There’s a new buzz phrase making the rounds at the state Capitol these days: 98 Envy. “Ninety-eight” as in Proposition 98, California’s constitutional school funding guarantee that will absorb nearly all of this year’s surge in state budget revenues. And “envy” as in, everyone else wishes they had even some of that money. Some lawmakers, like Democratic Senator Holly Mitchell, want to pay for child care programs out of Prop 98. That’s legal, and it’s been done in the past.
“There’s no question in my mind – or anyone else’s, quite frankly – that what we’re talking about, early care and education, is indeed education.”
But school groups say that could eventually take money out of the classroom. Estelle Lemieux is with the California Teachers Association:
“You have the same amount of money with more students to educate or to care for, because child care is not necessarily an education program.”
We’ll see what Governor Brown wants to do later this week when he releases his updated budget proposal.
This story was produced by Capital Public Radio