California
As California’s schools struggle, governor hopefuls clash over who’s to blame — and who should fix it
Education is California’s largest state expense, consuming more than a third of the state budget through K-12 schools alone. Yet as voters prepare to choose a successor to outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom, candidates across the political spectrum agree the system is falling short.
Reading and math scores among California’s 5.8 million K-12 students trail national averages, and more than half of students are reading below grade level. Meanwhile, declining enrollment, chronic absenteeism and the end of pandemic recovery dollars have forced school leaders to close campuses or issue widespread layoffs to plug multimillion-dollar budget holes.
Those pressures have turned public education into one of the sharpest dividing lines in the race for governor.
Democrats and Republicans largely agree California’s schools are struggling — but they offer starkly different explanations for why, and competing visions for how much power, money and control the state should exert over classrooms, teachers and parents.
The debate unfolds as California faces an escalating clash with President Donald Trump over education policy, with federal funding increasingly at risk amid disputes over transgender athletes’ participation in sports and immigration enforcement on school campuses.
Newsom’s two-term legacy looms over the race.
As governor, Newsom has provided universal free school meals, added transitional kindergarten for all preschool-aged children, pushed to restrict cellphone use on campuses, and launched initiatives aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ students’ mental health and well-being.
At the same time, he has faced criticism for extensive school closures during the pandemic, budget maneuvers that educators say have threatened funding, legislation preventing schools from being required to notify parents if a student changes their gender identity, and new laws and guidance aimed at addressing antisemitism in schools.
Polling shows a wide-open race ahead of the June primary, with the top two vote-getters advancing to the November general election regardless of party affiliation. Democrats are heavily favored in a state where the party holds a roughly 2-to-1 registration advantage over Republicans, who hope voters are ready for a change
Democrats
Most Democratic candidates share broad agreement on increasing school funding, addressing workforce shortages and improving equity — but diverge on how much control the state should exert over districts and how education should be funded.
Among the candidates is the current state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who argues California does not have an achievement gap, but rather an opportunity gap for low-income, minority and homeless students.
Thurmond said schools are chronically underfunded and supports shifting California to an enrollment-based funding model, rather than the state’s current system, which ties funding to daily attendance. Advocates say the move could deliver more money to nine in 10 schools statewide.
He also backs taxing billionaires to boost education revenue, increasing teacher pay and improving working conditions to address persistent shortages — despite California having the nation’s highest average teacher salary — and using underutilized district land for workforce housing.
Like several other Democrats, Thurmond said he would continue California’s legal and political battles with the Trump administration over threats to withhold federal funding tied to transgender student policies and immigration enforcement on campuses.
Former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, also a Democrat, said she would focus on investing in the education workforce, addressing the teacher shortage, and making school funding more equitable and reliable.
Porter said the state has a responsibility to guide districts and create conditions where students can learn and thrive, including through universal before- and after-school care, free school buses, fully funding and expanding universal school meals, and continued legal challenges to Trump administration policies.
“As a proud public school parent, I understand firsthand the value of investing in public education and protecting it from Donald Trump’s attacks,” Porter said in a statement to this news organization. “As Governor … I’ll take on Donald Trump when he cuts funding for education, including for second-language learners and students with disabilities.”
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, another Democrat, said the system is “broken” and partly blamed what he called a top-down approach and bureaucracy within districts.
Villaraigosa said his role as governor would be to lead “with a light touch,” arguing districts and teachers need more control over education decisions.
He pointed to gains in graduation rates and efforts to turn around struggling schools during his tenure as mayor, though critics have questioned how much progress was sustained.
Villaraigosa opposes school vouchers but supports switching to an enrollment-based funding formula. He said while California has a revenue problem, it also must address spending and grow its economy.
“We are not educating our kids in the way that we should,” Villaraigosa said. “Information is the currency of our economy, and yet we have too many kids who can’t read and write. And when you look at who those kids are, they’re disproportionately poor, they’re disproportionately of color, and it’s unacceptable in a state this rich that we have that situation.”
Ian Calderon, a former Democratic Assembly member and the youngest candidate at 40, said California’s education system is failing because of a one-size-fits-all approach across its 1,015 school districts.
Calderon said educators need a greater role in decision-making, parents must be more involved, and student success depends on broader stability, including access to secure housing.
He also called for tax reform to create alternative sources of education funding.
“We cannot continue to base the future of our funding on a volatile income tax system,” Calderon said.
Former State Controller Betty Yee, also a Democrat, agreed the state must move away from a one-size-fits-all model, arguing California’s economic health is inseparable from student achievement.
Yee said the state’s current school funding formula is too rigid and needs reform, and pledged to veto legislation that imposes new mandates without providing funding.
She attributed the teacher shortage partly to high housing and health care costs, but said districts should not be responsible for developing workforce housing.
“I do not want school districts to be landlords,” Yee said.
East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat who entered the race in November, did not respond to multiple requests for comment about his education platform.
Republicans
Republican candidates, by contrast, largely argue that California’s education problems stem from centralized control, cultural priorities and excessive state mandates.
Among them is Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who has campaigned on increased funding for teachers and schools, expanded mental health counseling for students, support for career-technical education and stronger parental rights.
Bianco has argued for returning control to local school districts, a stance that contrasts with Newsom’s proposal to restructure the state’s Department of Education by placing it under the governor’s office and the State Board of Education.
Bianco also supports expanding charter schools and school vouchers, which allow public funds to be used for private school tuition. He is a vocal critic of a state law that bars districts from being forced to notify parents if a student changes pronouns or gender identity at school.
