Securing and Protecting Education Funding in California: A Summary Brief

Funding for California schools has improved rapidly in recent years but remains insufficient to meet educational goals and address the needs of students, particularly given California's high cost of living. Now, school districts face flat or declining revenues and rapidly growing student academic and social-emotional needs due to COVID-19. Securing the funding necessary to address these needs and meet state goals will require an enormous, sustained effort. This brief examines how California could generate and protect education revenues. It concludes that the solutions are bigger than what can be achieved through a single tax reform or federal stimulus. It suggests that California's leaders and education stakeholders act now to address urgent, short-term fiscal needs while also creating a long-term master funding plan for education. [For the full report, see ED609211.]