Fresno students face big problems that could be helped under Newsom’s education plan

Gov. Gavin Newsom is setting aside billions of dollars for California public schools, and a chunk of that funding takes aim at some of the biggest problems that plague Fresno students.

Newsom wants to send schools and community colleges $93.7 billion in state funding over the next several years to set up college savings accounts for low-income kids, hire more teachers and counselors, and phase in universal transitional kindergarten, according to administration officials.

The investment is part of a state budget plan he’s expected to formally unveil in detail and send to the Legislature on Friday. The blueprint includes an additional $100 billion in state surplus and federal aid dollars that Newsom said will help the Golden State recover from COVID-19.

Because schools are legally entitled to a significant portion of the state budget, this year’s unprecedented $75 billion surplus could help local education agencies invest in new resources and ambitious programs.

A significant element of his proposal includes setting aside an initial $2 billion this year in federal funds for a college-savings program for kids who might not otherwise be able to afford higher education. After the initial installment this year, the budget would continue allocating an ongoing $170 million for the initiative.

Newsom’s administration expects these savings accounts to provide financial incentives to go to college for marginalized students who are often excluded from such opportunities. Under the plan, each low-income public school student would get a $500 account, and foster youth and students experiencing homelessness would get an additional $500 deposit.

“In general, I think investments need to be made in areas where we are falling short - special education, supports for English Language Learners, Homeless and Foster youth supports, African-American acceleration, prevention, and intervention services,” Fresno Unified Trustee Veva Isalas told The Bee’s Education Lab in an email.

Thousands of Fresno County students could potentially benefit from the governor’s investments. More than 85% of Fresno Unified School District students were eligible for free or reduced lunch since at least the 2015-16 school year, according to data from the California Department of Education.

Central Unified, the county’s third-largest school district, had nearly 71% of its students eligible for free or reduced lunch during the 2019-20 school year, according to state data, and had about 73% of students who were eligible the year prior.

Fresno County’s second-largest school district, Clovis Unified, has a much lower percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced lunch - about 44% of students in the 2019-20 school year and the prior school year.

FUSD also has one of the highest rates of foster youth compared to the other two larger districts in the county, state data shows. In the 2019-20 school year, 746 students were in foster care and 727 the school year before.

Investing in plans that help more students graduate and enroll in higher education “is something we need more of,” Islas said. “Career technical education pathways need continued investments and have shown to improve student outcomes in FUSD.

“Take Design Science who has been able to get 100% of their students to graduate and 100% of their students to enroll in higher education,” Islas said.

The administration estimates 3.8 million students would be eligible for the college savings account money now, with 320,000 more students qualifying each year in the future. About 6.2 million students attend California public schools.

Low- and middle-income families can already start a college savings account through ScholarShare 529. The plan currently provides a dollar-for-dollar matched contribution of $200, with an extra $25 provided for setting up an automatic contribution plan.

Newsom’s larger K-14 financial plan drills down on helping kids recover from a year of often substandard online learning. He also wants to make down payments on future programs to help alleviate overcrowded classrooms and provide earlier learning opportunities for California’s youngest students.

Although billions of dollars are being set aside for public schools, it’s still too soon to know how the funds are going to affect local school districts.

“The Governor’s announcements haven’t contained enough detail for us to fully understand the local impact of 21-22 funding for school districts,” Clovis Unified officials said in an email to the Ed Lab. “We will have a better sense when the full May revise is released.”

CUSD officials said they are “closely” watching Newsom’s announcements this week and when more details are released staff will analyze the impact on the district’s 2021-22 budget and present it to the board in June.

Fresno Unified officials also told the Ed Lab its staff are looking into how the governor’s announcements could affect the district’s budget.

Universal transitional kindergarten

Under the governor’s plan, universal transitional kindergarten will be kickstarted in the 2022-2023 school year, to be fully implemented by 2024-2025. The budget plan includes $900 million for the first year, to increase to an eventual $2.7 billion.

Investments like these could help Fresno students, Fresno Unified Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas told The Ed Lab in a phone interview.

