Education finance: Education Equalization Act: Equalization Reserve Account.

Senator Cortese's education finance proposal would establish an Equalization Reserve Account in California's General Fund to provide supplemental funding for non-basic aid school districts, which rely on state funding rather than local property tax revenues to meet their base educational needs.

The account would receive automatic transfers from the General Fund in years when the state's constitutionally-required education funding increases. The transfer amount would match funds moved to the Public School System Stabilization Account that year. Non-basic aid districts, defined as those receiving state funding apportionments in any of the previous three fiscal years, would be eligible for additional per-pupil funding from the account through legislative appropriation.

The measure's implementation depends on voter approval of a constitutional amendment that would exclude these funds from state appropriations limits and minimum education funding calculations. The amendment must also require the Legislature to allocate a percentage of the account's funds each year to increase per-pupil funding in eligible districts. Any interest earned on money in the account would be retained for the same purpose.