An agreement between Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature that reduces the state’s budget shortfall by about $17.3 billion will also cut hundreds of millions from the state’s public school facilities.
Among the cuts is a $500 million reduction in the School Facility Aid Program, which provides funds to school districts for construction, deferred maintenance and emergency repairs.
The reductions cut the facility program’s budget from $875 million to $375 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
The new agreement also delays $550 million in facilities grants to build or remodel classrooms for preschool, transitional kindergarten and kindergarten until the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Newsom’s 2023–24 fiscal year budget also pledged to give both the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems a 5 percent annual boost in funding for the next five years if they worked toward improving graduation and enrollment rates, particularly among California residents.
With the pledged increases, state funding amounted to $216 million for UC and $227 million for CSU for the current fiscal year, which started last July.
However, the agreement defers $500 million in pledged funds to UC and CSU, and it cuts $300 million in promised funding from UCLA’s Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy Project.
