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Education Protection Act (Prop 30) Overview
EDUCATION PROTECTION ACCOUNT
Proposition 30
Proposition 30 approved by California Voters in November, 2012 created the Education Protection Account and included two temporary tax increases:
- A 0.25% increase in the sales and use tax for four years:
2013 through 2016
- An increase in the income tax rate for taxable incomes of over $250,000 for seven years: 2012 through 2018
The revenues from these tax increases are deposited into the EPA and the funds are released to K-14 school agencies. For 2012-2013 it was all distributed to local agencies at the end of June. 2013-2014 through 2018-2019, the EPA funds will be issued to local school agencies in 25% increments at the end of each quarter: September, December, March and June.
To be clear, EPA funds are not additional funds for local school agencies. Rather, the EPA is another source of general purpose funds—similar to local property taxes—that offsets what would otherwise be state aid in the apportionments issues to local school agencies.
Even though these are general purpose funds, there are some requirements that must be met. Each year local school agencies are required to discuss the plan to spend EPA funds in a public meeting of the governing board and the funds cannot be used for administrative costs. Each year schools are required to post on its website a report of the amount of EPA funds received for the year and how the funds were used.
