State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Issues Statement on Governor Newsom's May Budget Revision

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today issued the following statement in response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s revised budget for the fiscal year 2022–23:

“As we continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, California public schools will see a much needed infusion of investments at a time when students and schools, especially those that have been traditionally underserved, require more support than ever before. The revised budget directs a total of $128.3 billion to education, lifts up the most critical needs including historic funding for school mental health, recruitment and retention of teachers, and literacy strategies necessary to allow students to heal and recover after two very challenging years.

“I am grateful to the Governor for ensuring that California will make these critical investments by adopting the strategy I have fought for, increasing the base funding for schools by more than $2 billion under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). This provides more per-pupil funding for schools to address learning gaps and invest in people and programs that will serve all students.

“This education budget underscores the values I have worked with partners to author, sponsor, and advance through legislation including, among other priorities, recruitment of mental health care providers to serve in our schools. Building off the bill I sponsored, SB 1229 (McGuire), the revised budget includes $500 million for teacher and school counselor residency programs and expands the current Golden State Teacher Grant Program to graduate students pursuing degrees to become school counselors, social workers, and psychologists allowing them to receive grants up to $20,000. These investments will ensure that we will see more mental health professionals in our schools and joining the workforce to serve our students.

“The Governor, building on the work of CDE’s literacy taskforce and the State Board of Education, remains steadfast in his commitment to investing in literacy. I continue to support this unprecedented investment in literacy, which includes $400 million in funding for literacy strategies, including literacy coaches, and efforts to support multilingual learners and to fund school libraries.

“This budget also carries over many of the proposals in the January budget that originated from my task force on closing the achievement gap, including funding for community schools, meals, and focus on early education.”

Important education highlights from the updated K–12 budget proposal include:

• $3.3 billion to combat statewide declining enrollment and stabilize school budgets
• $8 billion in one-time discretionary funds to help fight the rising cost of education, including addressing student mental health, professional development, and pension costs
• An additional $1.8 billion for school facility construction and modernization to bring the total investment to well over $3 billion for upgrading facilities
• An additional $1.5 billion for Community Schools to bring the total investment to $4.5 billion
• Over $611 million for Child Nutrition Programs to support meals for all students
• $100 million to support the Community Engagement Initiative that will help combat chronic absenteeism

View the Governor's May Revise budget summary (PDF) on the Department of Finance budget website.

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