State’s I-Bank gets tapped for more than infrastructure

With the Vallejo School District on the brink of bankruptcy, the state used some bookkeeping acrobatics to keep the school district in business — and prevent the bill from showing up on the state’s books. The Legislature and the governor used loans from the state’s Infrastructure Bank — which is supposed to be used for projects like roads, sewers and transit projects — to pay for the day-to-day operations of the struggling school district. color palette

The move came during the closing days of last year’s budget negotiations, as Democrats and Republicans struggled to make the out-of-whack state budget appear balanced on paper. The loans were arranged in such a way as to make it look as if there was new money coming into the state