January 12, 2018
Media Contacts:
- Brad Waller, Vice President for Communications, communications@capta.org
- Michelle Eklund, Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives, meklund@capta.org or (916) 440-1985
SACRAMENTO – Earlier this week, Governor Brown released his proposed $190.3 billion state budget for 2018 — 2019. California State PTA President Dianna MacDonald issued the following statement on the state budget:
“We are pleased the proposed California budget continues to invest in the education and well-being of children. While this marks an important milestone in restoring education funding to pre-recession levels, California continues to lag the nation in education funding. Some of the highest performing states invest thousands of dollars more per student than California.”
“We believe a number of investments and proposals within the Governor’s budget are important steps in the right direction:
- Funding to address the severe shortage of trained special education teachers and the need for inclusive early education
- Funding to recruit and retain qualified teachers, including para-professionals to become certificated teachers and supporting bilingual educators
- Greater transparency in district budgets to track spending on our most needy students
- Funding for County Offices of Education to provide support for school districts
- Authority to fund school facilities modernization and construction.
“California State PTA hopes that as the 2018 – 2019 budget is discussed, the legislature will also commit to create a long term plan to invest more in education in order to reach the funding levels of higher performing states.
Read the summary of the 2018 — 2019 budget here, and the K-12 budget proposal here.