Recently in Budget Crisis Category

In his blog, John Fensterwald breaks down what the new budget deal would mean to K-12 schools: a lot of continued uncertainty.

The deal between Gov. Brown and Democrats in the Legislature is dependent on an upswing in revenues to the state. If that money doesn't materialize, there will be mid-year cuts to schools. That could mean seven to 10 additional furlough days for educators.

Optimists - if any are left - can take comfort in knowing that K-12 schools will be spared from any additional cuts if at least $2 billion of the $4 billion comes through. But if there is less than $2 billion, K-12 schools will bear the brunt of the cuts. And they could be as much as $1.9 billion, mostly in end-of-the-year furlough days, if the shortfall reaches as much as $4 billion.

Community colleges, along with Cal State and UC campuses, are going to be smarting regardless of the revenue scenario. But it could get worse for them too, with midyear cuts meaning a loss of 35,000 students for community colleges, Fensterwald reports. Some 130,000 won't be able to take classes thanks to cuts already agreed upon.

California Watch is out today with another great project, this time looking at school districts' spending per student.

It's a topic that creates controversy in education circles because there are such great disparities -- and because it's all based on a locked-in, byzantine funding system created by in the wake of a 1971 court ruling on state education spending, Serrano v. Priest.

Here's the crux of the issue:

The Supreme Court ruled that differences in the basic amount spent per student - so-called "revenue limit" funding - had to be within $100 across all districts. Taking inflation into account, the permissible difference is now $350 per student. Although larger differences remain among some districts, disparities in the basic amount districts receive from the state have been substantially reduced.

But that reduction has been wiped out by local, state and federal funds for close to a hundred different programs. A large part of the money is based on formulas established in the 1970s for meals, transportation and other services that often have little connection to current student needs.

The inequities the court sought to alleviate with its Serrano ruling persist. About two-thirds of districts now spend at least $500 above or below the state average, according to California Watch's analysis.

Comparing spending data from 2009-10, Cal Watch calculated per-pupil spending based on "annual salaries, employee benefits, books, supplies and other educational services" but not on "building purchases, construction, retiree benefits and food services."

Here's a surprising result of the research:

The analysis found there was virtually no correlation between funding and (API) scores that could explain the wide variation across the state in per-pupil spending in districts.

California Watch also looked at correlations between expenditures and student backgrounds, including their race and ethnicity and whether they are poor enough to receive a free or reduced lunch. The analysis also did not find any significant correlations among these variables.

Their database shows some surprising results locally. I know officials in some of the districts in affluent areas -- including Manhattan Beach and the Palos Verdes Peninsula -- are prone to emphasizing their comparative lack of per-pupil funding. But this is pretty stark in terms of more cash going to districts that educate lower-income student bodies.

In descending order, here are Cal Watch's figures for per-pupil spending in local districts:

• LAUSD $10,015
• Lennox $9,759
• Centinela Valley $9,366
• Inglewood $8,931
• California average $8,452
• Lawndale $8,390
• Redondo Beach $7,991
• Palos Verdes $7,812
• Hawthorne $7,806
• El Segundo $7,733
• Hermosa Beach $7,527
• Torrance $7,505
• Manhattan Beach $7,467
• Wiseburn $6,884

Wiseburn, the high-achieving K-8 district in Hawthorne, is clearly the curveball here.

Here's an important component of Cal Watch's story on these figures:

The disconnect between money and academic performance is at the heart of an ongoing debate among educators and researchers.

"Money may be necessary for school improvement, but it doesn't guarantee that improvement takes place," concluded UC Berkeley education professor W. Norton Grubb in his recent book "The Money Myth," after conducting an intensive review on the subject.

In particular, he found that urban schools tended to spend inefficiently for a variety of reasons, including high staff and student turnover and conflicts over how to teach struggling students. At the same time, he said, urban districts often have extra expenses for needs such as security, dropout prevention, or for teaching students who are not proficient in English.

