The total of $128.3 billion proposed for K-12 education in 2022-23 is “a number you’ve never seen before in California,” the governor said. He announced an average per-pupil spending of $16,991, and including all funding sources, that number jumps to $22,850. A decade ago, per-pupil funding in California was only about $7,000, Newsom said.

Proposed investments include $2.1 billion to the Local Control Funding Formula base and a total of $3.3 billion to Local Education Agencies for COVID-19 attendance relief. The attendance relief proposal, a top priority for ACSA advocates this year, would use the attendance percentage generated by an LEA in 2019-20, rather than basing apportionment on this year’s volatile attendance.

“We’re blending a more appropriate average … and softening that impact,” Newsom said.

The revised budget proposes increasing the cost-of-living adjustment from 5.33 percent in January to 6.56 percent. The COLA will extend to categorical programs such as special education and adult education. Another top item in the proposed education budget is an allocation of $3.9 billion for school facilities over the next three years to be used for modernization and construction. This is in addition to a one-time $1.8 billion in funding to address maintenance and energy-efficiency upgrades.

The Newsom administration announced $8 billion in a one-time discretionary block grant for LEAs to use on a per-pupil basis. The administration gave broad parameters for LEAs in order to give them more flexibility in how to use the money.

One ACSA priority that did not make it into the revised budget was pension relief for LEAs.

“If there is no pension relief provided by the state, the incredible investments in LCFF will be largely eroded by pension obligations,” ACSA advocates wrote in their budget analysis.

One of Newsom’s more passionate moments during the budget presentation came when he compared California’s investments in education to the actions of other states.

“Some governors, their big idea of education reform is what you can’t say in a classroom … or banning books because they use the word ‘social-emotional,’” he said. “That’s what all the time and attention goes to. That’s not education.”

ACSA advocates will continue to work with Newsom’s administration and the state Legislature to negotiate the budget up until the June 15 statutory deadline.