“The universal transitional kindergarten and expansion of early learning has been something talked about for many years and is one of the greatest equalizers,” she said. “We have kids that are entering into kindergarten or even sometimes into first grade, and the gap of learning ... we spend years trying to make up for.”

The more time schools have with children early on in their education, the better outcomes there will be for students in the long run, Jonasson Rosas said.

“All the studies and all the research shows how critical the first few years are to development,” Jonasson Rosas said.

Since the 2015-16 school year, transitional kindergarten enrollment in FUSD has continued to drop, according to data from the district. There were 7,304 transitional kindergarten students in the 2015-16 school year and gradually dropped to 6,905 in the 2019-20 school year.

However, this school year, transitional kindergarten enrollment declined by more than 1,000 students, 5,892, the largest decline in at least the past five years. The drop in transitional kindergarten enrollment has been a national trend, as well as local, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“COVID conditions have been tough on everyone, but especially difficult for our youngest learners,” FUSD spokesperson Amy Idsvoog said in an email to the Ed Lab. “The state of California reports a loss of 100,000 students in TK – 1st grade as schools moved to distance learning models.”

Distance learning is particularly difficult for families with young children for a variety of reasons, Idsvoog said. Young students can’t be left at home alone while their parents are working. They often have difficulty logging into distance learning alone or go to childcare centers that don’t have quiet spaces for distance learning.

Even school districts like Clovis Unified that increased transitional kindergarten enrollment since the 2016-17 school year could benefit from early education funds. In the 2016-17 school year, there were 565 transitional kindergarten students, according to data from the district, and that increased gradually to 643 students in the 2019-20 school year.

But, similar to what happened in Fresno Unified, that number significantly dropped in the 2020-21 school year to 462 students.

Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, the Sacramento Democrat who has long fought for universal transitional kindergarten, said the funding would help California “invest in our priorities.”

“There is a lot we can do in the short- and long-term here,” said McCarty, who also chairs the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance. “I think this is a great chance to properly invest in our kids.”

MORE MONEY TO OPEN SCHOOLS

The proposal banks on schools getting back to full-time, in-person learning by the fall, according to the administration officials. Newsom has in recent days reiterated that kids need to finally get back to the classroom after more than a year of interrupted instruction.

Local school districts like Fresno and Clovis Unified have made commitments to return to in-person learning five days in the fall.

Here are some of the other programs Newsom wants to fund:

▪ Expand after-school and summer school programs for low-income kids who qualify for free or reduced lunch, English language learners, and foster youth. To start, the plan allocates $1 billion in funding for several hours of additional instruction time, to increase to $5 billion by 2025-2026. Administration officials said up to 2.1 million kids could benefit from such an investment.

▪ Reduce staffing ratios in overcrowded classrooms by providing $1.1 billion in ongoing funds for disadvantaged schools to hire more teachers, counselors, nurses, and support staff.

▪ Provide $3 billion in one-time funding to help education agencies set up more so-called community schools, which provide additional services for families through local partnerships.

▪ Spend $3.3 billion over five years on teacher preparation and training programs.

“I believe the allocations to school districts should be kept flexible so local school boards can allocate funds to the highest need in their respective school districts,” FUSD Trustee Carol Mills told the Ed Lab in an email. “In FUSD, I feel we could allocate more to tutors, social and emotional support, and health and safety improvements on our campuses.”

Investments in digital access and technology are also needed, Islas and Jonasson Rosas said.

Digital access for students trying to learn through distance learning is definitely a big issue,” Islas said. “But is also true is how we need to support parents in gaining greater digital literacy themselves. The Governor’s funding could help us in building out more resources for parents, in particular those parents who had little education opportunities in their lives.”

Although it’s “great” that millions have trickled down to school districts in one-time funds since the pandemic began, Jonasson Rosas said, but what districts need are ongoing funds.

“It’s like if you get a bonus, you can’t plan to live on bonus year after year. That’s what hard for long-term investment,” Jonasson Rosas said. “If we wanted to do permanent investment, it’s hard with one times funds.”

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.

This story was originally published May 12, 2021 at 2:25 PM.