Countywide : Bill on School Funding Goes to Assembly Panel

A bill that would provide $9.8 million to Orange County school districts in an effort to bring their funding closer to the state average made its way to the State Assembly Ways and Means Committee this week.

The bill, AB 194, introduced by Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress), would help close the wide gap in funding that now exists among many school districts despite court decisions and legislative acts that have ordered equal funding of all state schools.

In Orange County, for example, the Orange Unified School District receives $2,776 from the state for every student in the district, while Los Alamitos Unified School District receives $3,213, a $437 difference that translates to $10.6 million that Orange Unified administrators say their district is doing without.

In all, 22 Orange County school districts are below the state average, and coalitions of parents, business leaders and school officials from some of these districts have been organizing to pressure legislators for more money. Allen said she has the backing of 27 Assembly members and has recommended that funds from Proposition 98 be used to provide the $124 million needed to equalize all school districts in California.