More Money Could Flow to Schools from the States in Fiscal 2020

An early look at the state budgets being proposed for fiscal 2020 indicates increased funding for education is included in many governors’ proposals, most notably in the U.S. state with the largest population—California.

Education was a key campaign issue for California’s new governor Gavin Newsom, and his first budget proposes more money for PreK through college.

K-12 education spending per pupil in California would rise to $17,160 in fiscal 2020 from $16,857 in fiscal 2019 if the budget is approved. The $17,160 includes $12,003 from Prop 98, the formula that determines how much of the state’s general fund goes to K-12 and community college, and $5,157 from other sources.

California’s proposed budget also includes $576 million in additional funding for special education and $10 million to begin work on a statewide longitudinal student database. There also is a $279,000 increase in funding for the state’s Instructional Quality Commission, which is working on the development of frameworks and model curriculum.

To fund early learning and the well-being of children age 0 to 5, the budget adds $1.8 billion that would in part be used to provide full-day kindergarten for all students and to expand the number of preschool slots for children from low income families.

As of March, 42 state budgets have been proposed and two additional states have proposed amended versions of the two-year budgets they approved for fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2020, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. No fiscal 2020 budgets have been approved to date.

Fiscal 2020 begins July 1, 2019 for 46 states. New York begins fiscal 2019 on April 1, Texas on September 1 and Alabama and Michigan on October 1.

For more information about policy and funding at the federal and state levels, see https://www.simbainformation.com/PreK-Policy-Budget-Outlook-12289357/.