UPDATE: What’s different for the grassroots movement to fund schools with a 2/3 legislative vote by extending revenues, now that the May revise has been released? In short, nothing. Keep calling State Senators and Assembly
members, and visiting your legislators in their district offices, and
faxing letters and sending e-mails. School funding is STILL AT RISK,
because while the unanticipated tax windfall helps in school year
’11-’12, it doesn’t solve the problem for next year, or for the
long-term funding cliff that schools still face after June 30, 2011.
The bottom line is that if we don't get the 2/3 VOTE in the
legislature to extend the current taxes by June 30th, those taxes WILL
EXPIRE on July 1st, AND our Schools will suffer cuts. Even after the
projected new revenue of $6.6 Billion, we still currently have a $9.6 Billion deficit
in the state budget, and with schools' commitment almost 40% of the
state budget, if those current taxes are not extended, schools will
suffer significant cuts. Take action now to support our schools.
More info: Governor's Presentation of May Revise: video http://www.calchannel.com/channel/viewVideo/2511
State Legislative Analyst's Office (non-partisan): http://www.lao.ca.gov/laoapp/PubDetails.aspx?id=2482
Ed Source, May Revise: http://www.edsource.org/iss_fin_bud_debates.html
CA Budget Project, May Revise: http://cbp.org/documents/110516_May_Revise.pdf
If you want to get into the gruesome details, they can be found
here.
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No revenue extension? School funding per student falls steeply
The map tool below shows the entire state of California. You can
choose to look at funding for school districts, or by State Senate
District or State Assembly District.
This map tool is a starting point to show what the estimated loss in
per-pupil spending would be under an all-cuts budget. An all-cuts budget
means current sources of revenue will expire on June 30, 2011 without
extension.
How:
- Enter your address or zip code in the field next to “Go to.”
- Choose to see results by “Funding,” “Senate Districts,” or “Assembly Districts.”
- You’ll see a red pin marking the location on the map.
Funding:
- To see a school funding report, click on the area near the pin but not on the pin.
- If you double-click on the district area but do not get the school
funding report, check to see that you have chosen to see results as
“Funding.”
Senate District or Assembly District:
- To see Senate or Assembly District information, click on the area near the pin but not on the pin.
- If you double-click on the district area but do not get the the
district number, elected representative, or political party, check to
see that you have chosen to see results as “Senate District” or
“Assembly District.”
How to understand what you see
Federal, state, and local money funds local public schools in an
extremely complex formula. This highly technical formula must factor in
state and federal laws, and rely on accounting methods specific to
government. You can find an excellent detailed explanation here, at EdSource.org and here, at the California Budget Project.
We present accurate, but simplified information in this map tool,
using projected losses to school districts after June 30, 2011, under an
all-cuts budget as calculated by the non-partisan, non-profit
California Budget Project. CBP results were released on April 28, 2011.
For more details and the most up-to-date information that affects
your neighborhood school, please consult your local school district.
This tool was created by Sreeram Balakrishnan and Cynthia Liu,
two grassroots parent advocates working with the non-profit group Parents for Great Education.
Sreeram is a Technical Program Manager at Google Research
(www.google.com/fusiontables), and a parent in the Los Altos Elementary
School District. Cynthia is a parent of a first-grader at a California
public school, founded K12 News Network and, with Parents for Great
Education, helped research and project manage the collaboration. We
thank the volunteers who helped test this tool. We’re also deeply
indebted to Jonathan Kaplan and the California Budget Project for
sharing their research, and providing support and informal advice. This
was purely a non-profit effort made with donated labor and expertise.
