were cut.

For the first time in six long years, the state budget includes more funding for education in 2013-14. In the on-time budget, Gov. Brown fended off legislative demand to reinstate programs cut during the recession and stayed true to his commitment to prioritize education funding. Though the sectors of education fared differently, all saw at least some increase in state funding.

Facing a massive loss of federal funds, Berkeley Unified officials may yank an innovative gardening and cooking program up by the roots. The slash and burn tactics are drawing widespread community fire.

For about 15 years, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture has taught low-income families about nutrition through school programs like the Network for a Healthy California. Congress, however, has revised its funding formula and California, which used to receive nearly a third of all USDA money, will lose about 40 percent of its grant. The funding for direct-to-kids programs like the NHC will be shifted to local health agencies to run publicity campaigns.

Classified employees had a lot to lose if voters rejected Prop. 30 on November 6. Staff swung into action across California, racking up victories in state and local campaigns that will go a long way toward saving public education.

Gilroy paraprofessionals in AFT Local 1921, for example, resisted pressure to take 10 furlough days until the need was clear, even though district teachers represented by CTA and classified employees represented by CSEA had agreed beforehand to give up the days.

In the last four years, our schools and colleges have been hit with $20 billion in cuts, have lost 30,000 faculty members, and now have class sizes that are among the largest in the country.