Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Poorest Americans Dealt Biggest Blow Under Senate Republican Tax Package

12 hours ago

Trump Vowed to Dismantle MS-13. His Deal With Bukele Threatens That Effort.

15 hours ago

Ukraine Voices Concern as US Halts Some Missile Shipments

15 hours ago

Poll: Most Americans Say National Divide, Political Violence Threaten Democracy

16 hours ago

Paramount Settles With Trump Over ‘60 Minutes’ Interview for $16 Million

16 hours ago

Republicans Tee up House Vote on Trump Bill, Outcome Uncertain

16 hours ago

What’s Next for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs After His Sex Trafficking Trial?

16 hours ago

Dalai Lama Says He Will Be Reincarnated, Trust Will Identify Successor

17 hours ago
California’s School Crisis Gets Short Shrift
By admin
Published 3 years ago on
January 11, 2022

Share

 

California has no shortage of critical issues – pandemic, water, housing and chronic poverty to name a few.

None, however, is more important to the state’s economic and societal future than shortcomings in its immense, 6 million-student public school system.

California’s Wide Learning Gaps

Even before COVID-19 struck the state two years ago, California’s overall standing in nationwide tests of academic achievement were embarrassingly low and the learning gap separating poor and English-learner students from their more privileged peers was embarrassingly wide.

Dan Walters

CalMatters

Opinion

The pandemic has made those negative conditions even worse, as the latest set of state academic tests underscores.

The “Smarter Balanced” tests of English skills and mathematics were suspended in 2020 as the schools closed their doors and shifted, rather clumsily, to distance learning. Last spring, the tests resumed but fewer than a quarter of 3.1 million students in grades 3-8 took them due to spotty attendance.

Nevertheless, the sample was large enough to reveal that learning took a beating and Black and Latino students fell further behind white and Asian kids. High school graduation rates also declined, with those of Black and Latino students dropping the most.

Fewer than half of those tested met the standard in English language tests and scarcely a third did in mathematics.

Pandemic Worsened Disparity

The declines were not surprising because the students who needed help the most had the least access to online tools and their families were hit the hardest, both in medical and financial terms, as the pandemic surged.

The education system’s woes go beyond poor academic achievement, however. Enrollment was already drifting downward due to demographic factors, such as plummeting birthrates, and many local school systems were feeling the pinch because state aid was based on attendance.

Enrollment has declined even more in the last two years due to the pandemic, but the state continued to award state aid based on pre-pandemic data. That hold-harmless gesture is now ending, unless renewed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature, with negative consequences for many school systems, even though surging state revenues have resulted in large overall increases in state aid.

Change in Funding Formula Proposed

newly introduced bill would change the current practice of basing state aid on attendance to one based on enrollment, thus giving schools money for kids that aren’t in the classroom. The legislation would, it’s been estimated, provide schools with an extra $3 billion a year, or roughly $500 per student.

Although the bill would require schools to spend at last half of the extra money on battling truancy, there’s no penalty for failing to bring the missing kids back into the classroom, which could exacerbate the already serious gap between enrollment and attendance.

With these festering problems, educators looked forward to Newsom’s proposed 2022-23 budget, which he unveiled on Monday.

Newsom didn’t ignore education but neither did he place it on his list of the most important issues – COVID-19, homelessness, crime, climate change and the cost-of-living – the budget addresses.

Deepening Achievement Crisis

Basically, the budget would give schools their constitutionally required share of state revenues, raising per-pupil spending to nearly $21,000 a year from all sources, and provide local systems some relief from the impacts of declining enrollment. State aid would be based on a three-year average of attendance, rather than one year.

Nothing in the budget, however, directly acknowledges the deepening achievement crisis. It continues the Capitol’s long-standing and unproven assumption that spending more money will make the achievement gap disappear. But as per-pupil education spending more than doubled over the last decade the school system’s embarrassing shortcomings became, if anything, more pronounced.

About the Author

Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times. For more columns by Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

House Republicans Say They Expect to Vote Tonight on Trump’s Tax-Cut Bill

DON'T MISS

San Luis Obispo’s Madre Fire Grows to 8,300 Acres, Prompts Evacuations

DON'T MISS

SLO Deputies Fatally Shoot Man in Los Osos Weeks After US Marshal Impersonation Arrest

DON'T MISS

Madera County Deputy Injured, Wanted Felon Arrested After Violent Struggle

DON'T MISS

San Luis Obispo County Wildfire Burns More Than 3,000 Acres. No Containment Yet

DON'T MISS

Wired Wednesday: Why Is State Lawmaker Taking Aim at Rooftop Solar?

