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PRESS RELEASE: May Budget Revision Includes Some Improvements but Misses Opportunities on Several Key Issues Including Early Care and Education and 2020 Census Funding

05.15.18

PRESS CONTACT
Katie Smith, Director of Communications, KSmith@advanceproj.org, 323-997-2194

LOS ANGELES, CA – On Friday, May 11, Governor Jerry Brown released an updated state budget proposal, boosting support for policies to foster a positive climate in public schools statewide, further improving Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) transparency and fully funding LCFF. However, the budget misses the mark on key issues such as early care and education and funding for Census outreach and planning given the recent addition of an untested citizenship question to the census questionnaire. We welcome changes to increase parent and community engagement in the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) process and look forward to working with the legislature to ensure a heightened focus on LCFF transparency moving forward.

“While we appreciate Governor Brown’s careful stewardship of our state’s fiscal health over the past eight years, we should also be clear that much of our state’s recovery has been achieved on the backs of hardworking, low-income families and communities of color up and down this state,” said Executive Director John Kim.

“If we want to sustain our position as the 5th largest economy in the world, we need to ensure that all of our public systems are working just as hard as the communities that have been guiding us towards our collective future. We encourage all efforts to leverage our state’s budget to address ever-persistent racial disparities across multiple issues and for California to live into our values.”

“This budget rewrite tackles many issues relevant to low-income communities of color but unfortunately misses the opportunity to fund projects that can and should be funded with one-time funds, especially given the state’s substantial surplus,” said Khydeeja Alam Javid, Director of Governmental Affairs at Advancement Project California. “We will continue pushing the legislature and the Governor’s office over the coming weeks to ensure the final spending plan prioritize the needs of California’s most vulnerable communities, families and children.”

Advancement Project California is pleased to see the following investments in the May revise:

  • Improving School Climate: We thank the Governor for his leadership in addressing the real concerns parent and students are expressing around safety and school climate. The $15 million commitment to expand the state’s Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) is a step forward and is aligned with our effort to pass AB 2291, which helps support local education agencies to adopt procedures to prevent bullying. Advancement Project California is also working closely with partners and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction on the “Welcoming & Safe Schools for All” model resolution, which provides a framework for county offices of education, school districts, and district-funded charter schools to take a clear stance that our schools should be safe havens for all students.
  • Full funding for Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) & improvements to LCAP transparency: Though a lot of work needs to be done to adequately fund our education system, school districts across the state will be better able to educate California’s students by the full funding of LCFF. We also welcome Governor Brown’s changes to improve accessibility of budgeting information for parents and share the goal of boosting parent and community involvement in the LCAP process. The one-time $13.3 million investment in the Community Engagement Initiative holds the potential of helping districts partner with community-based organizations to ensure the LCAP process is participatory and transparent. Transparency of how districts spend their LCFF funding, especially accountability for the Supplemental and Concentration dollars that are specifically generated by high-need students, is a timely issue. Many districts do not list all their LCFF funding in their annual LCAP plans, and parents and advocates report that sometimes dollars intended to benefit high-need students are spent in ways that do not support them.  Advancement Project California looks forward to working with the legislature to ensure these changes foster greater community input and deliver tangible outcomes for students.

However, we do have concerns about insufficient investments in the following areas and look forward to working on pushing these in the final budget proposal:

  • $1B for Babies: We are concerned that $1 billion for early care and education did not make it into the May revise, especially given that it has received significant support from the early care and education community and Legislative Women’s Caucus. Only 14 percent of California’s eligible children have access to affordable, subsidized care. Greater investments are needed to increase access to infant and toddler care by creating child care spaces in our mixed delivery system, especially for children ages 0-3. With a greater investment, California will be creating a more cohesive support system for children from the beginning of life to preschool and beyond.
  • $107M for Community Based Organization Outreach needed for the 2020 Census: Since the January Budget was released, the Federal Administration has added an untested citizenship question to the 2020 Census, which will further exacerbate challenges with reaching our hard-to-count populations. Additional funds will help the state effectively implement outreach strategies to motivate the millions of Californians who live in hard-to-count (HTC) communities to participate in the decennial count. This is an investment the state cannot neglect, and the legislature should augment the Governor’s proposed funding for CBO outreach by $95.1 million.
  • $10M for Bilingual Professional Development for ECE and K-12: While we acknowledge the Governor’s focus on workforce development in K-12 education, we are disappointed that these investments exclude early care and education and bilingual education. Our ask for $10 million for dual language teacher development would help create a new Licensed Child Development Teacher Professional Development Program. The other half would support the Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program. With the nation’s largest population of children learning English in addition to their home language, California is uniquely positioned to lead the nation in Dual language learning (DLL). California experiences a dire shortage of bilingual educators and we strongly believe that investing in pipeline programs can help ensure that California’s bilingual students have the support they need to develop proficiency in both English and their home language.

We have experts on hand to discuss these issues and our work in 2018. Contact: Katie Smith, Director of Communications, (323) 997-2194, KSmith@advanceproj.org.

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About Advancement Project California

Advancement Project is a next generation, multiracial civil rights organization. In California, the organization champions the struggle for greater equity and opportunity for all, fostering upward mobility in communities most impacted by economic and racial injustice. Advancement Project California builds alliances and trust, uses data-driven policy solutions, creates innovative tools, and works alongside communities to ignite social transformation. For more information, visit www.advancementprojectca.org. On Twitter @AP_California.