California would invest more than $100 billion into its public school system under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised state budget proposal, expanding behavioral health services and access to pre-kindergarten, Newsom said Wednesday.
The funding plan includes an additional $20 billion on top of the $85.8 billion in Newsom’s initial budget proposal from January, which the governor said at that time was the largest investment in education in the state’s history.
The $20 billion — part of a $100 billion spending plan that Newsom has dubbed the California Comeback Plan — would make pre-kindergarten available to every 4-year-old in the state and create thousands of so-called “community schools” that offer mental health and social services to both students and their families.
“We are looking to transform, not go back to where we were, but to transform our educational system,” Newsom said of the education spending in his budget proposal.
Some of the money, like that for in-school behavioral and mental health services, will be spent over the next five years, Newsom said.
Under the funding plan, the state would make $3.3 billion available to train and support the additional teachers needed to expand the availability of pre-kindergarten and cut the ratio of pre-K students to teachers from 24-to-one to 12-to-one.
The funding plan also includes $2 billion to open personal savings accounts for some 3.7 million low-income, foster, homeless and English-learning youth.
The savings accounts would be seeded with $500 base deposits and could eventually be used to help pay for college or start a business, Newsom said.
Newsom argued that conversations about income inequality do not focus enough on the issue of wealth inequality and that low-income families do not have the proper access to owning assets or even the ability to contribute to a savings account.
“Our children are going to need more beyond the K-12 or even TK-12 experience,” Newsom said. “We’re poised to do something that the academics have been promoting for decades and that researchers have said is one of the best investments in breaking the cycle of poverty.”
Newsom is expected to unveil the full revised budget proposal on Friday.
Newsom and the state legislature will then have until June 15 to approve the budget before the new fiscal year begins on July 1.
22 comments
What’s with these mental health cases coming up so much in the last 5 years? Growing up in the 90’s, these were so rare and now today’s society, everyone has a mental health issue.
Such an important idea, and a long time coming. As a teacher, there’s only so much I can do concerning the mental well-being of each student. There is so much more that can be done to help them. Investing in mental health services now can prevent so many tragedies further down the road. Bravo.
That’s not your job. Stay in your lane. Just teach, that is what we pay you to do. You are not trained to be a psychologist.
Sam- perhaps you misread what mister mister said. She said teachers are not equipped to deal with all the mental health issues presented by students and welcomes the additional support currently not provided or is extremely limited.
Unfortunately in the classroom currently teaching often ends up being the last hat/thing you do as a teacher. Teachers ware the parent hat, the social worker hat, the mental health intervention hat, the mediator hat, etc…all while expecting these kids with all these issues that impede their learning are excelling and performing at or above grade level or else.
Being a student once one’s self does not give any adult the proper understanding of what it is like being an educator in the classroom. But everyone has opinions on what it should be without the actual understanding of what it is actually like. There is a reason we have a teacher shortage in this country that is only getting worse and at least 20 years ago there was a 50% turnover in the profession within the first 5 years. I would bet the farm that turnover rate is the same or worse now.
Are there good and bad teachers, Absolutely. Is the profession meant for everyone, no. I always said I would love to see those responsible for creating laws and dictating terms that impede the ability for teachers to do what they were actually hired to do to spend even one day managing their own classroom let alone for a week. Most, if not all, would get eaten alive by the students and especially today. Most people would probably develop a differing opinion and provide constructive support and advocacy.
By the way…I too believe teachers are essential works and should be back in the classroom full time a long time ago As a former long term teacher this reluctance is severely detrimental to students both in the near and long term from the job they were hired to do as well as is going to make your job as a teacher even more challenging than it already is. Teaching multiple forms of classes at once and then catch up students from a year and a half’s worth of lost instruction in addition to what ever they may have been behind in before all this drama started would make many good teachers leave a profession that desperately needs them to stay.
That moment when you’re no longer the prettiest boy in the race……
I reiterate, CA politicians are financially illiterate. Good luck when the next recession hits!
So …
The funding plan also includes $2 billion to open personal savings accounts for some 3.7 million low-income, foster, homeless and English-learning youth.
….
We are now going to just give more money away … 2 BILLION dollars to help low-income, foster, homeless and English-learning youth. How bout the vets? how bout the homeless on the streets or living on Arnold Industrial, or behind Safeway on Contra Costa Blvd?
When can these youth take the money out of the account? When they are 18? When they want to? Does it have to be used for College, or can it be used to buy a car, house, drugs, food or anything else …
Newscum is trying to buy votes right now to prevent him being OUSTED from office … and I pity the fools that buy into his propaganda – cause like him, it is full of ‘you-know-what’.
You know what? The vets have ENOUGH. They are well taken care of and have access to ALL the services. If they don’t use them, that is on them. How about just STOP giving away my money to every stupid project meant to buy votes? How about people work for themselves? If we stop giving away all this money, some problems will reset. We won’t have people having kids they don’t want just to get the money from it.
