A Billion Reasons to Believe: California Leadership Maintains $1B Ongoing Investment in Community Schools

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The California Partnership for the Future of Learning applauds Governor Newsom’s May Revision for maintaining a $1 billion ongoing investment in community schools—a decision that will allow 2,500 schools to deepen their work and will open the door to thousands more across the state.

“In the face of unprecedented attacks from Washington on public education as a pillar of our multiracial democracy—coupled with the daily dismantling of our social safety net—community schools have become a critical lifeline for students and families across California,” Katy Núñez-Adler, Statewide Coordinator for the California Partnership for the Future of Learning says. “Every student deserves a joyful and just public education. Community schools are delivering that promise for over a million students across the state. This budget says California will protect that promise for millions more.”

The data shows it’s working. Schools participating in the community schools approach are reducing chronic absenteeism by roughly 30 percent, lowering suspensions, and accelerating learning—with the strongest gains going to Black students, English learners, and students from lower income communities. Ongoing, stable investment is what makes those results possible. Schools cannot build partnerships, hire the staff, or earn the community trust that this model requires on funding that might disappear in a year. Across the state, over 6,000 schools serving high populations of low-income, English language learner, and foster youth students would have access to these funds.

In San Bernardino City Unified, only six of their current schools are in the Community Schools Partnership Program. If the Governor’s revised proposal is adopted, dozens more schools across the district would be eligible for this transformative support. “This ongoing $1 billion investment matters so much,” shared San Bernardino High School freshman and Inland Congregations United for Change student organizer Christopher Martinez. “It gives schools like mine the stability to finally plan and make our vision for community schools real.”

“These schools do more than educate—they create opportunity, connect families to resources, and strengthen communities,” Balvina Ventura, a Lawndale parent with Californians for Justice says. “This investment tells every parent like me that California sees us and that our children belong here.”

California has the opportunity to lead the nation in building schools where every student belongs, every family has a voice, and every community has what it needs to thrive. That is real democracy—ensuring every person is empowered to participate. An ongoing $1 billion investment advances that commitment, but at the same time, schools cannot meet students' needs alone.

“This budget reflects difficult tradeoffs that will impact the same children and families community schools are designed to support,” affirms Katy Núñez-Adler. “As California moves forward, sustaining progress in education requires protecting and strengthening the broader conditions that allow students and families to thrive. Our communities are committed to partnering with state leaders to pursue policy solutions that prioritize people over corporate profits.”