Here's a Q&A with some more info.

As the LA Times notes today, there's a handy new online tool to map out potential cuts to school districts across the state.

The map shows the estimated losses per student -- in each school district or state Assembly or Senate district -- under dramatic education spending reductions that would be part of an all-cuts state budget. The tool uses projected cuts of $764 per pupil. In some districts, it shows the number of pink slips that have gone out.

Torrance Unified, our biggest local district after LAUSD, is facing the largest loss: $18.4 million in cuts, according to the tool. Inglewood follows with a possible $11.7 million loss. Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified comes next with nearly $9 million in cuts.

Los Angeles Unified faces cuts of $498 million, according to the site.

The site, on the K-12 News Network, was developed as a volunteer project by two California parents. It's a collaboration with the with Parents for Great Education, a Silicon Valley-based nonprofit.

As Howard Blume writes in the LA Times, there's a reason for putting this data together.

The effort behind it is ostensibly nonpartisan, but one reason for the new reference tool is to increase pressure on a handful of Republican legislators to allow a statewide vote on tax extensions that, if approved, would ease budget shortfalls on school districts.

CSU trustees will meet in Long Beach next Friday to discuss raising student fees an additional 10 percent.

From the Associated Press:

California State University is proposing another round of student fee increases this fall as the 23-campus system grapples with deep cuts in state funding, officials said Wednesday.

CSU Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting in Long Beach on June 18 to vote on raising fees by 5 percent for undergraduate, graduate and teacher credential students, and 10 percent for education doctorate students.

Under the proposal, fees would increase $204 to $4,230 a year for resident undergraduates, go up $234 to $4,908 for teacher credential students and increase $252 to $5,214 for graduate students, said CSU spokesman Michael Uhlenkamp.

The board also will vote on eliminating the cap on nonresident tuition, so out-of-state students would pay about $16,000 for a full course load of 30 units, up from $11,160 now, he said.

"We're facing an unprecedented budget crisis," Uhlenkamp said, adding that the board could revisit the fee issue in November if the CSU system does not receive as much state funding university officials anticipate.

Still, the proposed 5 percent fee increase is less than the 10 percent hike that many had expected, said Miles Nevin, executive director of the California State Student Association.

"I think this is palatable for our students," he said. "I think it's reasonable considering the climate."

As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature seek to close a $20 billion state budget deficit, CSU students are encouraged that the governor and the Assembly have both proposed restoring $366 million in funding to the CSU system, Nevin said.

Over the past two years, the CSU and 10-campus University of California systems have reduced enrollment, furloughed faculty and cut course sections in response to steep reductions in state funding. Both systems have raised undergraduate fees by more than 30 percent over the past year.

California's public universities avoided another financial blow last week when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would restore much-needed funding to the University of California and California State University system.

Yet historic fee increases for California college students await.

A San Francisco-based law firm has filed a lawsuit against the California State University System, alleging that mandated fee increases for summer school courses are a violation of state law.

The lawsuit, filed in Alameda Superior Court, includes students from CSU East Bay, Los Angeles, San Marcos and Stanislaus. Specifically, it challenges the legality of CSU's decision to replace state-subsidized classes with courses students must now pay an extra fee for.

Last week the Governor released his proposed budget, which called for $305 million in additional funding to the UC system and $366 million to the 23-campus CSU system.

Schwarzenegger's budget plan, however, would end the entire state welfare system and make significant cuts to state-subsidized child care.

The proposal, which would not raise taxes, aims to address a $19 billion funding deficit for the 2010-11 fiscal year.

From the Sacramento Bee:

The extra summer fee means that on many campuses, a pair of undergraduate classes -say, in English, psychology or statistics - will cost 40 percent more to take this summer than they would in the fall or spring. And that's on top of the 32 percent fee increase CSU students absorbed in 2009.

