State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Thanks Chancellor White and CSU for Delaying Vote of Quantitative Reasoning Proposal

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent Tony Thurmond today thanked California State University (CSU) Chancellor Timothy White and the CSU for being responsive to calls from public officials and advocacy groups to delay the decision to vote on the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) proposal. The CSU Board of Trustees was expected to vote on the QR proposal at its meeting scheduled November 19–20. The vote has been delayed until the next CSU Board of Trustees meeting scheduled in January.

“The California Department of Education stands ready to support the CSU as the proposal develops to better address the needs of California’s students and to secure additional resources,” Thurmond said. “I share the goal of increasing our standards and preparing our students to succeed in college but in doing so, we must engage all partners, address our teacher shortage crisis, and ensure we are not creating additional barriers for low-income students of color to pursue a higher education. I encourage the CSU to develop a proposal that will help close the achievement gap, and I appreciate the Chancellor’s willingness to have a more robust discussion on the investments and resources K–12 needs to increase quantitative reasoning course availability.”

The California State University’s QR proposal would require a fourth year of quantitative reasoning for admission. Students would need to complete this additional year to be admitted at a CSU campus starting in 2026. This applies only to first-time freshmen. For high school students, this means an additional math course or science course or an additional elective such as statistics, computer science, coding, or engineering.

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Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100