The 2010–11 state budget was the third in a row with a substantially reduced funding level for K–12 education as compared with 2007–08, the year before the recent recession significantly impacted the budget. The drop-off has been most acute in the current year.

Funding for K–12 schools comes mainly from five sources. The figure below shows the amounts from those sources and how they have changed during the past six years. Since 2007–08, most sources have contributed less funding, but the decline in the contribution from the state’s general fund has been the greatest.

 

K–12 education revenues from the state’s general fund have dropped dramatically since 2007-08

 

Note: This does not reflect certain revenues for California's K-12 education system-namely, local debt service, contributions from the state general fund and local property taxes that do not count toward the Proposition 98 minimum funding guarantee, and other state funds. In 2010-11, those funds totaled about $7.8 billion. Those monies generally do not support current operations of K-12 schools.

Data: California Department of Education (CDE)

EdSource 1/11

 

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