Berkeley Adult School blog

On May 16, 2011, Governor Brown unveiled his May Revision to the State Budget.  In his presentation of the May Revision, the Governor focused on three key issues:  1) he continued to make the case that even with an increase in new revenue, California still has a significant budgetary shortfall and an extension of the current taxes set to expire is still needed; 2) he committed $3 billion of the new revenues to Proposition 98 and directed them to reduce a small portion of the deferrals; and 3) he intends to stay the course he began in January of ensuring passage of a balanced approach to solving the state’s budget problems.   

Prop 98 is a constitutional amendment approved by voters in November 1988 and amended by Proposition 111 in 1990. The four provisions are: 1) a guarantee of minimum funding for K-12 schools and community colleges based on a specific calculation; 2) an allocation to K-14 education of 50% of the difference when state tax revenues exceed the Gann spending limit, with the remaining 50% rebated to taxpayers; 3) annual School Accountability Report Cards (SARCs) with at least 13 specific items for each school; and 4) a "prudent" state budget reserve. With a two-thirds vote of the Legislature and signature of the governor, Proposition 98 may be suspended for one year.

That said, Berkeley Adult School will raise fees to be more in-line with other adult education classes and consolidate some programming where duplication exists, targeting net savings of $90,000 (even better than the original Scenario A), which will contribute to a District budget shortfall (due to ending ARRA funds) of $700,000. We are feeling a huge sense of relief as we had been preparing for Scenario B, which called for over $1M in reductions. Now we follow through with plans for the 2011-12 school year and we are excited to serve our community.