Why We Need More School Funding

Frequently Asked Questions and Resources

What can we do to help with California schools being underfunded?
 
The best thing we can do is to educate our elected officials about the underfunding of schools and to work in partnership to advocate for additional funding. No one entity alone can ask for more education funding. We are much more effective when we all work together.
 
Looking at the New York State model illustrates very quickly what California does in providing funding to education.  It is important that elected officials and our labor partners understand this too.  By comparing states to each other, California does fairly well in its level of investment. IF we compared local communities we would find California local communities do very little to contribute (caveat being local bonds) to education.  Education will help identify where the gap is and allow the conversation to focus on those gaps.

When the State fails to prioritize school funding, our children and our communities suffer. But taxpayers have to make up the difference. Will this cause the raising of local taxes?
 
So long as our state budget structure remains the same, the conversation will be focused on cuts. Taxes can only be raised with the approval of the voters. When the state does not provide sufficient funding, there is no local alternative source that makes up the difference. Instead, there may very well be cuts in services.