Monday, the California legislature voted to pass the state budget by the June 15 deadline; however, negotiations continue until Governor Newsom signs the budget on July 1. The proposed budget includes $1 billion in ongoing funding for community schools.
Over the past few months, there have been debates about whether the funding should be one-time or ongoing. Katy Nunez-Adler, statewide coordinator for the California Partnership for the Future of Learning, expressed hope that, through continued negotiations, the outcome will remain positive for community schools.
“We’re really hopeful, because, currently, there are 2,495 high schools who are receiving the community schools partnership program grant,” said Nunez-Adler. “This $1 billion investment will expand access by another 3,700 schools. So it means that there’ll be access for over 6,000 of our 10,000 schools across the state of California. And this is an equity investment. So this is focused on those students and those schools and communities who have been historically underinvested.”
Nunez-Adler explained that having ongoing funding allows schools to invest in long-term visions and truly see a transformation in California schools. The funding can go into finding new partners, staffing, and other collaborative efforts.
“Part of what’s so critical about it is that we’re able to really leverage and create coherence across all of the different kinds of investments, because this really is a strategy. It is not a program. And so part of what it does is it helps us to integrate and align, expanded learning, high school transformation, college and career pathways, mental health and wellness, the multi-tier system of support, all of the integration, within the education system, and also the investments on the social service side,” said Nunez-Adler.
She emphasized that it is critical for legislators to keep in mind the stories of success that families have been sharing across the state as they advocate for ongoing funding. She stated that students and families have gone to the state capital five times in the last few months to tell legislators how important the community schools model is for them.
Part of the community school model is having shared decision-making with the schools, students, and community members. She stated that community schools provide a multi-racial and multi-lingual democratic process. One example Nunez-Adler spoke to is Eureka, where students and families did not feel included in school decision-making, and how that has transformed over time, leading to an English language advisory committee.
“Really beginning to fortify and have an English language advisory committee that then has become a shared decision-making team, and now has grown into a parent leadership committee that is working alongside youth, and really leveraging learning about how the partnerships and individualized learning can support the young people and having a completely different set of life options. So we’re seeing that kind of partnership happening all across the state,” explained Nunez-Adler.
The process of taking the feedback from the community and putting it into action is exactly what Nunez-Adler says advocates hope to see more of as funding is disbursed to schools. She stated that the practice of listening to the community and forming decision-making teams is also part of the trailer bill language for community schools.
“So the shared decision making is really about looking at the data, including the qualitative data of listening to the community, looking at where the equity gaps are, understanding what the vision, what the goals are that are shared, developing those together, and developing the powerful strategies that they’re going to use to impact them and the whole school community in the process,” said Nunez-Adler.
In a broader context, Nunez-Adler stated that funding community schools is essential as communities are grappling with many federal cuts that could impact them.
“It’s really critical that community schools are supported because they’re really proving that public education works, and right now, when families are facing unprecedented threats to their basic needs, this funding ensures that schools they turn to will be there for them and that that funding is really there,” said Nunez-Adler.
She referenced a common saying of “it takes a village to raise a child,” explaining that bringing in the community for the decision-making process is really a way to lean into that village.
“So having a shared decision-making team, looking at all that information, building those relationships, coming up with plans, implementing the plans together, sharing that with the broader community,” said Nunez-Adler. “So the broader community can own what’s happening as well. New people can get involved, and it takes a village. So many hands make light work. And the more folks that get involved, the more that we can really transform our schools and really create a different set of life opportunities for our people.”
