Gov. Jerry Brown’s Revised Budget Allocates More Money for K-12 Schools and Community Colleges
ByCommunity Colleges in California will receive more millions to help restore cut classes, increase declining enrolments and strengthen student support services under Gov. Jerry Brown's revised budget.
The Governor has also proposed a four year tuition freeze for California State University and University of California.
The colleges are set to receive an additional 30.7 percent or $1,503, to spend on per student by 2017 when compared to last year.
Overall, from 2011-12 through 2016-17, the minimum funding guarantee for all public schools and colleges has been hiked by $19 billion- from $47.3 billion to $66.5 billion, through 'Proposition 98.'
Voters approved 'Proposition 98,' 1988, to force the state to allocate 40 percent of the state's general fund to support K-12 schools and community colleges.
The additional funding was also made possible through 'Proposition 30,' which was given the green light by voters in November to provide more money for education. The higher funding was also boosted by the collection of higher unanticipated tax revenue this year.
As a result, the revised budget saw a $2.9 billion increase in the current year.
The California State University will receive 33 percent more, which is $1,900 per student; the University of California would get 23.4 percent extra, equivalent to $2,500, while funding for all of K-12 schools will be raised by $2, 754 per student.
Paul Feist, a spokesman for the chancellor's office, said that the extra money would welcome 40,000 more students next year. In the past few years, student population decreased by about 600,000 due to frequent budget cuts.
The revised budget also determined how many units a student can take whilst receiving student budget subsidies; shifted adult education programs to community colleges and federal state funding community colleges will now be calculated based on how many students passed a term rather than students' few weeks stay into the semester.
"For us, this idea of investing in community colleges and student success is going to be critical to the well-being of the state," said Jessie Ryan, associate director of the Campaign for College Opportunity.
Meanwhile, the state is planning to repay amounts to public schools and college that were delayed in the past few years. It will pay around $2.5 billion of the pending amounts, which is more than $700 million it had promised, January.