Special education, educator recruitment and vaping were a few key topics featured in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $222.2 billion proposed state budget released Jan. 10. Of the $222.2 billion, the governor proposed spending $84 billion to fund the Proposition 98 guarantee, with an additional $819 million anticipated due to adjustments in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 minimum guarantees. Within that funding scope, Newsom proposed allocations for new programs, as well as bolstering existing ones. Early in his press conference, Newsom announced a $1.2 billion increase for the Local Control Funding Formula. The increase reflects a 2.29 percent cost-of-living adjustment for educators, bringing total LCFF funding to $64 billion. The governor did not propose supplemental pension payments for educators, noting that last year the administration approved a $3.15 billion one-time General Fund payment to CalPERS and CalSTRS. However, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said he would seek additional pension fund payments this year. Newsom highlighted new proposals for special education, noting the need for significant changes. “The special education issue in the state of California is a crisis, and it’s a real shame,” Newsom said. “We’re better than that, and we’re going to do better than we have in the past.” Newsom proposes eliminating the current model and replacing it with a formula that would use a three-year rolling average of local education agency average daily attendance. With that model, special education base funding would increase by $645 million, of which $152 million is a continuation of a prior year budget allocation. Newsom also proposed an additional $250 million in ongoing Prop. 98 contributions for districts based on the number of children aged 3 to 5 years old with exceptional needs served. Finally, the governor said he intended to establish workgroups to study special education governance, accountability and funding distribution models. Newsom proposed $900 million for educator recruitment and training in “high-need subjects and high-need areas.” The funds would be used for a few new grant programs and to provide $20,000 teacher stipends for credentialed teachers who complete four years of teaching service in high-need areas. In addition, $64.1 million would fund grants for local education agencies to recruit non-certificated school employees to become certificated classroom teachers. Newsom also addressed the youth vaping epidemic with a proposed $2 tax for each 40 milligrams of nicotine, which would be similar to existing taxes for tobacco products. Tax revenues would be used for administration, enforcement, youth prevention and health care workforce programs. While the initial budget proposal provides insight into the administration’s priorities, the Legislature will continue negotiating the final funding during the next several months leading to the budget’s enactment. ACSA advocates will work hard to ensure students’ best interests are represented in the negotiations. .