With the extra fee - $80 per unit - CSU is allowing campuses to offer summer session as a "self-supported" program, where students pay the full freight, instead of a "state-supported" program that receives public subsidies.

"The state law is very clear that Cal State can't replace state-supported courses with
self-supported courses, and that's exactly what they're doing for the upcoming summer
session," said Anne N. Arkush, a lawyer with the Altshuler Berzon law firm that sued CSU.

Typically, state-supported classes are those that lead to a degree, while self-supported
classes are not offered for credit and instead are geared for people seeking job training or enrichment.

The case seeks a court order forbidding Cal State from charging the self-support fees for regular credit-bearing classes during summer and winter. Lawyers for the students are asking for a ruling that would apply to all CSU campuses, not just those named in the suit.

The university argues it has the right to switch summer classes to a self-supporting system - and to charge the associated fees - when the Legislature doesn't provide full funding. The state cut funding to CSU by $548 million, or 20 percent, for the current school year.

"Completely absent from (the legal) papers is any acknowledgment of California's unprecedented budget crisis, the resulting cuts to CSU's budget and the realities of how those reductions affect CSU's ability to provide access to its campuses year-round," the university argues in court papers.

"No law compels CSU to provide state-supported summer or winter sessions when the Legislature fails to provide sufficient funds to cover the costs of such classes."

It is only within the last decade that the university began offering state-supported classes
in the summer. Before 2000, all CSU summer classes were of the self-supported variety.

But that year, in anticipation of growing student enrollment, the Legislature decided CSU campuses should be used more efficiently and allocated funds for them to offer regular for-credit classes in the summer.

"Rather than build more buildings, we said why not use existing buildings during the one-third of the year we're not using them," said Steve Boilard, director of higher education for the Legislative Analyst's Office.

Tulita Elementary School in Redondo Beach has received a $3,000 grant from the Redondo Beach Education Foundation. (Photo courtesy of Vicky Gallion)

With more than $200,000 already raised by parents and families, the Redondo Beach Education Foundation is set to begin the second phase of its annual donor drive. The next phase will focus on the business community.

Here's the press release:

The Redondo Beach Educational Foundation finished the first phase of its annual donor drive last week to help offset upcoming budget deficits that the Redondo Beach Unified School District will face for the upcoming 2010-11 school year. The campaign this year, titled Club 360, will help raise funds and awareness to help prevent the cancellation of crucial programming that could affect Redondo Beach public school students.

The campaign is broken into two phases. Part one focused on parent and family participation. During this phase of the drive, all RBUSD schools competed for RBEF grant money awarded to the top four schools with the highest percentage participation for donations received by the deadline.

This year's school winners were: Tulita Elementary School (Champion School winning a cash grant of $3,000 - photo of winning school attached); Lincoln Elementary School (1st Runner Up / awarded $2,000); Jefferson Elementary School (2nd Runner Up /awarded $1,000); and Alta Vista Elementary School (3rd Runner Up / awarded $750).

The Club 360 donor drive has raised over $200,000 during phase one of the fundraiser. The second push will focus on community and business participation. It will run through July 31st. The goal is to match the funds raised by the school portion of the campaign.

"We are looking forward to working with our community members and businesses on the next phase of the campaign to keep our schools great," said Blaise Tracy, president of the RBEF.

The Club 360 donor drive campaign runs through July 31st. For more details about RBEF or how to donate, go to www.rbef.org

California college students may be getting a reprieve from fee increases.

Recently proposed legislation would establish a "baseline fee" for the 2010-11 year and cap subsequent fee increases at 5 percent a year. Fees would remain constant throughout a student's tenure at the school, so increases would only apply to incoming freshman or other newly enrolled students.

Student fees have increased over the past five year by 61 percent at University of California schools and 68 percent at California State University schools. Fees at community colleges increased 30 percent this year.

The bill has been proposed by state senate majority leader and former lieutenant governor candidate Dean Florez (D-Shafter).

