California Gov. Jerry Brown recommended Thursday to boost education spending by $5.4 billion. The increased spending is the result of more than expected tax revenue generated from the state’s sales and income taxes.
Brown proposes the state spend more than $71.1 billion of the state’s $122.6 billion budget on its 6 million students that attend more than 10,000 schools across the state.
The state’s per pupil spending will rise another $368 to $10,591. In 2007, during the recession, the state spent just $7,008 per student.
Gov. Brown recommends, among other things, more spending for the state’s pre-K, career tech, and English-language learner programs and advises that the legislature spend more money to update aging school facilities.
Read the full budget proposal here.
Across the country, economists predict states will have plenty more money to spend on education this year as property value has stabilized. Governors are expected in the coming weeks to propose budgets that slowly refill education budgets that were slashed during the recession.
The exception will be eight states that heavily depend on oil revenue. Those states, (Alaska, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, North Dakota, Wyoming, and West Virginia) are expected to make major cuts or pull money from their rainy day accounts to make up for budget shortfalls.