Schools Could Get $48M in Budget Relief

San Diego Unified schools would get an estimated $48 million more than was earlier feared under a revised budget announced today by Gov. Jerry Brown, spokesman Bernie Rhinerson said today.

That would cut its estimated deficit of $114 million nearly in half, to roughly $66 million. While the governor still has to work out a budget deal with California legislators, the revised plan is what school districts usually base their final budgets on. That means that San Diego Unified could start to cancel planned cuts based on those numbers.

The plan rests on tax extensions and better-than-expected state revenue, the Sacramento Bee and the Los Angeles Times reported. Rhinerson said Brown also spared school districts from covering the costs of mental health services that were previously shouldered by counties.

So when could the school district start to act? The San Diego Unified school board has a workshop scheduled for next Tuesday. School district staff will be combing the budget proposal before then to see if any other cuts or changes impact San Diego Unified, so the exact number could change.

I’ll be chasing down more details on this today, including what services or staff are first in line to avoid the knife in San Diego schools. Got questions? Feel free to send them to me by email or post them here.

Please contact Emily Alpert directly at emily.alpert@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5665 and follow her on Twitter: twitter.com/emilyschoolsyou.