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Budget presentation preserves core Proposition 98 funding, expands TK and defers some higher‑education payments
Summary
Department of Finance told the Assembly Budget Committee the budget maintains a substantial Proposition 98 guarantee, provides ongoing funding to expand universal transitional kindergarten and includes one‑time deferrals for UC and CSU baseline funding; committee members urged careful use of one‑time dollars given out‑year constraints.
During the Department of Finance presentation, staff outlined major education provisions in the budget agreement and related trailer bills. The presentation cited a Proposition 98 minimum guarantee for 2025–26 of about $114.6 billion and total Proposition 98 appropriations of roughly $118.0 billion.
Key K‑14 and higher education items described in committee
- Universal transitional kindergarten: $2.1 billion ongoing Proposition 98 General Fund to expand TK to all 4‑year‑olds in the 2025–26 school year. - One‑time student support: $1.7 billion one‑time Proposition 98 to support student supports and professional development block grants for local educational agencies. - Literacy and educator pipeline: one‑time appropriations totaling hundreds of millions for literacy instruction, teacher pipeline supports and universal school meals implementation funding. - Higher education deferrals: the budget includes one‑time deferrals equal to a 3% baseline reduction for the University of California ($129.7 million one time, deferred from 2025–26 to 2026–27) and for the California State University ($143.8 million one time). Both systems would receive provisional authority to request short‑term no‑interest cash loans from the General Fund to mitigate cash‑flow impacts.
Why it matters: members welcomed the investments but several raised worries about sustainability and the risk that one‑time measures and deferrals could leave campuses and districts exposed in future years. Assemblymember Alvaro Alvarez said the package is a strong budget for education but cautioned that “the years ahead are going to be challenging” and urged careful use of funding.
Committee follow‑up requests
Members asked for more detail on rollout timelines (for example, school‑meal and TK expansions), vendor accountability for children’s behavioral health contracts and schedule certainty for repayment of deferrals.
Ending: staff said they would provide technical follow‑up and trailer‑bill language to address the operational questions raised by members and reminded the committee that final floor votes were imminent.
