CSBA President Applauds Focus of Governor’s 2020-21 Budget While Calling for Increased Investment to Address California’s Education Funding Crisis
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Jan. 10, 2020) – Gov. Gavin Newsom today unveiled a 2020-21 state budget proposal that makes a strong investment in public education, directing $3.4 billion in new revenue toward public schools. As impressive as that figure sounds, it is a modest increase that falls far short of the funding needed to provide all California students with a high-quality education. The Getting Down to Facts II project, which assembled the nation’s top education scholars to research California’s preK-12 schools, determined the state would have to allocate an additional $26 billion annually in order to educate all students to the state standards.
“We applaud Gov. Newsom’s responsiveness to the concerns of elected school board members and his attentiveness to the important issues facing our public schools,” said California School Boards Association President Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez. “We appreciate that the Governor’s 2020-21 budget proposal takes steps toward addressing those concerns, particularly with an additional focus on teacher preparation, community schools and funding for early intervention programs in special education. We will continue to work with the Governor to help secure the more dramatic investment in public schools needed to grapple with California’s education funding crisis.”
On a cost-adjusted basis, California ranks 38th nationally in school funding. The state funds schools at $2,475 per student below the national average and $7,153 per student below the average of the top 10 states.
“While California’s school funding ranked in the top five nationally as recently as the 1970s, we’ve fallen behind the rest of the country in this regard,” Cruz-Gonzalez said. “Given our wealth and the high need of our student population, California’s investment in schools should be among the nation’s highest. It’s past time to provide Full and Fair Funding for public schools so every student has a chance to thrive in college, career and civic life.”
CSBA is a nonprofit association representing nearly 1,000 PreK-12 school districts
and county offices of education throughout California.
www.csba.org