Photo by Andreas Demmelbauer courtesy of Creative Commons

While California’s university system is undergoing rigorous cutbacks, the state’s K-12 schools are planning on building and adding jobs.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s new budget calls for a cut of $500 million from the University of California system and another $500 million from California State universities.  Those cuts total about 15 percent of their funding. Meanwhile, K-12 schools are experiencing a cut of less than 1 percent in their general funding.

“While the economy can and has been unpredictable, [the Los Angeles Unified School District] staff believes that any significant change in the economic environment that could resulting the need for more reserves would not occur for several years,” said a board of education report released by LAUSD officials Wednesday.

LAUSD has outlined a plan that they say will create nearly 10,000 jobs over the next seven years and include the installation of solar panels on many LAUSD buildings and schools. The new solar installations are expected to generate about 17 megawatts of electricity, providing an estimated $94 million in savings during a span of 20 years.

Not everyone is pleased with the new plans for the installation of solar panels. Students and parents of students attending Dwyer Middle School in Huntington Beach rallied Thursday to protest the placement of solar panels on a lawn that students frequently use.  However, students have said that they want the solar panels, just in another location, according to an article in the Daily Pilot.

In 20 years, at $94 million in general fund savings, the solar panels will come close to having paid for the $100 million in funding used to install them, LAUSD says. Funding for the solar installations is provided by bond financing. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, properly installed and maintained solar (photovoltaic) systems can last longer than 30 years.

Reach reporter Braden Holly here.