On June 9, 2019, the Budget Conference Committee adopted a state budget deal that reflects an agreement between the Governor, Senate, and Assembly.

K-12 Education Budget Details

Our team has updated our budget tracking spreadsheet to reflect the final deal.

The budget details can be found here.

Major Elements of K-12 Budget

The 2019-20 budget deal brings closure to a number of high-profile school finance debates. Some key elements of the budget deal include:

• Prop 98 – Adopts of the Governor’s proposal to deposit $389.3 million into the Public School System Stabilization Account (PSSSA)
• COLA – 3.26% COLA for LCFF ($1.96 billion) and some categorical programs
• Special Ed – Provides $152.6 million to “bring all LEAs to the statewide base rate” (estimated to be $557 per ADA) and provides $493.2 million for grants to LEAs serving 3 and 4 years olds with IEPs. Trailer bill language requires that ongoing funding be contingent upon passage of legislation in 2020-21 budget “to reform the Special Education system to improve outcomes”
• CalSTRS and CalPERS – Provides $3.15 billion (one-time, non-Prop 98) for school employer pension relief ($2.246 billion for CalSTRS and $904 million for CalPERS)
• Full-Day Kindergarten – Provides $300 million in one-time grants for full-day kindergarten with the state to local match at 75/25% and eliminates the impact of receipt on eligibility for the School Facility Program
• Early Education – Significant investments to expand child care facilities, professional development, and eligibility for State Preschool and child care
• After School – Provides $50 million in ongoing Prop 98 funding for ASES
• Charter Schools – Adopts the Governor proposals to prohibit use of academic or student characteristics in enrollment decisions, and prohibits charter schools from requesting academic info prior to enrollment

What’s Next?

We expect the Senate and Assembly to vote on the main budget bills by Wednesday or Thursday, sending the bills to the Governor well before the June 15 deadline. The budget trailer bills, which contain much of the programmatic and policy language, are not subject to the June 15 deadline and are often works-in-progress to iron out drafting issues to ensure the final language matches the intended deal. We expect the Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, the budget described here. The 2019-20 Budget Act will take effect July 1, 2019.