California’s K-12 and community college budgets will drop $19 billion under the state’s minimum-funding guarantee, setting back years of striving to reach adequate funding. The governor announced a 10% cut to the state’s school funding formula, which has aimed to channel extra dollars to districts with more disadvantaged students. The reduction includes a loss of a 2.31% cost-of-living increase districts rely on for purchasing goods and services.
California finance officials first revealed the $54 billion deficit last week, and painted a bleak picture of how badly the coronavirus pandemic damaged the fifth-largest economy in the world.
The Newsom administration projects 24.5% unemployment, a 21% decline in new housing permits and a nearly 9% drop in California personal income for the fiscal year starting July 1. That’s a stark turnaround from January, when the governor laid out an ambitious agenda featuring a $5.6 billion surplus.
