08/01/2022
Significant Educational Investments in the 2022-2023 State Budget
Earlier this month, we shared a brief update regarding the Governor’s approval of the 2022-23 State Budget. We noted three major victories for classified employees in the state budget:
Transportation Funding: $637 million Prop 98 General Fund dollars to reimburse 60% of local educational agencies’ (LEAs) home-to-school transportation (HTST) costs and a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for the HTST Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) add-on;
Low-Emission School Buses: $1.5 billion one-time Prop 98 General Fund dollars for LEAs to replace heavy-duty internal combustion school buses with low-emission school buses; and
Classified Summer Assistance: $90 million ongoing Prop 98 General Fund dollars for the TK-12 Classified School Employee Summer Assistance Program (CSESAP) and $10 million ongoing Prop 98 General Fund dollars to expand CSESAP to community colleges.
We also shared that the budget provided a statutory 6.56% COLA – the largest in four decades! In total, Prop 98 is increasing by 17% percent from last year's enacted budget compared to this year’s. This COLA applies to both the LCFF and Student Centered Funding Formula (SCFF). On top of the COLA, both formulas received base increases. In total, the LCFF received $8.4 billion ongoing Prop 98 General Fund dollars and the SCFF received $1.1 billion ongoing Prop 98 General Fund dollars.
There were other significant investments in the state budget for both TK-12 education and community colleges that were not included in our initial analysis. Please see some of those highlights below.
TK-12 Major Investments
LCFF Stabilization: School districts will now get to choose the higher average daily attendance (ADA) number – whether it is current year ADA, prior year ADA, or the average of the last three prior years’ ADA – and be funded at that higher number.
Learning Recovery Block Grant: $7.9 billion one-time Prop 98 General Fund dollars for the purposes of learning recovery in response to COVID-19 impacts to student learning and wellbeing.
School Facilities: $1.4 billion in Proposition 51 Bond Fund dollars and $4.2 billion in state General Fund dollars to support school construction projects.
Discretionary Block Grant: $3.6 billion one-time Prop 98 General Fund discretionary dollars that can be spent on professional development related to school climate, operational costs (including retirement and healthcare costs increase), pandemic response, and/or instructional materials.
Expanded Learning Opportunities Program: $3 billion ongoing Prop 98 General Fund dollars, on top of the $1 billion ongoing investment in the 2021-22 state budget, for after school and summer options for all students.
Universal School Meals: $1.2 billion ongoing Prop 98 General Fund dollars to enhance the reimbursement rates for school meals.
Community Schools: $1.1 billion one-time Prop 98 General Fund dollars for the California Community School Partnership Program.
Universal Transitional Kindergarten: $997 million ongoing Prop 98 General Fund dollars to expand transitional kindergarten eligibility and to reduce the adult-to-student ratio in transitional kindergarten classrooms.
Special Education: $772 million ongoing Prop 98 General Fund dollars for special education in the form of a COLA increase and a base rate increase to $820 per ADA.
Community College Major Investments
Deferred Maintenance and Instructional Equipment: $841 million one-time Prop 98 General Fund dollars for facilities maintenance and instructional equipment.
Learning Recovery Block Grant: $650 million one-time Prop 98 General Fund dollars to assist with mental health needs, investments to close the digital divide, and other COVID-19 related support. As a condition of receiving funds, college districts must report to the Chancellor’s Office metrics on the provision of employer-sponsored health insurance for part-time faculty.
CCC Recruitment and Retention: $150 million one-time Prop 98 General Fund dollars to support efforts to increase student retention rates and enrollment.
SCFF Hold Harmless: A college district’s funding level at the end of school year 2024-25 will now become its new funding floor. This coincides with the expirations of the previous hold harmless protection. What this means is that starting in the 2025-26 school year, college districts will be funded at their SCFF generated amount that year or their hold harmless funding floor of 2024-25, whichever is higher. SCFF rates will continue to receive a COLA in subsequent years, but the hold harmless funding floor level will not.
CCC Common Course Numbering System Implementation: $105 million one-time Prop 98 General Fund dollars to support the systemwide implementation of a common course numbering system.
The state budget also expanded public employers’ obligations for New Employee Orientation (NEO). Specifically, the expanded obligations are:
The exclusive representative is entitled to schedule an in-person meeting at the worksite during employment hours, if a public employer has not conducted an in-person new employee orientation within 30-days of the hire.
Newly hired employees are relieved of their duties to attend the meeting.
During the meeting, the exclusive representative is allowed to communicate with the newly hired employees for up to 30 minutes on paid time.
Employers must provide appropriate on-site meeting space within seven calendar days of receiving a request from the exclusive bargaining representative.
Alternative access to NEOs can be determined through mutual agreement between the employer and the exclusive representative.
These expanded obligations are effective between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2025.
CAUTION: This Legislature is working on clean-up budget bills in August that may affect these items.
