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Brown commits $1 billion for Common Core, sticks with funding formula

Brown commits $1 billion for Common Core, sticks with funding formula

Gov. Jerry Brown proposed Tuesday to direct all of the extra $2.8 billion in revenue that the state expects to receive this year to K-12 schools and community colleges, mostly for one-time uses, including $1 billion to implement the Common Core standards. There had been projections of even more money this year, but in a news conference releasing his May budget revise, Gov. Jerry Brown tempered expectations; the drag of federal tax changes, sequestration of federal spending … Read entire article »

Filed under: Categorical Funding, Common Core standards, Equity issues, Featured, Funding and Taxation, Jerry Brown, Poverty, Proposition 98, Reporting & Analysis, Revenue and taxes, Student spending, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)

Governor tries to fix adult ed plan, but controversy remains

Governor tries to fix adult ed plan, but controversy remains

Backing away from his controversial plan to hand control of adult education over to community colleges, Gov. Jerry Brown is instead proposing that regional consortia, made up of community colleges and school districts, determine adult ed’s future. However, his new plan is also stirring controversy. In his budget revision unveiled Tuesday, Brown provides substantially more dedicated funding for adult education beginning in 2015-16, raising the amount allocated to $500 million instead of the $300 million in … Read entire article »

Filed under: Finance, Funding and Taxation, Jerry Brown, Reporting & Analysis, State Budget, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)

Community colleges get boost under governor’s revised budget

Community colleges get boost under governor’s revised budget

Community colleges will receive millions more to begin to restore cut classes, rebuild flagging enrollment and strengthen student support services under Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised budget released Tuesday. Brown would add an additional $30 million to the system’s 2013-14 apportionment, raising it to $226.9 million from the Proposition 98 school funding guarantee. Unlike the January budget proposal, however, when Gov. Brown left it to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors to decide how to spend … Read entire article »

Filed under: California Colleges, Community Colleges, Featured, Jerry Brown, Reporting & Analysis, State Budget

Democrats split on timing, specifics of Brown’s funding formula

Democrats split on timing, specifics of Brown’s funding formula

Joan Buchanan, the Democratic chair of the Assembly Education Committee, grilled administration officials at length Wednesday on Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to reform school funding. She wanted, without success, to get them to concede there are flaws and inconsistencies in the plan. Buchanan’s intense questioning prompted a frustrated Assemblymember Das Williams, a fellow Democrat from Santa Barbara, to call for a shift in the discussion from “poking holes” in the plan to “doing what we can … Read entire article »

Filed under: Equity issues, Featured, Funding and Taxation, Jerry Brown, Reporting & Analysis, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)

Voters favor extra funds for poor students but not English learners

A majority of Californians support Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to provide additional funding to districts with more low-income and English learner students, according to a newly released poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. Of 1,705 adults interviewed, the PPIC’s ninth annual survey of Californians and education, released late Wednesday, found that among all adults, 71 percent support the governor’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). However, approval drops to 60 percent among likely voters. Responses also vary by political affiliation, race/ethnicity and income, with 80 percent of Democrats favoring the plan – nearly twice the rate of Republicans; more Latinos support it, as do families earning under $40,000 per year, who would be more likely to benefit from the change. However, when asked about each group separately, only 40 percent of likely … Read entire article »

Filed under: English learners, Featured, Jerry Brown, Poverty, Quick Hits, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)

Brown’s efforts to restrict community college financial aid rejected

State Senate and Assembly committees have rejected several controversial elements of Gov. Jerry Brown’s recommendations on financial aid and financing of the state’s community colleges. The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance on Wednesday voted down one proposal that would have required all community college students seeking a Board of Governor’s fee waiver to first complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA, and another plan that would have required students with more than 90 credits to pay the full cost of community college courses. On Thursday, the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee concurred on two of those actions, holding open a vote on the FAFSA requirement. Nearly 1 million community college students receive a fee waiver at a cost of about $783 million this academic year and, according … Read entire article »

Filed under: College Enrollment, College Loans, Grants, Community Colleges, Jerry Brown, Quick Hits

Brown’s funding plan faces vigorous review – and speed bump

Brown’s funding plan faces vigorous review – and speed bump

The chair of the Assembly Education Committee turned Gov. Jerry Brown’s comprehensive plan for education finance reform into bill form Thursday, ensuring that all aspects will get an extensive review, while raising the possibility that the plan may not pass in time to take effect July 1, as the governor wants. The introduction of Assembly Bill 88 by Assemblymember Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo, was not unexpected. Legislative leaders for a year have called on Brown to present … Read entire article »

Filed under: Categorical Funding, Featured, Finance, Jerry Brown, Proposition 98, Reporting & Analysis, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)

Assembly committee rejects moving adult ed to community colleges

Assembly committee rejects moving adult ed to community colleges

In a clear message to Gov. Jerry Brown, an Assembly subcommittee voted unanimously Tuesday to reject his proposal to shift responsibility for adult education programs from K-12 districts to community colleges. The bipartisan 4-0 vote, with one subcommittee member absent, followed a flurry of pink slips issued by school districts to adult educators last week. The vote was also meant as a message to school districts considering abandoning their adult ed schools that the Assembly supports current … Read entire article »

Filed under: Adult education, College and Career Preparation, Funding and Taxation, Jerry Brown, Legislature, Bills, Reporting & Analysis, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)

Sweetwater gives pink slips to all its career-tech teachers

Despite a plea from one trustee that the move was premature, the Sweetwater Union High School District has issued pink slips to all teachers in the district’s Regional Occupational Program, which offers career-tech training, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Trustees voted 2-2, with one trustee abstaining, to give pink slips to 36.8 full-time equivalent positions. The newspaper did not say how many employees received the notices. According to board rules, an abstention counts as a positive vote. “The district said it needed to eliminate the positions because funding from the state is so uncertain,” the newspaper reported. “No longer offering the program would save the district $3 million.” Gov. Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula would eliminate dedicated funding for career-technical programs. It would be up to school districts whether to continue funding them or use … Read entire article »

Filed under: Career Technical Education, College and Career Preparation, Funding and Taxation, Jerry Brown, Multiple pathways, Quick Hits, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula), Workforce preparation

Questions surround bill proposing online course network at colleges

Questions surround bill proposing online course network at colleges

California could lead the charge in developing a network of online public college courses open to all students enrolled in the University of California, California State University and the California Community College system. Senate Bill 520, introduced by Senate president pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), would allow the thousands of students shut out of required classes due to budget cuts to enroll in an online version of the course in order to stay on track to … Read entire article »

Filed under: California Colleges, College Completion, College Enrollment, Community Colleges, Featured, Jerry Brown, Legislature, Bills, Reporting & Analysis, UC and CSU