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With eye-popping state revenues feeding an ambitious agenda, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Wednesday multi-year plans for transitional kindergarten for all 4-year-olds, full funding for summer school and after school for 2 million children, hundreds of new service-based community schools and a $2 billion program to set up a $500 college savings account for every low-income child entering public school.
At a press conference at an elementary school in Castroville, outside of Monterey, he called his proposals a “$20 billion blueprint over the next five years for the total transformation” of schools. Even more upbeat, Linda Darling-Hammond, Newsom’s adviser and president of the State Board of Education, characterized the spending as “a set of interlocking interventions and investments that are going to catapult California back to that leadership position (in education) and more important, it will enable all of our children to be on a path to genuine thriving.”
Newsom also reiterated what he has been recently saying: He expects all school districts and charter schools to revert to full-day, in-person instruction in the fall, as they did before the pandemic. Those districts that fail to provide full-day instruction will not be eligible for student funding, according to administration officials who offered a preview of Newsom’s updated state budget for K-12 schools.
Many superintendents have called on Newsom to give districts the option of offering distance learning to families that prefer it and students with medical conditions that require it. While Newsom will not require distance learning as an alternative, districts can offer it under an independent study option that existed before the pandemic, officials said. Newsom said the “trailer bill,” language that amplifies the budget, will provide more details.
Newsom will release his annual May budget revision on Friday.
In January, Newsom presented a proposed 2021-22 budget that itself showed an extraordinary turnaround from the 2020-21 budget that the Legislature passed during the early months of Covid-19, in June 2020. It projected a massive recession and drop in state funding to $70.9 billion for Proposition 98, the portion of the general fund for K-12 schools and community colleges. In order to avoid big cuts in funding, schools and community colleges have had to borrow or dip into savings this year to compensate for $12.5 billion in late state payments, called deferrals.
But the wealthiest 1% of Californians, who pay the bulk of capital gains and personal income taxes, did extraordinarily well over the past year, even as millions of low-wage workers lost jobs and bore the brunt of the pandemic. The Department of Finance now projects Proposition 98 revenue for the current fiscal year will rise nearly one-third to a record $92.8 billion and an additional $900 million to $93.7 billion for 2021-22, which starts July 1.
That’s about $15.2 billion more for funding for K-12 alone than Newsom forecast in January, and his proposed revised spending plan includes a package of proposals intended to improve the learning opportunities and conditions in low-income schools, officials said. The money is in addition to the $25 billion in federal Covid relief funding and the $4.6 billion in state funding that Newsom and the Legislature approved in March primarily to address the immediate impact of the pandemic on low-income children.
Newsom’s proposed budget revision includes:
Other spending highlights include:
Part-time instructors, many who work for decades off the tenure track and at a lower pay rate, have been called “apprentices to nowhere.”
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Nearly a third of the 930 districts statewide that reported data had a higher rate of chronic absenteeism in 2022-23 than the year before.
The move puts the fate of AB 2222 in question, but supporters insist that there is room to negotiate changes that can help tackle the state’s literacy crisis.
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SD Parent 3 years ago3 years ago
More funding for education will only result in better student outcomes if it comes with meaningful accountability. I have watched "local control" implementation since 2013, with LCFF supplemental and concentration grant funds spent largely on across-the-board pay increases, calling it "investing in educators" by the San Diego Unified school board or listed as "recruit and retain educators" in the SDUSD LCAP. Meanwhile, student outcomes have been pretty flat (unless you count "graduation rates" … Read More
More funding for education will only result in better student outcomes if it comes with meaningful accountability. I have watched “local control” implementation since 2013, with LCFF supplemental and concentration grant funds spent largely on across-the-board pay increases, calling it “investing in educators” by the San Diego Unified school board or listed as “recruit and retain educators” in the SDUSD LCAP. Meanwhile, student outcomes have been pretty flat (unless you count “graduation rates” of about 90% but with students whose CAASPP scores indicate that 64% don’t meet standards in Math and 39% don’t meet standards in ELA–meaning that they are unlikely to succeed in college and career post graduation).
As was reported in the San Diego Union Tribune, many school districts in San Diego County are using the stimulus funds to “solve” their budget crises ($155 million for SDUSD) and kick their deficit-spending down the road. “Flush with cash,” some school districts down here are already negotiating another round of employee raises, which does not provide more services to students but increases the cost of all services, raises the unfunded pensions liabilities in CalSTRS and CalPERS, and sets districts up for massive cuts to programs and services when all that extra funding goes away.