"We have to get universities to realize that students and their families are not walking ATM machines," Florez told the Associated Press. "The goal is to take the erratic nature out of student fee increases so that families can budget for college and the universities get better at their own budgeting."

UC administrators said they could not realistically commit to the proposed fee restrictions without a guarantee of continued state funding.

Erik Fallis, spokesman for the CSU Chancellor's Office, said prohibiting fee increases for current students would place an additional financial burden on incoming students, the Associated Press reports.

The U.S. Department of Education is looking to hand out up to $350 million to states willing to revamp how they test students, according to the Associated Press.

Here's more:

The money is designed to encourage states to develop standardized tests that accurately measure how much a child has learned each year and ensure the student is ready for college or a career after high school.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday the tests must be designed to accurately depict what students know and can do. The criteria for the grants were created after 10 public meetings held across the country since last year.

The money is part of the $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" grant competition, which encourages states to embrace innovative programs to improve student achievement and turnaround low-performing schools.

At an 11 a.m. press conference today, LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines and union leaders are announcing a deal that will preserve teacher jobs and prevent class-size increases, saving the financially beleaguered school district $140 million.

Under a tentative agreement reached by negotiators for the district, United Teachers Los Angeles and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, teachers and administrators will take five unpaid furlough days *this school year*. They'll take seven furlough days in the 2010-11 school year.

The agreement must still be ratified by members of both unions. It would save 1,825 teacher jobs, preserving current class sizes for grades K-8.

From LAUSD's press release: "In addition, LAUSD will restore a number of the nurses, counselors, librarians, and Regional Occupational Center-Regional Occupational Program instructors who were slated to be laid off on June 30, saving an estimated 284 positions. Under the AALA agreement, more than 100 school-based administrator positions will be restored."

The announcement is being made at UTLA's Wilshire Boulevard headquarters.

Full release, with info about furlough days already taken by other classes of employees, after the jump.

In case you missed the article in today's Daily Breeze, here's another version from our sister paper, the San Jose Mercury News.

The announcement comes as the system grapples with historic cuts to state funding.

Declaring a fiscal emergency, University of California experts Tuesday proposed a set of financial remedies that would alter the cost, size, shape and business practices of the world-renowned educational system.

Their ideas, presented to a meeting of the university's Commission on the Future at UC San Francisco's Mission Bay center, included simple administrative efficiencies and controversial measures such as three-year degrees, online education, increased slots for out-of-state students, greater private fundraising and further fee increases.

"We are trying to find a way to move to a new reality of ever-declining state support," said UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal, who is leading the review of the size and shape of UC. "We are trying to find some solutions that can maintain quality and continue to provide access to every student in California."

Over the next two months, the commission will seek feedback on these ideas from faculty, staff, students and the public. Formal recommendations to the UC regents will be made in July.

Commission Co-chairman and UC regents President Russell Gould urged consideration of all ideas, saying, "The funding gap is so large and so fundamental that for us to be timid about this -- that's no way to make progress. There is no silver bullet to make it all well."

Despite recent protests and fiscal appeals to Sacramento, Gould said the state's deficit made him doubtful that UC could get

enough money from Sacramento to close its $237 million budget gap and urged commission members to look elsewhere for money.

"I am convinced, more than ever, we have a financial imperative to look at options of how we operate. I've watched what is going on in Sacramento, and it does not give me great confidence that we're on our way to a solution that is good to UC," he said.

In public testimony that often turned acrimonious, UC workers and students voiced their opposition to administrative salaries, campus cutbacks and increased tuition. At the close of testimony, the crowd erupted in chants and yelling, urging greater funding for the university.

"Increasing public funding is an achievable goal," said Julian Posadas, a UC Santa Cruz food service worker and vice president of AFSCME Local 3299. "Returning state support and student fee levels to 2001 levels would cost the median taxpayer just $32 annually per household."

