Assembly Democrats want to use $10 billion out of a projected $30 billion surplus to repair and expand K-12 school facilities to accommodate new transitional kindergarten and community schools approved in 2021.
The California Department of Education admitted to mismanaging $187 million for 547 private schools that had applied and were approved for the first round of Emergency Assistance for Non-Public Schools.
Without better oversight, state education officials won't know if local school districts are misapplying the money or wisely using the massive, unprecedented aid, California State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote in an audit.
School districts on average are directing only 55 cents of every dollar of extra funding from the Local Control Funding Formula to the schools that high-needs students who generate the money attend.
Gov. Newsom and legislators had hoped to lengthen the school year in 2021-22, which they saw as critical to meet the extra emotional needs of students, particularly low-income, foster and homeless children caused by the pandemic.
Newsom proposes to add $1.1 billion annually to the formula to enable those districts to hire more staff for "concentration" school districts, where more than 2 million low-income children and English learners are enrolled.