Sending more funding to school districts without meaningful accountability is not, in itself, actually investing in student success. I urge the Legislature to create a trailer bill with language that forces all this additional funding to be used on students outcomes by prohibiting pay increases until students have recovered from their learning loss–that is to say, when CAASPP scores exceed pre-pandemic proficiencies.
Better yet, how about school districts make the same commitment to students as they have to employees and really “invest in student achievement”? How about if school districts can only increase employee pay when the percentages of students meeting standards have improved by 10 percentage points over where they were in 2019? Because even before the pandemic, 62% of students weren’t meeting standards in Math and 43% weren’t meeting standards in ELA, and the percentages of students meeting standards have only “improved” by an average of 1% per year since 2014-15. If step–which increases employee pay by 1.5% to 2% per year–is deemed insufficient as a pay increase, why is a 1% increase in student academic progress deemed sufficient?
JudiAU 3 years ago3 years ago
The easiest approach is to reduce administrative positions by 1/3. Increase teacher positions by 1/3. Reduce class size and provide differentiated instruction to each group. Close underperforming schools with low enrollment
Paul Keefer 3 years ago3 years ago
As the governor continues to slosh around California revenues we continue to see lacklustre implementation and results. The governor proposed millions upon millions last year to encourage districts to have students return to school and that fell flat as a pancake. Now the governor is nibbling around the edges so he doesn't have to get between the bargaining units and their boards. All the while CA has one of the highest unemployment rates and … Read More
As the governor continues to slosh around California revenues we continue to see lacklustre implementation and results. The governor proposed millions upon millions last year to encourage districts to have students return to school and that fell flat as a pancake. Now the governor is nibbling around the edges so he doesn’t have to get between the bargaining units and their boards. All the while CA has one of the highest unemployment rates and lowest student achievement nationwide. We should not forget that LAUSD has returned only 7% of it’s students under the governor’s leadership after 14 months of learning loss.
marina williamson 3 years ago3 years ago
I was elated to see Governor Newsom's proposal for universal transitional kindergarten for all 4-year-olds. I've been teaching kindergarten for many years at a low income elementary school with a huge immigrant population. We have offered our community transitional kindergarten for many years now. The positive impact this program has on our population cannot be overstated. These TK students are always our strongest pupils, academically, socially, emotionally, and above all linguistically. … Read More
I was elated to see Governor Newsom’s proposal for universal transitional kindergarten for all 4-year-olds. I’ve been teaching kindergarten for many years at a low income elementary school with a huge immigrant population. We have offered our community transitional kindergarten for many years now.
The positive impact this program has on our population cannot be overstated. These TK students are always our strongest pupils, academically, socially, emotionally, and above all linguistically. For students to go straight from a home environment into an academic kindergarten class without knowing any English is placing enormous demands on them. Imagine trying to learn to read in a foreign language, especially when the parents aren’t able to support the school work because they do not speak English either. TK will give these children that extra year of exposure to the English language, the socialization, the basic skills like cutting, how to hold a pencil, coloring, gluing and so much more. In many other countries, universal daycare is provided by certificated preschool teachers, for children as young as 1 years old. By the time they start kindergarten they are already reading, writing, and counting.
Americans often wonder why other countries outperform our public schools. It’s not a mystery. They have a 2-3 year head start. I’m so happy Newsom is recognizing the value of using those precious first years. Finally something that makes perfect sense.
Yolanda Hankerson 3 years ago3 years ago
What does this mean for preschool teachers and programs?
Erik Kengaard 3 years ago3 years ago
$500 college saving accounts for low-income 1st graders?
Why just low income? Why not all first graders?
el 3 years ago3 years ago
The number 1 thing we can do for the teacher pipeline is to create funding stability so that people who go into teaching know that their new positions will be funded and secure. Once again, at the beginning of this year, there was the threat of layoffs and salary cuts, and this cycle happens with regularity. It is exhausting to watch, let alone to live when you're already making a fairly marginal wage as a … Read More
The number 1 thing we can do for the teacher pipeline is to create funding stability so that people who go into teaching know that their new positions will be funded and secure. Once again, at the beginning of this year, there was the threat of layoffs and salary cuts, and this cycle happens with regularity. It is exhausting to watch, let alone to live when you’re already making a fairly marginal wage as a new teacher. It is a wonder as many talented people sign up for that as it is.