Education Finance Video

Public school financing in California is extremely complex and frequently controversial. The San Carlos School District budget is severely limited by the current economic crisis in the state, and laws and regulations that were enacted more than a generation ago.

Adjusted for inflation, California invests less on education now than at any point since or during the Great Depression.

San Carlos School District Board Member Seth Rosenblatt explains in the following video how K-12 education funding in California works. This presentation reviews the recent history of education finance in the state, including relevant propositions and court cases that have shaped the current system. The presentation also reviews the relationship between the local school districts and the state government as well as the choices faced by school districts in difficult economic times. This presentation was recorded April 2010. (Since that time, there has been one update, which is that in November 2010, California voters approved a proposition which removed the requirement that 2/3 of state legislators need to vote to pass a budget — however 2/3 are still required for a tax increase.)