Building off of the California Budget & Policy Center’s Dollars and Democracy: A Guide to the State Budget Process, this presentation focuses on the K-12 experience and explains why the state budget matters for California’s K-12 students and families, teachers, and schools. The goal is to help the many people who come into contact with their K-12 schools understand the state budget process and recognize opportunities for community engagement as decisions about dollars for students and schools are decided by state policymakers.
Ensuring every student has the chance to succeed across California’s schools is the key to broadening opportunity as well as to providing our state with the skilled, productive workforce necessary to drive long-term economic growth. By analyzing state spending and other policies related to K-12 schools, community colleges, and the CSU and UC systems, the Budget Center highlights how California can strengthen its most basic investment in the state’s future and improve outcomes for all students, especially first-generation college students and those who have not been provided equitable opportunities.
Featured Resources
Data Hit
Tens of Thousands of Undocumented College Students in California Are Barred From Receiving Federal COVID-19 Aid
The federal COVID-19 response efforts include measures to help college students weather this crisis. For example, California students will receive at least $854 million in emergency aid for expenses related to disruptions to pursuing their education, such as housing, food, and child care costs.
Report
Understanding the Cost of College in California
There is increasing recognition in California and nationally that the financial aid students receive to attend college should address the cost of attendance beyond tuition and fees, since living expenses – particularly housing expenses – often make up the largest share of students’ budgets. Consequently, recent financial aid reform efforts at the state and federal levels have focused on aligning the structure of financial aid with the total cost of attendance.
Fact Sheet
California’s Bilingual Opportunity: Meeting the Demand for Bilingual Education Teachers to Help Students Achieve Biliteracy
Nearly 2.6 million California K-12 public school students (41.8%) bring a linguistic asset with them to school every day: living in homes where a language other than English is spoken. A majority of these students (1.4 million) demonstrate English proficiency during their school years. But students’ home language skills are often neglected at school and that means many do not receive the state biliteracy designation on their high school diplomas that could benefit students as they apply for higher education and employment opportunities.
Fact Sheet
California’s Bilingual Opportunity: The State Seal of Biliteracy for High School Students
California has a key advantage in meeting the increasing demand for a multi-lingual workforce: nearly 2.6 million K-12 public school students who live in homes where a language other than English is spoken. A majority of these students (1.4 million) have demonstrated English proficiency either when they started school or after being categorized as English learners. However, only a small share of these students have been able to demonstrate literacy in their home language — a sign that policymakers and education leaders are missing a key opportunity to leverage the language assets of the state’s students.