Focus Areas

Fund Our Schools Now: Stop the $3.9 Billion Prop 98 Withholding

California voters wrote Proposition 98 into our state Constitution in 1988 to do one thing: guarantee that public school funding could never be traded away during a tough budget year. This year, that guarantee is being treated as optional — again.

Here’s where things stand: The Governor’s January budget proposed withholding $5.6 billion in constitutionally guaranteed Prop 98 funds. California State PTA and the statewide education coalition pushed back hard. The May Revised budget reduced that number — but did not restore it. The May Revise still proposes withholding $3.9 billion from California’s public schools. That’s $643 stripped from every one of California’s 5.7 million students in the budget year that begins just 10 weeks from now.

This is the third consecutive year the administration has proposed manipulating the Prop 98 guarantee. A dollar delayed is a dollar denied — and our kids are already feeling it.

Here’s how you can help:

  • 📨 Send a message to your elected officials — use our Voter Voice tool to contact your legislators and the Governor directly [link to Voter Voice page]
  • 🎥 Watch and share the video — see what California’s unified education community said at the Capitol on May 21 [anchor link to Watch & Share section]
  • 📱 Spread the word — social media posts and graphics ready to go [anchor link to Social Media Kit section]

WATCH & SHARE

On May 21, leaders from every major California education organization stood together at the Capitol to demand that Sacramento stop withholding constitutionally guaranteed school funding. Watch and share California State PTA’s comments with your PTA community!

“We are not here as administrators or policymakers. We are here as volunteers – parents who show up because our mission demands it.”
– Heather Ippolito, President, California State PTA

Additional Resources and Press Coverage:

WHY THIS MATTERS

What does $643 per student really mean? It’s not a line item in a spreadsheet. Every dollar withheld has a real consequence inside a real classroom.

  • Fewer adults in every classroom Fewer teachers, counselors, aides, and classified staff — the people who notice when a student is struggling and provide the support that families count on.
  • Special education delays Services that students with disabilities are legally entitled to become the first casualty of budget uncertainty. These are obligations, not optional investments.
  • Mental health services cut Empty nursing offices, no librarian, understaffed cafeterias. The support infrastructure that holds a school community together is dismantled first.

“Proposition 98 is not a suggestion. California voters wrote it into our Constitution because they understood something fundamental: public schools are where California’s children learn to become California’s future. And that’s worth protecting.” – Heather Ippolito, President, California State PTA

California State PTA is not alone.

On May 21, every major California education organization stood together at the Capitol — united behind a single message. The California Education Coalition represents teachers, classified employees, administrators, school board members, school business officials, county superintendents, and parents. As California School Boards Association President Dr. Deborah Shade said at the press conference: “If we knew [the baseline funding] was coming, we could budget for it — and then anything else would be a wonderful thing. We’re fighting for that base.”

The Education Coalition consists of the following organizations:
Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) | California Teachers Association  |  California School Employees Association (CSEA)  |   California Association of School Business Officials (CSBA)  |  California School Boards Association (CSBA)  |  California Federation of Teachers  (CFT)   |  SEIU California   |  California County Superintendents  |  California State PTA

The Governor’s Response – and Why it Misses the Point

When asked about the $3.9 billion withholding, Governor Newsom said his administration had “made some accommodation” to those concerns, and pointed to record per-student spending and other education investments in the May Revise — including a $2.4 billion special education boost, a 4.31% teacher cost-of-living increase, and 14 weeks of paid pregnancy leave for educators.

California State PTA welcomes those investments. But they don’t answer the fundamental question — and California State PTA is not alone in that view. The full California Education Coalition has made their collective position clear in letters to the Governor and Legislature.

Additional investments in education are meaningful only when districts can rely on the foundation beneath them. Proposition 98 exists to provide that foundation – stable, predictable, constitutionally guaranteed funding that districts can actually plan around. Withholding $3.9 billion from that floor, then pointing to other line items, doesn’t restore what’s been taken. It just shifts the uncertainty that our students and schools live with every day.

PTA Takes Action

⏰ June 15 Budget Deadline

Tell Sacramento: Fund Our Schools Now

Use our Voter Voice tool to send a message directly to your state legislators and Governor Newsom. Every message counts — and it takes less than two minutes. Please share this opportunity widely with other California residents (beyond PTA – friends, neighbors, extended family) who care about kids and public education!