“It is no secret that California has failed an entire generation — if not two — of our students,” Bianco said.
Also running as a Republican is former Fox News host Steve Hilton, who says his priority is ensuring students meet reading and math standards while removing what he calls “social and political indoctrination” from classrooms.
Hilton supports expanding school choice, enforcing parental rights, removing underperforming teachers, and allowing students to attend schools outside their neighborhoods, often using public education funds to do so. He also opposes allowing transgender students to compete in women’s sports.
It’s been quite the unexpected slog through a field of candidates so numerous that all of their names don’t even fit on a single page of the ballot. Democrats in California have held the governor’s mansion, state House, and state Senate for almost two decades and unrest about that trifecta out West is real. The traditional political alliances are frayed, at best, with socialists backing a billionaire and Trump supporting an immigrant. A sex scandal tanked the hopes of a leading candidate, Rep. Eric Swalwell, and Trump’s endorsement of Hilton all but sidelined tough-on-crime Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco. It’s why Hilton, who moved to California in 2012, is in the mix in a race that is set to test assumptions about party loyalty, candidate partisanship, and money’s power. And it carries massive consequences about who will be the de facto CEO of the fourth-largest economy on the planet, between Germany and Japan, and a major player on the national political stage. This is not some backwater local election.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.
California air regulators on Friday approved a contentious overhaul of the state’s carbon market, creating a program that could steer billions of dollars in free pollution permits to oil refineries and other major polluters over the objections of environmental groups, key lawmakers and three of the board’s own members.
Ten members of the California Air Resources Board voted to adopt the changes to its cap-and-invest program after two days of lengthy hearings, including a full day dedicated to hundreds of public comments.
The overhaul followed intensive lobbying by the oil industry as well as pressure from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration to help keep refineries operating in the state amid rising gas prices.
The approval sets up a potential budget fight in Sacramento. The Legislative Analyst’s Office projects that quarterly auction revenue for state climate programs will drop from roughly $4 billion a year to about $2 billion under the new overhaul.
Such a shortfall would effectively zero out programs lawmakers spent last year fighting to fund: affordable housing, public transit, drinking water in low-income communities and pollution monitoring in California’s most polluted neighborhoods.
The governor’s office praised the measure as a compromise that balanced economic uncertainty with the state’s climate goals. Refinery closures and the Iran-Israel war have driven average California gas prices above $6 a gallon.
Newsom, in a statement, used the moment to draw a contrast with President Donald Trump.
“While Trump sows ongoing chaos and uncertainty, California is staying focused by protecting our economy, safeguarding public health, and doubling down on the clean energy future all Californians deserve,” he said.
Environmentalists warned the changes to the program amount to a giveaway to the fossil fuel industry that weakens California’s only program setting a firm cap on greenhouse gas emissions.
Katelyn Roedner Sutter, California senior director for the Environmental Defense Fund, called the decision “deeply misguided” for prioritizing polluters over communities.
“Newsom’s air regulators are handing billions to oil executives at the expense of our climate, health, and affordability for working families in a rushed process that has shortchanged meaningful public participation,” said Bahram Fazeli, policy director at Communities for a Better Environment.
How the program works — and what changes
California’s 13-year-old carbon market forces major polluters to buy permits while the state lowers the overall cap each year. Friday’s vote will reduce those permits – and creates a new subsidy program carved out of the market.
The program, which may still see changes, could make available a new pool of free pollution permits available to industry valued at as much as $4 billion. Companies that pledge to invest in clean energy and efficiency may qualify for the permits in exchange for investments in clean energy.
The pool will be capped at 118.3 million permits — the same number the air board has said must come off the market for California to hit its 2030 climate target. Environmentalists say the proposal risks wiping out those reductions.
Half are reserved for the fossil fuel sector. A recent Berkeley analysis, by the chair of an independent committee that oversees the carbon market, found refineries could end up with more free permits than they need to cover their emissions.
The air board has defended the design. Officials say the credits will go only to companies undertaking decarbonization projects, will be limited and temporary and can be clawed back if companies misuse them. The plan, they say, is meant to keep California refineries operating at a time of mounting closures and global market pressure. According to air regulators, the amended program will spur clean-energy investment as Trump cuts federal support.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
A 40-year-old Los Angeles man was charged with murder after allegedly killing his girlfriend and kidnapping their young child before fleeing to Mexico, according to authorities.
Ruben Fregosojuarez has been charged one count of murder and one misdemeanor count of child abuse under circumstance or conditions other than great bodily injury or death, according to a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office news release. Authorities first identified him as Ruben Fregoso but Los Angeles County prosecutors listed him as Ruben Fregosojuarez.
On Monday around 12:39 p.m., the Los Angeles Police Department conducted a welfare check in the 2600 block of South Alsace Avenue in West Adams, police said in a news release.
Officers found a woman dead inside the home “as a result of violence” and the woman’s daughter missing, police said. On Monday night, the California Highway Patrol issued an Amber Alert for the child, Daleza.
Photos obtained by NBC4 appear to show Fregosojuarez in a parking garage in San Ysidro with the girl on Sunday. The California Highway Patrol has listed her age as 4 years old but Los Angeles police say the girl is 5. She is also described as the suspect’s daughter.
The alert said that the girl was last seen with Fregosojuarez, who allegedly abducted her in a 2019 Land Rover Discovery, on Sunday at about 4 a.m.
The CHP posted in an update that the vehicle was found but that the child and man were still missing. The girl is described as 3 feet tall, 45 pounds, and having black hair and brown eyes.
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