"Avoiding the traditional Democratic tack of pressing for more money for schools, the leader of California’s Senate is instead calling for the state to give schools more control over how they spend state aid, and to direct more money toward impoverished students.
In an interview Friday, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) said he wants to get rid of the dozens of state ‘categorical’ programs that allot money for specific purposes, such as bilingual teacher training and home-to-school transportation.
In the budget he unveiled this month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed spending $36 billion on schools in the fiscal year that begins July 1. That would be $2 billion less than schools are supposed to get under Proposition 98 guarantees.
School boards have claimed that Schwarzenegger reneged on a deal set last year to give schools full funding through Proposition 98, and many Democratic lawmakers also are calling for more money.
But rather than delve into that debate, Perata has announced that the Senate would hold public hearings around the state – including ones on education – in Fresno, Salinas and San Diego as lawmakers try to fashion their own plan for the special legislative session that Schwarzenegger has called.
‘As long as the governor believes we should be funding schools less than we have been . . .’"
Entire article at the Los Angeles Times site http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-reform23jan23,1,4156523.story?coll=la-news-learning&ctrack=1&cset=true