Working groups' proposals to the commission included:

An increase in the number of out-of-state undergraduate students, perhaps doubling the number to 15,200 from 7,600. Each nonresident student contributes about $12,900 in resources above educational costs. They would be accommodated through a reduction in the size of the current student body.

Creation of a new pathway for undergraduate students to complete degrees in three years. This accelerated degree would be available only to students who arrive at UC with many Advanced Placement credits.

Design of a pilot program for online education. Students might take these online classes before enrolling or could take classes from different campuses. This would help ease overcrowding in the classroom.

Increase fees from 5 percent to 15 percent -- but adopt a multiyear fee schedule for incoming students so families could better plan for the costs.

Better recover the costs of research. While the federal government is charged for the costs incurred by UC labs doing federal research, the state is charged far less for UC research.

$637 million in funding cuts

$155 million in student enrollment "" not supported by the state

$213 million in unfunded costs over a two-year period for utilities, employee health benefits and other unavoidable inflationary costs.

Nearly 22,000 teachers and other public school employees received pink slips by Monday's deadline.

The layoff notices are considered preliminary and final notices will be sent May 15, though not everyone who received a March notice will be laid off. Last year, 60 percent of the 26,000 teachers who received pink slips ended up losing their jobs.

From the Associated Press:

The state's public schools employ nearly 307,000 K-12 teachers, according to the state Department of Education. About 7 percent of those teachers have received pink slips.

The layoff figures do not include classified school employees such as bus drivers, maintenance workers and cafeteria staff. School districts have 45 days to issue pink slips to those workers, and as many as 10,000 could be facing unemployment, O'Connell said.

Education advocates say Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature have made the job situation worse through their attempts to plug the state's $20 billion budget deficit.

Last night, the Kansas City school board narrowly approved a proposal to close 29 of the district's 61 campuses. That's right - Half. of. their. schools.

Parents, understandably, are angry. The decision is expected to eliminate about 700 of the district's 3,000 jobs, including 285 teachers. Last year, Detroit closed 29 schools.

From the Associated Press:

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH -

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City School Superintendent John Covington says the decision to close almost half the district's schools was difficult and painful but "unquestionably the right thing to do."

The Kansas City school board voted 5-4 Wednesday night to close 29 of the district's 61 schools in an effort to stave off bankruptcy. The schools will close at the end of the school year.

During a news conference Thursday, Covington thanked the board for its vote. He said the district was spreading itself too thin by educating less than 18,000 students in 61 schools.

Despite the close vote, Covington says he's confident the board and district administration could work together to complete the massive restructuring, which includes laying off 700 employees, including about 285 teachers.

AP's earlier story is below.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Facing potential bankruptcy, the board that governs the once flush-with-cash Kansas City school district is taking the unusual and contentious step of shuttering almost half its schools.

Administrators say the closures are necessary to keep the district from plowing through what little is left of the $2 billion it received as part of a groundbreaking desegregation case. The Kansas City school board narrowly approved the plan to close 29 out of 61 schools Wednesday night at a meeting packed with angry parents. The schools will close at the end of the school year.

Although other districts nationwide are considering closures as the recession ravages their budgets, Kansas City's plan is striking. In rapidly shrinking Detroit, 29 schools closed before classes began this fall, but that still left the district with 172 schools. Most other districts are closing just one or two schools.

Emotional board member Duane Kelly told the crowd of more than 200 people Wednesday night, "This is the most painful vote I have ever cast" in 10 years on the board. Some chanted for the removal of the superintendent, while one woman asked the crowd, "Is anyone else ready to homeschool their children?"

Kansas City Councilwoman Sharon Sanders Brooks said the closure plan had prompted some housing developers to consider backing out of projects.

"The urban core has suffered white flight post-the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. the Board of Education, blockbusting by the real estate industry, redlining by banks and other financial institutions, retail and grocery store abandonment," Brooks said to applause from the standing-room-only crowd.

"And now the public education system is aiding and abetting in the economic demise of our school district," she said. "It is shameful and sinful."

