6 EDCAL July 17, 2017
BUDGET
Continued from page 3
Career Technical Education
The 2015-16 Budget Act established
the Career Technical Education Incentive
Grant by providing $900 million over a
three-year period with $400 million com-
mitted in 2015-16 (1:1 local match), $300
million in 2016-17 (1.5:1 local match) and
$200 million in 2017-18 (2:1 local match).
While the Assembly suggested $300 mil-
lion in ongoing Proposition 98 funding to
establish the Career Technical Education
Grant Program, as proposed by AB 445
(Cunningham), the adopted budget does
not extend CTE funding beyond the 2017-
18 fiscal year appropriation for existing
grant recipients.
Instead, Assembly member Kevin
McCarty, Chair of the Assembly Budget
Subcommittee on School Finance, indi-
cated during budget deliberations that the
budget committees will be holding infor-
mational hearings this summer and fall
to explore how school districts have been
spending their LCFF funds to support
CTE programs. To the extent these CTE
programs are not being funded at the local
level, Chairman McCarty stated that the
legislature would seek to remedy the issue
in future budget negotiations.
K-12 mandate block grant
ACSA is pleased to see the final budget
includes a Cost-Of-Living-Adjustment of
approximately $3.5 million for the K-12
Mandate Block Grant in 2017-18, as this is
an issue for which we have been advocating
for since earlier this year. While the state
has increased the total block grant fund-
ing when new mandates were added on a
case-by-case basis, the state has not pro-
vided a COLA to allow LEAs to maintain
their purchasing power. The final budget
also includes an additional $8.5 million
for including training of school employee
mandated reporters in the K-12 Mandates
Block Grant, as well as the inclusion of the
CAASPP new computer-based statewide
assessments mandate.
ESS
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Linda said. “I used to fake that I was sick
and stayed away from school for weeks. I
used to put signs on my room door and say,
‘I hate school.’”
Despite the best efforts from educa-
tors, they could not seem to get through to
Linda. She learned Arabic as a young child
and could not read or write in English when
she enrolled in sixth grade at Balboa Middle
School.
“One of Linda’s greatest challenges was
ACSA talks accountability at SBE meeting
ACSA Past President Ralph Porras appeared before the State Board of Education to share feedback from ACSA members on the new state accountability sys-
tem. Porras is the current chair of the association’s Accountability and Continuous Improvement Task Force. Porras urged the board to take a comprehensive
view on all the changes to the system that are under consideration. He said ACSA strongly supports the inclusion of school climate measures as local indica-
tors, as this contributes to a safe school environment. But, Porras shared concerns from the field on the draft recommendations to make climate surveys and
qualitative tools and annual requirement. He said many questions remain to be answered, including how the proposed regional structure would work, the appli-
cation timeline for county offices of education that may wish to serve as regional leads, and the role of the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence
in supporting those regional leads. ACSA has noted the difficulty in getting feedback from the field on a regional structure of support as the draft framework
was released just two weeks prior to the board meeting. Porras also shared that there is overwhelming support from school leaders for ongoing coaching and
mentoring of administrators, and for professional development on the new curriculum frameworks.
Charter school facilities
The adopted budget contains trailer bill
language to increase eligible grant awards
for charter schools participating in the
Charter School Facilities Incentive Grant
Program. The current program allows char-
ter schools to receive a maximum of $750
per unit of Average Daily Attendance, or
up to 75 percent of the annual facilities rent
and lease costs for the charter school. These
changes will increase the eligible amount
to $1,117 per unit of ADA in 2017-18
(adjusted by COLA annually thereafter) or
she hadn’t been able to go to school when
she lived in the United Arab Emirates,”
Balboa Middle School Assistant Principal
Deanna Baczek said. “We figured it to be
about a second grade level for her home
language. And now that she was coming to
a new country, new language, new culture,
new everything.”
There was another reason Linda did not
want to come to school. As a Muslim, she
stood out at Balboa Middle School by wear-
ing her traditional hijab every day. But it did
not stop Linda from wanting to educate her
classmates on her religion and culture.
“Linda has taught more students at this
75 percent of the annual facilities rent and
lease costs for the charter school, whichever
is less.
There are several prominent proposals
that were not incorporated into the