On April 14, there will be a state budget hearing to decide the funding for the community schools initiative in California. According to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS), the community schools take a strategy of addressing “the whole child” by fostering partnerships between the educators, students, families, and other partners.
In January, Gavin Newsom proposed $1 billion in ongoing funding for community schools. A press release from this office explains that the first cohort of schools that became community schools is “showing significant reductions in chronic absenteeism, reduced suspensions, and improved test scores and academic achievement, with the largest gains for historically underserved students.”
In February, Gabriel Petek, the legislative analyst for California, disagreed with the funding proposal and recommended a one-time round of additional funding.
“We have concerns about funding the model at such a large scale and establishing a new ongoing categorical program restricted for specific purposes,” said Petek in a document discussing several budget proposals.
The community schools were done through planning and implementation grants from the California Community Schools Partnership Program, starting in the 2021-2022 school year. The original five-year grant is set to end in the 2026-2027 school year. Katy Nunez-Adler, statewide coordinator for the California Partnership for the Future of Learning, has seen the impact community schools have and stated she and other advocates are pushing for the funding to be ongoing.
“This has been making a historic impact on young people in California, and we were like, we have to continue with it,” said Nunez-Adler. “This is not just about a pilot and one-time, you know, funds. This is about, like, our ongoing vision for transforming education for Black and Brown, Indigenous, English learner students across our state.”
The California Partnership for the Future of Learning did a listening campaign in 2025 to understand the impact of community schools. According to a two-pager summarizing the report on the campaign, they spoke to communities, students, and families.
“Their message is clear: policymakers, school and district leaders must partner with California’s students and families to defend and advance our progressive vision of public education that not only supports individual students to thrive — but also builds engaged communities with the skills to protect children and families, and sustain our multi-racial democracy,” the report states.
Nunez-Adler said families, youth, and organizers are planning to attend the budget hearing to show their support for the ongoing funding.
“We want to be in the room and influence what’s happening and make sure that students and families across the state are speaking on their own behalf to say, this is what we want, and we want to see this continue,” she explained.
If the funding is approved, the 2,500 schools that are already a part of the program would have ongoing funding, and around 3,700 new schools would be eligible for the grant, according to Petek’s analysis.
Nunez-Adler explained that the importance of community schools is the partnership to create relevant learning opportunities for the students and the relationship building that happens during the process.
“The center and the heart of that, really, is relationships and being able to build that relational trust to then create that kind of capacity to transform what’s happening in schools,” said Nunez-Adler. “Then, in addition, as you build those partnerships with the community, with the families, with the youth. You grow your capacity to do more in the schools, right? Because our schools are still underfunded. And so, when we have a bigger team, and people are collaboratively creating and owning the plan and the vision for a school, then they’re also going to throw down, right, to actually help to make that happen.”
She stated that the relationships built in the community schools do not stop within the four walls of a classroom.
“The community school really helps to create the capacity and welcomes in the community, but also spills out into the community, so that it’s more integrated,” said Nunez-Adler. “And you may have local businesses, industry partners, others that are partnering, again, through that, web of relationships, and people really bringing their full selves in, rather than a school situation where it’s like staff feels like, we got this, we don’t need your help, or maybe people may be afraid, or feel like that’s my job, is to be taking care of it. If I’m not doing it, then there’s something wrong. It’s like, no, we’re in this together. This is about partnering.”
One example she gave of co-creation between staff and students is when a school in Anaheim wanted to transition to fewer classes with longer periods each day. The goal was to integrate AP classes and career development opportunities, but the students pushed back because it was different from what they were used to. Nunez-Adler explained that, instead of canceling the plan or proceeding without hearing from the students, they held a listening session with the students during lunch.
She explained that the students had the opportunity to discuss their feelings and hear from the principal. So, while the school proceeded with the redesign in classes, it was with the students having a better understanding to ease the transition.
As she has spoken to many students, many of them seniors in high school, have said they know the changes may not always affect them, but they hope to create a change for those who come behind them. Nunez-Adler hopes that during the budget hearing, the teens’ care and passion will be felt.
“I hope that they’re really gonna be able to feel the passion. The commitment, the real impact that this approach is having on transforming opportunities for young people,” said Nunez-Adler. “And because over 20 of the people that are going with us are youth, they’re high schoolers. I hope that they will really respect and honor the wisdom of young people across the state of California who are organizing and advocating and saying, this is changing our lives, the lives of our peers, the lives of our siblings, and the people coming behind us, and we really want to see this continue.”
