State budget elicits Plotkin’s praise, with reservations
Published: August 1, 2006
CSBA Executive Director Scott P. Plotkin offered both praise and caveats on the new state schools budget when he joined Secretary of Education Alan Bersin and other education leaders in an hour-long analysis for a Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team Internet briefing last month.
With total Proposition 98 revenues at $55.1 billion for 2006-07—10 percent higher than the year just ended—Plotkin called the spending plan “a very, very good budget,” but he also cautioned state officials and local education governance teams about categorical program restrictions that can hamstring the use of funds.
“It’s hard to complain in a very good budget year,” Plotkin said. But, he added, “Let’s not overdo it when it comes to earmarking the discretionary money that’s available, no matter how desirable the programs might be.”
Noting his own 20-year service on local school boards, Plotkin observed that schools labor under “the most schizophrenic system in the public sector,” where the emphasis is on standards-driven outcomes but “inputs and compliance-oriented aspects” limit schools’ flexibility in reaching the desired results.
The budget allocates more than $1 billion to new discretionary block grants, including $534 million for instructional materials, technology, professional development and maintenance, to be distributed according to average daily attendance. One-fourth of those funds will go to districts, and the other three-fourths will go directly to school sites, with county boards of education to settle any conflicts that arise.
Other block grants include $500 million for arts, music and physical education equipment, $49 million for supplemental instruction for the California High School Exit Exam, $50 million for preschool and $350 million to restore revenue limits, in effect repaying schools for cost-of-living adjustments owed but not paid in 2003-04. Another $350 million goes to economic impact aid and $105 million to arts and music.
On other budget items, Plotkin praised a 54 percent hike in Economic Impact Aid, from $650 million last year to $1 billion in 2006-07, prompting moderator Ken Hall of School Services of California to ask Bersin whether that funding would be maintained in future years.
“That’s the expectation,” Bersin replied.
Also participating in the briefing, which can be viewed by clicking the “Governor’s Final Budget 2006-07” feature on the FCMAT Web site, were Ron Bennett of SSC and David W. Gordon, Sacramento County superintendent of schools.
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