ELA’s Prop. 98 suit gets March 28 S.F. court date
More than $2 billion sought for schools
Published: February 27, 2012
Arguing that the budget passed last year by Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers illegally diverted billions of dollars that should have gone to public schools, attorneys for CSBA and other public school advocates are seeking a court order directing the state to recalculate the complex formulas used to set minimum public school funding levels.
At a March 28 hearing in San Francisco Superior Court, CSBA’s Education Legal Alliance and other plaintiffs in a 2011 lawsuit will press their challenge to the state’s calculations of what it owes schools under Proposition 98. Joining the Alliance in the lawsuit are the California Association of School Administrators and the San Francisco, Los Angeles and Turlock unified school districts.
The suit argues that Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers illegally excluded more than $5 billion in general fund revenues from the formulas used to calculate the minimum K-14 public school funding level for 2011-12 under Proposition 98, the constitutional amendment passed by California voters in 1988 that guarantees a minimum percentage of general fund revenues for K-14 public schools. The law permits the state to suspend the guarantee in tough fiscal times, but it also requires the state to repay schools for any shortfalls in accordance with a specific formula.
The lawsuit alleges that the state’s 2011-12 Budget Act created “a convoluted and speculative plan” to compensate schools for the roughly $2.1 billion owed them, a plan that assumes voters will approve a tax measure the governor hopes to qualify for the November 2012 ballot or that the state will come up with another strategy “to restore the required funding at a later date.”
“The state’s attempt to define away its constitutional obligation for public education funding must be declared unlawful and state officials must be directed to implement Proposition 98 in accordance with law,” the suit says.
At the March 28 hearing, CSBA and other plaintiffs will ask the court to direct state officials to either include certain general fund revenues in the 2011-12 Proposition 98 calculations or “rebench” the “percentage-of-revenues” test that determines the minimum amount of state funding that must go to schools under terms of the law. In either case, these recalculations would set the minimum funding guarantee for schools at a higher level than was included in the 2011-12 state budget.
Attorney Deborah Caplan, who is representing the Alliance, ACSA and other plaintiffs, said the judge has 90 days to issue a ruling after the matter is argued in court, but he could decide the issue on the day of the hearing.
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