Are Walnut Creek's Public Schools Shortchanged in Gov. Brown's New School Funding Proposal?

School officials in Walnut Creek got a picture this week of what Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed new K-12 funding plan will mean for them. In January, Brown said that he wanted the state to give more money to schools with higher numbers of poor students and students learning English.

On Wednesday, the California Department of Finance released funding projections based on Brown’s idea. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Brown’s proposal may forge unusual political alliances as lawmakers in rural districts make common cause with colleagues from urban districts, and Democratic and Republican legislators from the suburbs marshal a united front in opposition to the unequal distribution of money.

Like everything else related to school funding, Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula is complicated, but it essentially awards more money to schools with more poor students, more foster youth, and more students who are still learning English. If the Legislature approves the plan, it would come to full fruition in the 2019-20 school year. No school district would get less than it received this school year.

2019-20 per student revenue

% Increase