Calif. districts wary in advance of tax vote

Original article in Education Week by Andrew Ujifusa.

Faced with uncertainty about the fate of a tax-hike initiative on California's ballot this November—and the prospect of deep K-12 funding cuts if it fails—the vast majority of school districts are shying away from budget commitments that could fall apart.

The ballot initiative, which is built into the revenue assumptions in the $91 billion state budget and was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown late last month, includes $47.7 billion in spending on K-12, according to the state's Department of Education. The enacted budget assumes that voters will approve an increase in the state sales tax for all residents by a quarter of a cent and an increase in income taxes on individuals earning $250,000 and more annually.

If approved, the new taxes are projected to provide $6 billion in revenues for fiscal 2013, and over the course of the next four years, would equate to an increase of $2,500 in per-student state funding. (Some of the "new" funding from the higher taxes would actually go to the restoration of deferred money from prior years to schools.)

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