A preview of the budget

Each year around this time, we do our version of spring cleaning by tidying up our finances, looking at what we’ll need to budget for in the year to come, and then allocating our funds so they reflect our goals and priorities for student achievement. Like the past few years, we have some good news and some bad about the 2016-17 budget.

The good news is that Governor Brown’s proposed budget for 2016-17 includes slightly more funding for K-12 schools, and we’re receiving more money per pupil through the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The bad news is that we’re still not back to pre-Recession levels of funding.

The largest share of the increased funding of $20 million is committed to existing and ongoing expenditures, with $11.7 million earmarked for employee salary raises and benefits cost increases, and another $4.1 million going to increases in teachers’ pensions. We’re also allocating nearly $10 million to strategic priorities, which include a $4.5 million increase in direct funding to school sites, and additional funding going to reduced class sizes in 8th grade math, the African American Achievement and Leadership Initiative, expanding our multilingual pathways and world language offerings, upgrading our technology for the 21st century, and professional development for teachers.

After Governor Brown releases his revised budget in May, we will come out with our recommended budget and Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP). The Board of Education will then adopt the new 2016-17 budget at the end of June.

For updates on the budget as they come out, go to www.sfusd.edu/budget.

• Budget presentation from the School Planning Retreat