CALIFORNIA BUDGET UPDATES
The California legislature and Governor have reached a tentative budget deal. While this is generally positive news, the proposed budget also has a clause that significantly penalizes charter schools.
Specifically, the budget proposal caps funding in 2020-21 based on how many students schools served in 2019-20. In other words, schools will receive no new funding for every additional student enrolled next school year. The only current exception is for schools that open in 2020-21 for the first time.
This policy violates years of California policy that “dollars should follow kids.” It is unfair, undermines parents’ school choice options, and penalizes schools that are doing well. This cap on funding for growing schools must be changed to allow education dollars to follow students to schools that are succeeding.
Importantly, the Governor recognized the challenge with this provision of the budget and asked the legislature to resolve this issue in his signing letter by saying: “I urge members of the Legislature to pursue targeted solutions to these potential disruptions [to newly enrolled families who might be displaced due to the charter cap], and will work with you in the coming weeks to enact them.”
We will continue to update our community as discussions happen at the state level regarding this important provision of the budget.
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