BURLINGAME – The new year brings a good first step in helping the state’s public schools of greatest need. The California Teachers Association today launches a statewide radio ad campaign focusing on a new CTA-sponsored law that brings nearly $3 billion in state funds to those schools and students that need help the most.
The new Quality Education Investment Act “means smaller class sizes, more school counselors, and quality teacher training,” CTA President Barbara E. Kerr says in the ad. “And it’s flexible, so local schools can target programs to best meet the needs of their students.”
Many of these students are living in poverty or are English language learners who will benefit from this law’s intent to close the student achievement gap. More resources are needed, however, because the new law can only fund about 500 of the 1,500 schools eligible to apply. “It’s a good start, but reaches only one-third of the schools that need help,” Kerr notes in the radio spot. “With even more support, we can reach more schools and ensure that all students get the education they deserve.”
The disadvantaged schools eligible to apply for $2.9 billion, which is allocated over seven years, are all ranked in the lowest two deciles of the state’s Academic Performance Index. CTA research shows that these Deciles 1 and 2 schools have 134 percent more English learners than other schools in California; 98 percent more lower-income students in the free and reduced-price lunch program; and 167 percent more students whose parents did not graduate from high school.
CTA Vice President David A. Sanchez delivers the same messages in the Spanish version of the ads. They will air on 85 radio stations in every media market across the state. Schools are expected to be able to begin applying for the funding later this month.
The CTA fact sheet and radio spots on the Quality Education Investment Act (SB 1133) are on the CTA website. More information about the law is on the California Department of Education website.