400 schools

Despite the passage of Healthy Families, there are still plenty of reminders of how fragile the state budget remains. Compromises made to get it passed will have long-term effects on the state.

According to information from the office of state Sen. Gloria Romero of Los Angeles, 139 of California’s lowest-performing schools will lose big because of budget compromises. A complicated funding swap cut $402 million from the Quality Education Investment Act. State legislators expected that the funding would be made up from federal Title I funds.

But it turns out that most of the schools that were eligible for QEIA funds are not eligible for the federal funds. More than 400 schools, including some in Sacramento, are just out of luck—and money. Sen. Romero is working on ways to restore funding, but this should be another lesson to state legislators: Stop juggling funds and playing budget games. Raise the money we need to keep our schools and social programs going. Start by taxing energy production, especially oil drilling.