California will receive just under 10% of a 26 billion dollar
funding package passed by Congress.
The state will receive almost 2.5 billion dollars for education and Medi-Cal.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had counted on receiving three hundred million dollars more for his budget projections, meaning now state lawmakers will need to find a way to close that financing gap. Yet, H.D. Palmer, with the California Department of Finance, says Schwarzenegger is pleased with the package.
"[Governor Schwarzenegger] also believes that California taxpayers have been shortchanged by the federal government in a number of programs, including Medicaid, and this is funding is a good down payment on what we are owed," Palmer says.
The Congressional budget office estimates some 16,000 teachers in the state will keep their jobs because of the funding. And state officials say the twenty percent of Californians covered by Medi-Cal will continue to receive services uninterrupted.
