“It’s disappointing and certainly ironic that in the proclaimed ‘year of education,’ the governor is talking about cutting billions of dollars from our public schools. It’s not the conversation we hoped to be having this year. Our students must be a top priority. Our students and schools have been making progress, with reading scores up 25 percent and math scores increasing 17 percent in the last four years. If we want this progress to continue, now is not the time to be cutting funding to our public schools. Our students didn’t create this budget crisis, and their education shouldn’t be ransomed to solve it.
“Any structural budget reforms must protect our minimum school funding guarantee. California voters approved Proposition 98 almost 20 years ago to ensure that our students and schools receive minimum funding. We can’t keep asking our teachers, students and schools to do more with less.
“Acting boldly on behalf of California means boldly investing in our students and public schools. We look forward to working with the governor and the Legislature to make sure all students get the quality education they deserve.”