@ Oh, Please
I can get behind MOST of what you said.
Stop giving money away to everytime the wind blows. Let people work!
As for the vets, I think we need to agree to disagree, based on personal experience (I am not a vet, but I work with many).
“We are looking to transform, not go back to where we were, but to transform our educational system,”
To transform something you have to change something. This money will perpetuate a broken school system and strengthen the teachers union. The rich get a better education because they are not prisoners of the public school system. The working poor cannot move to areas that have better schools, and they cannot afford to send their children to private schools. Giving parents a choice would truly transform our education system. The “extra” 20 billion should fund education savings accounts that low income legal citizens can use to send their kids to private schools.
Now they are worried about mental health? It wasn’t a big concern a year ago when they decided to shut down schools and keep children locked up in their house staring at a computer screen all day.
It was a concern then but they also had to take into account the physical health of teachers, students and their families.
I have seen so many comments for a year saying “the kids are suffering.” So I will turn your question back to you. Now you’re not worried about their mental health?
“California Comeback Plan” . . . so pathetically obvious.
aka … PLEASE, Please, please, don’t recall me plan.
EVERY time DEMs in this state really are desperate, they’re either giving money for kids OR canceling a program to take away from kids.
“… cut the ratio of pre-K students to teachers from 24-to-one to 12-to-one.”
Given DEM track record, that’s blue sky wanna sell ya a bridge . . . . .
And that, “The funding plan also includes $2 billion to open personal savings accounts for some 3.7 million low-income, foster, homeless and English-learning youth.” Sounds like ensuring employees of largest employer in the state are guaranteed future employment at state colleges along with teachers union members.
Surprised CA Dems don’t have, “It’s for our kids” Trademarked.
“Helping the children”, while paying back teachers, union members and schools who make and have made campaign contributions to DEMs, with even more of your taxpayer dollars.
Are CA voters truly that stupid ? ? ?
Please!!! Come Back Plan, Transform our educational system???
Reading through this post and the one solving the homeless problem is just a big play to move us into a Socialist Society and appeasing the libs. God help this country
I guess that after the recall vote, everything will stop and return to the way it was.
It doesn’t look like he’s going to be recalled, the polls look in his favor. He’s getting ready for reelection next year.
Those UC Berkeley polls are always right on the money.
Democrat “California Comeback Plan”:
Create more jobs and higher salaries for teachers and empower the teacher’s union.
Invade into the private lives of our residents even further by requiring mental health screening of parents and children so children may attend “pre-kindergarten” classes (which will morph into a form of daycare at taxpayer expense.)
Filter-out the ideas of individually and patriotism under the guise of treating “extremism” and “white supremacy” as mental health issues.
Best case scenario is more pork for teachers and their union. As if the dems don’t already own their vote.
Anyone with half a brain “California Comeback Plan”:
Open all businesses 100% with full hours of operation.
Cancel mask mandates at all levels from state to cities.
Provide low-interest and no-interest loans to small businesses that were destroyed by the state so these people can rebuild what their own state took from them.
Limit the power of state and local health departments so we never, EVER go through this betrayal of the public trust ever again.
Change the state constitution so shutdowns never happen again.
Careful – you are proposing common sense solutions to government created problems – as long as we are surrounded by idiots voting for these idiots nothing will change except the bite in your wallet and loss of freedoms once held sacred.
This is just another stupid waste of money . Nothing will get better in fact the problems will get worse . Then the Newsum and media machine will kick in gear and tell us the reason their plan is not working is because they need more money . The blind big government loving voters need to wake up and look around .We don’t need more government brain washing and liberal propaganda filling our kids minds . The quality of life is going down fast here in the bay area and it can be blamed 100% on failed liberal programs. LESS government in our lives means a happier life for all .
With the exception of a one time expense of funding college savings accounts, the rest of these will require continued funding beyond the time of this insane proposal.
I’m very curious who’s going to continue to pay for this largess – universal pre-K for 4 year olds, free after-school care, extra teachers, mental health facilities, etc. After the initial money is spent and the state is facing a gaping hole in its budget. Which time will likely come in only 2-3 years. In fact, CA was already facing a deficit before the feds turned on money-printing presses and started showering billions of dollars on anybody with a pulse.
Usually the politicians claim that their spending plans will essentially pay for themselves. For instance, as a result of this spending, CA economy will miraculously grow by 15% a year for the next 10 years, so that the increased tax revenue will cover any future expenses. They usually don’t like to mention the other alternative – to raise taxes.
However, this particular spending plan is so ridiculous that even Newsom doesn’t dare to claim that it’ll pay for itself. Or he simply doesn’t care – Californians have proven enough times that they are extremely gullible. Remember that 800 mile bullet train, to be completed by 2020 for $10 billion? By the way, I have a Golden Gate Bridge that I could sell you.
It’s a sad state of things.
what a joke!
dems and bleeding hearts are destroying this once great state with their failed social programs
God help us
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