EdBrief Home | Legislation & Advocacy
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EdBrief Home | Legislation & Advocacy |
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Senate Passes Deferral Clean Up Legislation Last month, the Governor signed into law AB8x5 which set out a host of deferrals for K-12, community colleges and other local governments. The deferrals contained in the bill were intended to help state government cope with cash flow problems and avoid higher state-level borrowing costs and the issuance of more IOUs. While these deferrals help the state address its cash flow problems, they do the exact opposite for school districts and other local governments by forcing these institutions to borrow more money for short-term loans, and reducing their available general fund dollars... John Pérez Sworn In as Assembly Speaker, Reflects on Education in Inaugural Remarks The new Speaker of the California Assembly – John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) was sworn in on Monday. His inaugural speech as Speaker did not contain a much in the way of policy statements relating to K-12 education, but it did include some personal recollections from his experience as a teenage high school student visiting the State Capitol, and working on homework with help from his father, who had a sixth-grade education. Here are some highlights drawn from those remarks... Governor Taps Reiss as Secretary of Education A newly released survey from the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the appointment of Bonnie Reiss as Secretary of Education on Tuesday. “Bonnie Reiss is a dynamic and driven advocate for public education in California. She is a proven ally in upholding the academic standards that make our public university system the best in the world,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “I am confident that as Secretary of Education, Bonnie will fight to expand the educational opportunities available to all of our students... Bills on the Move ... 
This week is all about the budget. After filling a $2 billion gap in the budget – out of $20 billion – earlier in the week, lawmakers looked to other fixes for the remaining funds. Up for debate are adjustments to state lottery revenues, funding deferrals to K-12 and higher education, and a complex gas tax swap. Here is a breakdown of the bills related to these issues. Finance AB 142 (Hayashi) California State Lottery. Survey Finds Voters Want K-12 Schools Funded A newly released survey from the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of California found that most Californians would be willing to pay higher taxes to maintain current funding for public schools, and most favor spending cuts in prisons and corrections. The survey also found that Californians are feeling gloomy about the economy and pessimistic about the state’s direction. Their approval ratings for the governor (30 percent) and Legislature (18 percent) are near record lows... Bills on the Move ...
As the February 19th deadline for introducing bills approached, Legislators crammed hundreds of new bills into the Senate and Assembly. While the focus in the coming months will almost certainly remain fixed on the budget deficit, plenty of education issues are floating around for debate as well. Here are a few of the more interesting bills to keep an eye on this year. Finance AB 1851 (Norby) Education finance: inflation adjustment to revenue limits. |
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