(Calif.) The minimum funding guarantee for K-12 schools and community colleges is expected to surge to $77.5 billion by the 2019-20 school year – marking a five-year cycle of increases that will total more than $14 billion, according to a forecast released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst.
Economic uncertainties could threaten the rosy outlook but in its annual report on the general condition of the California economy and the picture moving forward over the next five years, the LAO suggested the state’s fiscal health couldn’t be much better.
In fact, “the state budget is better prepared for an economic downturn than it has been at any point in decades,” the Legislature’s chief financial adviser said.
For public education the news is also welcomed, tempered only in the sense that Gov. Jerry Brown’s efforts to pay off outstanding debts run up over the past 10 to 15 years, has reduced – at least in part – the requirement that all new state income be shared dollar-for-dollar with schools.
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