Under the approved plan, teachers at six other low-performing schools will be required to reapply for their jobs, and the district will try to sell its downtown central office. It also is expected to cut about 700 of the district's 3,000 jobs, including about 285 teachers.

District officials face dozens of issues as they begin the massive job of downsizing the district -- reworking school bus routes, figuring out what to do with vacant buildings and slashing its payroll.

Superintendent John Covington has spent the past month making the case to sometimes angry groups of parents and students that the closures are necessary.

Once the district had enough desegregation money to build such amenities as an Olympic-sized swimming pool. But the effort to use upscale facilities and programs to lure in students from the suburbs never worked quite as planned.

Covington has stressed that the district's buildings are only half-full as its population has plummeted amid political squabbling and chronically abysmal test scores. The district's enrollment of fewer than 18,000 students is about half of what the schools had a decade ago and just a quarter of its peak in the late 1960s.

Many students have left for publicly funded charter schools, private and parochial schools and the suburbs. The school district also isn't the only one serving students in Kansas City; several smaller ones operate in the city's boundaries.

Covington has blamed previous administrations for failing to close schools as the enrollment -- and the money that comes with it -- shrank. Past school closure plans were either scaled back or scrapped entirely.

Administrators warned that without the cuts, the district would have been in the red by 2011.

"None of us liked voting for this," board member and former desegregation attorney Arthur Benson said, "but it was necessary."

From the Associated Press:

By ROBIN HINDERY
Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- University of California students from around the state have traveled to Sacramento to protest steep fee hikes and cuts to higher education funding.
More than 150 students gathered Monday outside the Capitol, waving signs and urging lawmakers to take action against rising fees.

The demonstration comes three days before a planned "National Day of Action for Public Education." On Thursday, students from the UC, California State University and community college systems will hold rallies, marches, teach-ins and class walkouts throughout the state.

Similar protests are planned around the country.

Most Californians favor tax increases to maintain current funding levels for the state's public schools, according to a survey released last week by the California Progress Report.

In the survey, nearly two-thirds of respondents said they would pay higher taxes to avoid cuts to K-12 funding. About 70 percent said they support spending cuts to the stater's prison system. Half of California's surveyed said they would be willing to pay more taxes to protect higher education.

From the press release:

But while majorities want to protect K-12 schools and cut spending on prisons, Californians are as divided as their leaders on the overall strategy to deal with the state's $20 billion budget deficit: 41 percent favor a mix of spending cuts and tax increases and 37 percent favor mostly spending cuts (9% favor mostly tax increases). They are in more agreement when it comes to asking the federal government for help, as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has done: 66 percent say California should seek federal aid to help meet its budget obligations.

When asked which of the four main areas of state spending they would most want to protect from budget cuts, 58 percent choose K-12 public education--the area most Californians have wanted to spare each of the nine times PPIC has posed the question.

Results were based on telephone surveys with 2,001 California residents in January.

Obama will announce plans to increase federal funding for public schools in tonight's State of the Union address.

from the Washington Post:

The proposal to raise federal education spending by as much as $4 billion in the next fiscal year was described by administration officials Tuesday night as the start of an effort to revamp the No Child Left Behind law enacted under President George W. Bush. Obama will highlight his school reform agenda Wednesday in the address.

The funding would include a $1.35 billion increase in Obama's "Race to the Top" competitive grants for school reform. It would also set aside $1 billion to finance an overhaul of No Child Left Behind, according to aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the budget proposal before its release next week.

If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget is approved by lawmakers, public schools in California could lose as much as $200 per student.

From the San Jose Mercury News:

The new reductions of approximately $200 per student come after successive cuts, including a cut of $253 per student in July. The governor's proposed 2010-11 education budget would be about 10 percent less than 2007-08 levels.

The news comes just weeks after Schwarzenegger publicly vowed to "protect public education."