DON'T MISS

Two Visalia Men Sentenced in 2021 Motel Killing

DON'T MISS

Ex-Jan. 6 Defendant Gets Life in Prison for Plot to Kill FBI Agents

DON'T MISS

Del Monte Files for Bankruptcy. Gets Nearly $1B to Keep Producing Through Process

DON'T MISS

Who is Running for Fresno Area Offices in 2026? An Updated Look

UP NEXT

Dear Mayor and City Council, Fresno’s Housing Bottlenecks Are a Modern Form of Redlining

UP NEXT

A Path Forward on Immigration Reform That Strengthens America

UP NEXT

Israel Faces Genocide Accusations Amid Gaza Food Aid Killings

UP NEXT

I Detest Netanyahu, but on Some Things He’s Actually Right

UP NEXT

Much of LA’s Community of Immigrants Is Hiding, Leaving a Hole in the Fabric of the City

UP NEXT

Things Netanyahu Might Say if Injected With Truth Serum

UP NEXT

California Politicians Ignore Ag’s Troubles, but Boost Movie Business

UP NEXT

Trump’s Courageous and Correct Decision to Bomb Iran

UP NEXT

How the Attacks on Iran Are Part of a Much Bigger Global Struggle

UP NEXT

Groceries Are Now a Luxury. So Is Breathing.

Madera County Deputy Injured, Wanted Felon Arrested After Violent Struggle

9 hours ago

San Luis Obispo County Wildfire Burns More Than 3,000 Acres. No Containment Yet

9 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: Why Is State Lawmaker Taking Aim at Rooftop Solar?

10 hours ago

Two Visalia Men Sentenced in 2021 Motel Killing

10 hours ago

Ex-Jan. 6 Defendant Gets Life in Prison for Plot to Kill FBI Agents

10 hours ago

Del Monte Files for Bankruptcy. Gets Nearly $1B to Keep Producing Through Process

11 hours ago

Who is Running for Fresno Area Offices in 2026? An Updated Look

11 hours ago

CIA Review Finds Flaws but Does Not Dispute Finding Putin Sought to Sway 2016 Vote to Trump

11 hours ago

Poorest Americans Dealt Biggest Blow Under Senate Republican Tax Package

12 hours ago

Check Out Newest Downtown Mural. It’s a Spectacular Tribute to Fresno Artisans

12 hours ago

House Republicans Say They Expect to Vote Tonight on Trump’s Tax-Cut Bill

WASHINGTON – Republicans in the House of Representatives on Wednesday struggled to pass President Donald Trump’s massive tax-cut...

9 hours ago

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks to the press, as Republican lawmakers struggle to pass U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 2, 2025. (Reuters/Annabelle Gordon)
9 hours ago

House Republicans Say They Expect to Vote Tonight on Trump’s Tax-Cut Bill

The Madre Fire in San Luis Obispo County has rapidly expanded to 8,396 acres with no containment, prompting evacuation orders and warnings near New Cuyama. (CalFire)
9 hours ago

San Luis Obispo’s Madre Fire Grows to 8,300 Acres, Prompts Evacuations

Andrew Biscay, 40, was arrested Friday, June 20, 2025, after deputies found him with a fake U.S. Marshal’s badge, homemade firearm, and law enforcement-style gear during a warrant arrest. (Madera County SO)
9 hours ago

SLO Deputies Fatally Shoot Man in Los Osos Weeks After US Marshal Impersonation Arrest

On Tuesday, July 1, 2025, a Madera County sheriff’s deputy was injured while trying to arrest a wanted felon, Felix Adrian Nucamendi Carrasco, 40, who later fled and was captured near Raymond Road. (Madera County SO)
9 hours ago

Madera County Deputy Injured, Wanted Felon Arrested After Violent Struggle

A wildfire dubbed the Madre Fire has burned over 3,300 acres near New Cuyama with 0% containment, officials said Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (CalFire)
9 hours ago

San Luis Obispo County Wildfire Burns More Than 3,000 Acres. No Containment Yet

10 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: Why Is State Lawmaker Taking Aim at Rooftop Solar?

Jose Luna (left), 33, and Ralph Grajeda, 45, both of Visalia, have been sentenced for their roles in the 2020 shotgun killing of Robert Soto at a local motel. (Tulare County DA)
10 hours ago

Two Visalia Men Sentenced in 2021 Motel Killing

A U.S. Justice Department logo or seal showing Justice Department headquarters, known as "Main Justice," is seen behind the podium in the Department's headquarters briefing room before a news conference with the Attorney General in Washington, January 24, 2023. (Reuters File)
10 hours ago

Ex-Jan. 6 Defendant Gets Life in Prison for Plot to Kill FBI Agents

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend