Dear Constituent:

Good news: California ranking dead last in public education spending is over. Thanks to the 2022-23 state budget signed by Gov. Newsom last week, California could jump into the top 10 states nationwide for per pupil spending.

For some perspective on how far we've come, as recently as 2011, California ranked 50^th nationwide for per pupil spending on K-12 public schools. By last year, thanks to our voter-approved progressive tax system and responsible budgeting during the past decade, California had climbed to 19^th.

The 2022-23 state budget increases K-12 public education funding by a record 13% over last year, with the allocation for public K-12 schools and community colleges increasing by a record $37.2 billion. That's nearly triple the funding K-12 schools received in 2011. And each of our UC and CSU campuses will receive a 5% increase.

Over the coming weeks, I will send you additional e-newsletters highlighting major aspects of this year's historic 2022-23 state budget.

K-12 Education Budget Highlights

• Provides a record funding increase of 13% for all K-12 public schools.

• Protects school districts suffering from declining enrollment by providing funding based on the average of three prior years' average daily attendance

• Provides $4 billion to allow schools to add three hours of after-school programming and six weeks of summer enrichment.  

• Includes funding for the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant to support tutoring, mental health, social-emotional support and other learning recovery programs.

• Provides $3.6 billion for the Arts, Music, and Instructional Materials Discretionary Block Grants to fund arts, music, instructional materials, and multi-lingual school library books.

• Funds a total of $4.2 billion for school construction through 2025, including $1.3 billion in state bonds and $2.9 billion from the state's general fund in 2023-24 and 2024-25.

• Provides a record funding increase of $637 million for home-to-school transportation.

• Includes $100 million for California's universal free school meals program to purchase sustainably grown, healthy foods, plus $600 million to upgrade school kitchens.

Higher Education Budget Highlights

• Increases funding for all University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) campuses by 5%.

• Increases CA Community College (CCC) funding by $600 million, along with a COLA increase, and provides $650 million for additional instruction to close pandemic learning gaps and investments to close the digital divide.

• Provides an additional $2 billion for student housing projects at UC, CSU, and CCC campuses — bringing the total amount of student housing funding to $4 billion through 2024-25.

• Increases funding for the Middle Class Scholarship program and Cal Grants to provide access to Cal Grants for 150,000 additional students.

• Provides unprecedented funding support for underrepresented students, including formerly incarcerated students.

As chair of the Senate's Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, it was my honor to work on this year's transformative budget. Please be on the look-out for future e-newsletters from me regarding other major aspects of the historic 2022-23 state budget.

It is a privilege serving as your state Senator.

Sincerely,

Nancy Skinner
State Senator, District 

P.S. You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter for more updates from the Capitol and throughout Senate District 9.