Readers to the School Notebook blog may recall Torrance Unified school board member Al Muratsuchi recently addressing the governor's promise:

"When we have to raise K-3 class sizes...that is the result of the governor 'protecting education,'" Muratsuchi said during a district board meeting last week. "We need to educate the community, so that when they see class size increases, their favorite teacher getting laid off, and the school year being shortened, that they understand this is all because Sacramento is failing the entire state."

Torrance Unified board members warned that significant cuts - up to $20 million - could be slashed from the district's $188 million budget.

In Manhattan Beach Unified, trustees are looking at cutting up to $6.1 million in spending from the district's budget. Cost-cutting measures could include furlough days and staff layoffs, resulting in larger class sizes and program cuts.

"I don't see $6 million we can cut and still have a functioning school district," said board president Ida VanderPoorte. "I don't know how any school districts can survive if the cuts continue."

The state's ongoing budget crisis will cause further cuts to public education and impact Torrance Unified schools directly, members of the district's Board of Education said Tuesday.

Their comments come about a week after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released his proposed budget and publicly vowed not to cut funding from public education.

"Because our future economic well-being is so dependent upon education, I will protect education funding in this budget. And we can no longer afford to cut higher education either," Schwarzenegger said during his final State of the State address.

Yet the state is looking to save nearly $900 million by cutting back on the popular class-size reduction program.

"When we have to raise K-3 class sizes...that is the result of the governor 'protecting education,'" said school board member Al Muratsuchi during a district board meeting Tuesday."We need to educate the community, so that when they see class size increases, their favorite teacher getting laid off, and the school year being shortened, that they understand this is all because Sacramento is failing the entire state."

Terry Anderson, Senior Director of Legislative Service for School Services of California, commended the district for vigilant fiscal practices in the past.

"Being solvent comes at a price," Anderson said.

Board members warned that significant cuts - up to $20 million - could be slashed from the district's $188 million budget.

Spending for the class-size reduction program could be severly cut.

From California Watch:

In his newly-released proposed budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger projected spending $340 million less than anticipated during the current school year, and $550 million less in the school year beginning in September. Together, the reductions would save the state nearly $900 million.

This would mark a huge rollback of the program that now costs the state about $1.8 billion a year. Since 1996, California has spent about $22 billion on the program, making it the most expensive education reform program in California's history.

The program began in the 90s to, well, reduce class sizes. Initiated by then-governor Pete Wilson, the class-size reduction program was intended to bring K-3 class sizes down to 20 students. A survey done by California Watch, a non-profit journalism project, found that class sizes have increased in public schools across the state.

But a survey by California Watch in the fall found that two-thirds of the state's largest school districts have already raised class sizes, some by a handful of students, and others to as many as 30 students. To yield projected savings of $550 million next year, the Department of Finance is anticipating that the majority of the state's school districts will raise class sizes during the coming year to at least 25 students.

Just days after promising not to cut any more from K-12 schools, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed today to restore some funding to the California State University system. The nation's largest system of higher education has suffered a $625 million loss in state funding the past two years. Schwarzenegger said an additional $60.5 million will be provided this year for enrollment growth. CSU Chancellor Charles Reed lauded the governor for his support in a statement:

"We commend the Governor for his renewed investment in the California State University," Reed said. "If adopted by the Legislature, this budget will allow us to begin restoring student access to our university. In this extremely difficult budget climate, we recognize and very much appreciate the Governor making higher education a priority. Clearly, he understands how important restored budgets for higher education are for jobs and California's economic recovery. We are still faced with challenging circumstances and it will be a slow process as we seek to return to financial stability. This budget will help start us on the path to recovery."

In his State of the State address on Wednesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed to uphold funding for California's public schools. Spending on the state's public schools has been slashed by nearly $18 billion since 2008 and K-12 spending this year still makes up about 37 percent of California's $91.4 billion overall budget, according to Education Week.

Schwarzenegger's comments come as state lawmakers grapple with a $20 billion deficit.