Compounding state, national teacher shortage, Newsom’s proposed underfunding of Prop 98 weaponized by districts

BURLINGAME: This year, Governor Newsom proposes to cut $5.6 billion from Prop 98, California’s constitutional school funding guarantee. Now, administrators at more than 100 California school districts have weaponized the Governor’s proposal by issuing at least 2,400 preliminary layoff notices, all while the Governor touts historic, high funding for education.

Each year, California school districts issue preliminary layoff notices by March 15, leaving educators on edge for two months –when notices are either rescinded or finalized by May 15– to see if they’ll be coming back to their classrooms the next school year. 2,400 is merely the number of Reduction-In-Force (RIF) notices in CTA-represented districts. The total could be higher and may also grow in the coming days.

As the stability of the profession is under attack by local, state, and federal administrations through defunding and deprioritization, California educators continue to be on the frontlines of the fight for public education. At a time when morale among educators is at an all-time low, recent reports show that nearly 50 percent of California educators plan to leave the profession entirely in the next decade.

“Educators are already struggling to make ends meet in this worsening affordability crisis. The Governor himself cites that our state has the fourth-largest economy in the world, with revenue projections continuing to grow. It’s outrageous for anyone to think about diverting funding from public education and the future of California students by dipping into Prop 98 funding,” said CTA president David B. Goldberg.

California voters passed Prop. 98, nearly four decades ago, to enshrine funding for public schools into the state constitution. The governor’s proposal violates this promise by failing to provide the full amount of funding the Constitution demands. It withholds $5.6 billion from schools to cover up the State’s ongoing budget deficit. This is money that, under the Constitution, should be going to classrooms this year. Unless corrected by the Legislature, this shell game will result in larger class sizes, even less mental health support for students, and further deepen the escalating recruitment and retention crisis of public school teachers.

“On top of fighting for and often self-funding the basic resources we need to do our jobs, the moral injury of getting a layoff notice then having to wait two months to see if our job exists next year is driving deeply committed, highly qualified educators from the profession,” said CTA Secretary Treasurer Erika Jones.

Jones, an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles, once received a layoff notice in the middle of the school day while teaching kindergarten.

These layoff notices underscore the need for robust funding and increases in revenues for the state. Just last year, the 2025-2026 approved state budget underfunded Prop. 98 by $1.9 billion, and students and teachers are still grappling with the devastating impacts of those cuts. In a time of national uncertainty with mounting attacks on education gaining traction at the federal level, threatening cuts to education funding in California will only compound the funding gaps we see in classrooms.

“Prop 98 isn’t a piggy bank you get to borrow from. It’s the law that entitles our students to the funding they need to learn,” said Goldberg. “Prop 98 is the floor–– not the ceiling–– and this Governor is trying to dig a big hole in that floor instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share.”

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The 310,000-member CTA is affiliated with the 3-million-member National Education Association.