Proposition 98, an amendment to the state Constitution requiring significant spending on K-14 education, altered the California budget through a process called earmarking. The initiative passed by a thin margin in 1988, with 50.7 percent of voters (4,689,737 voting for compared to 4,500,503 voting against) approving at least 40 percent of the budget be spent on elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and the state’s 23 community colleges. According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, a nonpartisan advisor to the state legislature, initial education funding is derived on the prior year and with a year-by-year change based on average, daily K-12 attendance. The Legislature may increase funding to K-14 education; however, any raise resets the minimum funding level in subsequent years. The Legislature also has the power to suspend automatic funding for one year based on the nearly insurmountable two-thirds vote. The affect of earmarking has placed education as the top......
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