Governor Brown's May 2015 Budget Revise

Here it is -  Governor Brown's May 2015 Budget Revise

Click here for Department of Finance California Budget Page - full details of the budget are coming

Note:  Friday, May 15th, at 12 noon,  the AB86 Webinar will be on the Adult Ed budget with representatives form the Department of Finance.

Adult Education

The May Revision maintains $500 million Proposition 98 General Fund to establish the Adult Education Block Grant program to provide funds for adult education to school districts and community colleges. This proposed program will coordinate efforts of various entities — such as schools, community colleges, universities, local workforce investment boards, libraries, social services agencies, public safety agencies, and employers — to provide education and training more effectively.

The May Revision strengthens this proposal, substantially informed by feedback received from stakeholders.

Significant Adjustments:

• Eliminate Allocation Boards within Each Consortium — Each consortium will be required to create rules and procedures regarding how it will make decisions, based on state guidelines that require consortia to seek and respond to input on proposed decisions from interested stakeholders and to make decisions publicly.

• Require More Robust, but Less Frequent, Planning — Each consortium will develop a comprehensive plan for adult education in its region at least once every three years, with annual updates.

• Provide Greater Funding Certainty — The Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges will certify maintenance of effort levels by July 30, and will determine the allocation of any remaining block grant funds to consortia by October 30. Beginning in 2016, the Superintendent and Chancellor will provide preliminary allocations to consortia shortly following the release of each Governor’s Budget, and final allocations, along with preliminary projections for two future years, shortly after each Budget is enacted. At the consortia level, allocations to districts will be at least equal to their distribution from the previous year, with limited exceptions. Further, use of a local fiscal administrator is no longer required.

• Integrate Adult Education Programs and Funding Streams — The Superintendent and Chancellor will, by January 31, 2016, develop and submit a plan to distribute Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Title II and Perkins funding using the consortia structure in future years. School districts, county offices of education, and community college districts that receive other specified state funds or  federal funds for adult education must be participating members of an adult education consortium.

K‑12 Budget Adjustments Significant Adjustments:

• Career Technical Education — The Governor’s Budget proposed $250 million in one‑time Proposition 98 funding in each of the next three years to support a transitional Career Technical Education (CTE) Incentive Grant Program. School districts, county offices of education, and charter schools receiving funding from the program would be required to provide a dollar‑for‑dollar match each year. The May Revision proposes an additional $150 million in 2015‑16 for the first year of this transition program, an additional $50 million in 2016‑17, and a reduction of $50 million in 2017‑18. This adjusted schedule of funding will better allow schools to transition to entirely using their own discretionary funds by 2018‑19. The May Revision also proposes a series of other changes to the Administration’s January proposal on CTE, including:

 • Increasing the minimum local‑to‑state funding match requirement to 1.5:1 in 2016‑17 and 2:1 in 2017‑18, to assist local educational agencies’ transition in supporting CTE with their Local Control Funding Formula apportionments and other existing resources after this program expires.

 • Eliminating Career Pathways Trust from the list of allowable sources of local matching funds.

 • Directing the Department of Education and the State Board of Education to give funding priority to applicants administering programs located in rural districts or regions with high student dropout rates.
• Quality Education Investment Act Transition Funding — An increase of $4.6 million one‑time Proposition 98 General Fund to provide half of the final apportionment of Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) funding to selected school districts in 2015‑16 that do not qualify for concentration grant funding under the Local Control Funding Formula. This funding will help ease the transition off QEIA funding for districts with isolated concentrations of English learners and students who qualify for free or reduced‑priced meals.

• Simon Wiesenthal Center — An increase of $2 million Proposition 98 General Fund for the Los Angeles County Office of Education to contract with the Simon Wiesenthal Center to support the Museum of Tolerance’s “Tools for Tolerance” training programs. These funds allow the center to partner with schools throughout the state to advance anti‑bias education, inclusion, and equity through professional development programs.

• Local Property Tax Adjustments — A decrease of $123.3 million Proposition 98 General Fund in 2014‑15 for school districts, special education local plan areas, and county offices of education as a result of higher offsetting property tax revenues. A decrease of $224 million Proposition 98 General Fund in 2015‑16 for school districts, special education local plan areas, and county offices of education as a result of higher offsetting property tax revenues.

• Average Daily Attendance — An increase of $94.4 million in 2014‑15 and an increase of $173.5 million in 2015‑16 for school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education under the Local Control Funding Formula as a result of an increase in 2013‑14 average daily attendance (ADA), which drives projections of ADA in both 2014‑15 and 2015‑16.

• Proposition 39 — The California Clean Energy Jobs Act was approved by voters in 2012, and increases state corporate tax revenues. For 2013‑14 through 2017‑18, the measure requires half of the increased revenues, up to $550 million per year, to be used to support energy efficiency projects. The May Revision decreases the amount of energy efficiency funds available to K‑12 schools in 2015‑16 by $6.7 million to $313.4 million to reflect reduced revenue estimates.

• Categorical Program Growth — A decrease of $18.4 million Proposition 98 General Fund for selected categorical programs, based on updated estimates of projected ADA growth.

• Cost‑of‑Living Adjustments — A decrease of $22.1 million Proposition 98 General Fund to selected categorical programs for 2015‑16 to reflect a change in the cost‑of‑living factor from 1.58 percent at the Governor’s Budget to 1.02 percent at the May Revision.

• K‑12 Mandated Programs Block Grant — An increase of $1.2 million Proposition 98 General Fund to reflect greater school district participation in the mandates block grant. This additional funding is required to maintain statutory block grant funding rates assuming 100‑percent program participation.