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Web Editorial:

STATE IN EPIC BUDGET BATTLE K-12 SCHOOLS TO RECEIVE NEAR-RECORD FUNDING, BUT RESULTS ARE STILL DISMAL

By
Alan Bonsteel, M.D. and Peter Hanley June 25, 2002

The ongoing budget crisis, with a record $24 billion shortfall in revenues, is leading to an unprecedented showdown around the July 1 constitutional deadline. Draconian cuts will be made almost everywhere, but one area remains untouchable: K-12 education. Because of 1988's Proposition 98, which enacted minimum levels for funding of our public schools, and California's belief that education is critical for the future, K-12 funding will remain at near-record levels.

Almost all of us would agree that in a budget crunch, the kids should come first. But what's our real investment and return?

No budget numbers are less understood by the public than California K-12 spending rates. The current per-student spending figures coming out of the California Department of Education are deceptive and misleading. The numbers quoted to the public are almost always what are known as the "Proposition 98" figures, based upon the extraordinarily narrow definition of per student spending in that initiative. The Prop. 98 number leaves out the big-ticket items of school construction, interest payments on school bonds, teacher retirement, lottery money, and federal aid to education. This year's Prop. 98 spending figure will be about $7058 per student, a record number, and, in inflation-adjusted terms, second only to last year's all-time record high California K-12 per student spending.


 

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