Governor Newsom approves of $262.6 billion budget affecting the education and health of our Raider community

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California’s 262.6 billion dollar budget deal with Governor Newsom is unprecedented-- Let’s explore what the budget covers, and how it’s relevant to our Raider students, teachers, and parents. 

 

Over 100 billion dollars of windfall profit results in greater spending on schools, small businesses, homelessness, and more. The Assembly and Senate would announce a 267.1 billion plan that matches Newsom’s proposals of a 267.8 billion dollar budget. California’s goal? To boost COVID-19 recovery and utilize the surplus the state has acquired during the pandemic. 

 

Most relevant to Raiders, however, are the dollars being funneled to education. Low-income families, people of color, younger children, English learners, special ed students, and college-bound Californian students are some of the many people that this massive budget aims to help. 

 

A huge accomplishment across the nation has been reached, where California will be the first state in the United States to adopt free school meals for breakfast and lunch to all k-12 public school students. The School Meals for All coalition led by Senate Budget Committee Chair Nancy Skinner and over 200 other members succeeded in passing the Free School Meals for All Act of 2021, where the legislature would be approved as part of the SB 129 on June 28. 

 

Let’s acknowledge the difference this will make. During the pandemic, the need for school-supplied food has dramatically increased, as food banks would serve more than 1.5 million households in April of 2020, which is 62% of individuals served within all 12 months of 2019; food insecurity, or the lack of access to food needed for a healthy life, has doubled pre-pandemic rates. While 20% of Californian households face food insecurity, black and Latinx families are disproportionately affected, reaching percentages of 35.5% and 27.3% respectively. The free meals will reduce child hunger, support essential school nutrition workers, and boost the agricultural sector in California. For Sonora, this means that we will see our cafeteria stocked with free food for all, allowing students to focus on classwork instead of their next meal. 

 

Raiders have shown their positive reaction to such news through reposts and retweets. Beyond comedic analysis such as “that’s socialist man!”, discussion includes how it can be “REALLY USEFUL” and that while a responder personally “has no usage for these meals” that it “helps out parents in saving them money.” Teachers have likewise thought that this is a great step in improving the quality of life within campus and allows students to have a better focus on classwork.

 

Beyond free food, college-bound students will be ecstatic to hear that the UC and Cal State campuses will be accepting more CA students. Plans to reduce out-of-state students and the income these students provide will be compensated by 180 million dollars to the two Californian college systems. The California State Universities will have 9434 more spots for freshmen compared to its previous year while the University of California campuses will admit 6230 more Californian freshmen next year. Furthermore, 900 spots will be additionally reserved for California freshmen each year among the top 3 UC campuses: UCLA, UC Berkeley, and USD, where President Michael V. Drake will decide with the nine undergrad campuses on how to divvy their newfound funds. 

 

While lots of our 2021 seniors were able to make it into UC colleges, there is more opportunity for the upcoming classes to join their past upperclassmen. There have been more acceptances into UCLA than we have ever had before -- fourteen to be exact, and the positions being reserved for Californian residents means Sonora is likely to continue having students sent to top California universities.

 

As the percent of nonresident students in these campuses will drop from 22% to 18%, our IB students are ready to break last year’s records of admittance into the top UCs, and teachers are hopeful for their students’ continued success. For me, it means a greater chance to enter Berkeley’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, while for others, it might mean a previously unavailable option of  UCLA’s Political Science or UCSD’s Biological Sciences. 

 

CSU’s Cal Grants have been greater funded, receiving 613 million to further supply the California Student Aid Commission in its mission to expand college access. This money will help 133,000 community college students this fall, and more in the future. 

 

For students that may not have economic access to colleges, however, Newsom plans to address this with 

1.9 billion dollars being distributed to create $500 savings accounts for low-income youth, which will grow to become $1000 for the homeless or foster youth. While the Golden State Stimulus has given 500 dollars to households making $75,000 or less, this program will be targeting 3.8 million students entering public kindergartens. Those with younger siblings entering public schools should make sure to stay updated for this excellent educational opportunity! 

 

Notice that more students are attending summer school? It’s not just because of schools recovering from COVID. Full funding for summer school and after-school has been provided for 2.1 million children from K-6. This is an improvement on the much outdated Proposition 49 (it’s older than me!) and will increase from 1 billion dollars of funding in 2022 to 5 billion by 2026. Similarly, these English learners, homeless/foster, and low-income will be targeted.

 

Deemed the “Year of Special Ed,” state special education spending has increased by 656 million while more funds are anticipated under Biden’s presidency. Those that received little or no special education during the pandemic will receive dispute resolution from a pool of 550 million dollars.

 

Finally, teachers will be well-deservingly receiving more funding, coming from $2.4 billion for recruitment, training, and retention. This multi-billion investment consists of 1.5 billion for the Educator Effectiveness Block Grant on professional development, 500 million on the Golden State Teacher Grant Program to aid the cost of earning a teaching credential, and 250 million to teachers with a National Board Certification (NBC) to teach and mentor other teachers.

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