Buried deep in the Mercury News article about Jerry Brown's chatter on the next state budget is this little gem
And the state's new $15-an-hour minimum wage will be phased in for many on the state payroll over the next few years. So the administration anticipates a shortfall of $4 billion by 2019 -- or worse if the economy slides back into recession.
Did our legislators know that there would be a lot of state workers getting the bump to 15 bucks an hour? Of course they did. Does the public know how many? Nope. So the budget is smaller because there is less OPM (Other Peoples' Money) to go around yet expenses are going up like
One spending increase touted by Brown on Friday was his administration's investment in K-12 schools and community colleges. The revised spending plan increases state funding per student to more than $10,500 -- an increase of $3,600 compared with 2011-12.
If you do the math (correctly) that is a 52-plus percent increase in five years for schools and community colleges. Wow!
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