California Politicians Have A Huge Financial Incentive To Keep Public Education Underfunded

But then, the money gets put into the general fund and is used to create new programs and entitlements rather than improve California’s public education system.

Why does the Governor and State Legislature need to use our kids to raise more tax revenue?

Because the California Constitution requires the State to adequately fund public education before it spends money on any other program or entitlement.

The California Constitution gives education funding a unique priority above all other state funding obligations by requiring:

“from all state revenues there shall FIRST be set apart the monies to be applied by the State for support of the public school system...” Cal. Const. art. XVI, §8. (Emphasis added)

If California actually spent tax revenue to adequately fund K-12 public education, the Governor and the State Legislature would be forced to ask the public directly to fund things that the public may not choose not to support. By keeping K-12 on life support, the State can use our kids to get us to pay higher and higher taxes, which the Governor and our Legislature can then use to create new programs and entitlements.

California’s Public Education System- Once the Envy of the World - Is At the Bottom

California is in the bottom 10% for education spending, and is also in the bottom 10% for the quality of education students receive. http://www.edweek.org/media/qualitycounts2016_release.pdf

At $7,763 the Capistrano Unified School District is one of the most underfunded school districts in the nation.
Just to compare:

• California Average per pupil funding is $9,400.
• The National Average per pupil funding is $11,500
• Laguna Beach (just up the road) receives $14,580 per pupil.

The Continued Lack of Adequate Funding has Resulted in a Notable Decline in Academic Performance of Students Across all Demographics in CUSD

A-G Completion Rate: 52.5%

Source: http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/DistGrad.asp?cSelect=30664640106765--Capistrano+Connections+Academy+Charter&cChoice=DstGrdEth&cYear=2013-14&cLevel=District&cTopic=Graduates&myTimeFrame=S&submit1=Submit

EAP College Ready:

• English: 42%
• Algebra II: 3% * Required to go well on college entrance exams and is required to get into a 4 year selective university.
• Summative Math: 27%
• Math Total: 20%

Source: http://eap.ets.org/

The downward trend will continue until Districts are given sufficient funding to provide a basic education for every student. The State has designed a new funding formula that does nothing to address funding inadequacy. By intentionally setting the Base Funding Grant $3,000 below the actual cost to educate a student has resulted in a funding law that does more to promote a political agenda and redistribute wealth, then is does to provide a minimum education to every student.

The State’s new Local Control Funding Formula Law limits K-12 per pupil funding to 2007-08 levels + inflation not to be reached until 2021.

Per Pupil Funding (Governor Brown Has Been In Office 2011 - Present)

Source: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/fd/ec/currentexpense.asp CUSD is Code 30

By 2021 CUSD is expected to reach 2007-08 levels ($7,617) + inflation = $8.700. This means that per pupil funding for CUSD students will have remained virtually flat for 14 years.

State General Fund Revenues are $20 billion higher than they were in 2007-08

Source: http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/

A recent report by the California School Boards Association estimated that the base funding grant would need to be increased by $3,427 per student to bring California up to the National average. https://www.csba.org/Advocacy/EducationLegalAlliance/~/media/CSBA/Images/Advocacy/ELA/Adequacy_Committee/CA-Challenge-Adequacy-2015.ashx

The cost: $25 billion

The State has sufficient revenue, but chooses not to spend it on Public Education.

Since 2007-08 State Revenues (General Fund - Special Funds - Bonds) have increased from $145 billion to $171 billion ($26 billion increase)

Since 2007-08 General Fund Revenues have increased from $102 billion to $122 billion ($20 billion increase)

Education Spending (the state’s number 1 spending priority) has gone from $60.4 billion to $66.3 billion; a $5.9 billion increase.

The State has the money to fulfill it’s constitutional obligation to our children, but is choosing not to honor its commitment.

How did the State of California spend the “extra” $20 billion?

Health and Human Services $14.5 billion (total spent including Federal Funds $87,706,096)

Health Care for Undocumented Immigrants - $1 billion

Senate Bill 4 Health Coverage - Immigrant Status will cost tax payers $1 billion dollars to extend Obama Care to people who are not legally in this country. Would that $1 billion be better spent educating our children?

Even Obama did not intend States to offer Obama Care to illegal immigrants specifically saying that undocumented immigrants and those individuals that are currently incarcerated are not eligible to use the marketplace, get cost assistance, or use Medicaid or CHIP. So why is CA Spending $1 billion to fund health care for illegal immigrants rather than to educate our kids?

http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-immigrants/

Medicare Fraud is about 20%

“The annual expenditure of state and local tax dollars on services for that population is $25.3 billion. That total amounts to a yearly burden of about $2,370 for a household headed by a U.S. citizen.

Nearly half of those expenditures ($12.3 billion) result from the costs of K-12 education for the children of illegal aliens — both those illegally in the country and those born in the United States. Another major outlay ($2.1 billion) results from the need to provide supplemental English language instruction to Limited English Proficient students, many of whom are children of illegal aliens. Together, these educational costs are 57.1 percent of total expenditures.

Other fiscal outlays result from the costs of medical care ($4.0 billion), public assistance services ($800 million), administration of justice functions ($4.4 billion), and general governmental services ($1.6 billion).”

http://www.fairus.org/publications/the-fiscal-burden-of-illegal-immigration-on-california-taxpayers

Prisons $3.4 billion

California Prison Reforms have reduced inmate numbers, but not costs. Governor Brown’s proposed 2016-17 budget allocates a record high $13 billion for prisons that is up from $9.8 billon when Governor Brown took office and is equal to what the State spends on Higher Education at $14 billion.

Despite prison re-alignment which passed inmates from State to County jails, the State of California is now spending $64,000 per prisoner, up from $49,000 five years ago. The prisoners and the cost to hold them have been passed down to the County, but the tax revenue has not.

Environmental Protection $1.7 billion

California is withholding educational opportunity from students to fund high speed rail and the California Air Resources Board. State priorities are best illustrated by the way the State chooses to spend tax revenue.

The State’s 2015 Five-Year Infrastructure Plan is projecting to increase spending on Transportation /High Speed Rail from it’s current level of $5,684 to 2019-20 levels of $52,802.

The State’s 2015 Five-Year Infrastructure Plan is projecting to increase spending on the California Air Resources Board from it’s current level of $5,995 to 2019-20 levels of $365,893.

The State’s 2015 Five-Year Infrastructure Plan is projecting to increase spending on Health and Human Services from it’s current level of $29,587 to 2019-20 levels of $179,674.

The plan calls for no increase in funding for K-12 infrastructure spending through 2019-20. The cost to maintain, improve or build new K-12 facilities is being passed down to local municipalities. There is a State wide push to have local districts raise bond funds to fix and maintain facilities that have not been maintained for decades. Local municipalities will not be able to sustain these levels of taxation and the result will be that students will go without.

Source: http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2015-Infrastructure-Plan.pdf

Parents are now paying three times for a service the State is constitutionally obligated to provide.

1. Taxes
2. Fundraising and Donations - see: http://www.slideshare.net/DawnUrbanek/fundraising-for-core-educational-programs
3. Facilities Bonds

The State has Changed It’s Spending Priorities Without A Vote of the People and In Violation of the California Constitution

This story is to long for the Patch - to finishgo to:  http://disclosurecusd.blogspot.com/2016/02/california-has-huge-financial-incentive.html