California's Schools to Receive Additional $3 Billion

It was announced Monday that the state of California is expected to gain $6.6 billion more in revenue than had previously been expected. Gov. Jerry Brown presented his revised budget, saying that the economy is "on the mend," although a $10 billion state deficit still remains. Brown's proposal includes $3 billion more for schools than his budget presented last January.

While this is good news for California, it's great news for school districts like the Benicia Unified School District (BUSD) that are . Currently, have been slated to be laid off at the end of this school year, as well as working for the district. School board officials were hoping that an increased budget could ultimately save jobs.

School board President Andre Stewart reacted to Monday's announcement by saying, “I am cautiously happy to see it. It appears no additional cuts will occur. However, bi-partisan support is needed and that may be difficult.”

Stewart went on to say “I hope our State Politicians are voting with their hearts and heads, and not playing political games with California's kids. Lets face it, as a State we do not have a lot of educational cushion. Kids need to be in class learning the full 180-plus days. Teachers need to feel secure about their jobs. If these cuts continue, we will face a teacher shortage.”

Stewart concluded by saying, “We need to revisit all the testing and focus on teaching, and finally, we need a way to better reward our best teachers.”

The State's budget workshop on Thursday May 19 will give Tim Rahill, Chief Business Official, plenty to report at the scheduled at 7pm that same evening.

The first non-action agenda item Highlights and Discussion on the Governor's May Revised Budget and Budget Prioritization is scheduled for 8pm and highly anticipated.