Gov. Jerry Brown (Neon Tommy)

Gov. Jerry Brown announced on Thursday that California's $96.6-billion general fund may soon see a surplus due to budget cuts and the expected revenue received from new taxes voted on in November.

"We broke the logjam by going to the people," said Gov. Brown, The L.A. Times reported.

According to The Times:

• Schools will be the big winner in the governor's new spending plan, receiving $56.2 billion in state funds, an increase by $2.7 billion over the last year. That funding is set to jump to more than $66 billion by 2016.
• The budget also dedicated an additional $350 million to the state’s public insurance program, Medi-Cal, to help implement President Obama’s healthcare law.

If all of Brown's proposals are approved by lawmakers, Brown predicted that an $851-million surplus would be possible at the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year, the second budget surplus in the last decade.

Find more Neon Tommy coverage on the California budget here.
Reach Executive Producer Paige Brettingen here. Follow her here.