By John Fensterwald

Gov. Jerry Brown pointed to significant increases in K-12 spending over the past four years and the state’s leadership in returning schools to local control during his annual State of the State address Thursday in which he emphasized the need for frugality and a continued attention to “how we pay for the commitments we have already made.” (Go here for full text of the address.)

With education a relatively small theme in his 20-minute speech, Brown called on legislators to direct their attention to repairing “our deteriorating infrastructure,” taking further action to confront the state’s water shortage and paying for escalating costs and increased health-care coverage under the state’s Medi-Cal program. He has submitted proposals for all three issues.

In a section on education, Brown credited a strong economy and the passage of temporary taxes under Proposition 30 for a 51 percent overall increase in spending on public schools and community colleges over the last four years. Spending would rise from post-recession low point of $47 billion to $72 billion in the proposed 2016-17 budget. Brown has directed most of the money to the Local Control Funding Formula, which channels extra money to English learners and low-income children “to enable educators to overcome the barriers” that these children face,%

via Brown praises return to local control in State of the State | EdSource.