Gov. Newsom and California legislators ignored state constitution, withheld nearly $6 billion from voter-approved minimum public school funding guarantee

BURLINGAME: The California Teachers Association, today, filed a lawsuit against the withholding of nearly $6 billion in constitutionally guaranteed Prop. 98 funding from California public schools in the 2025-2026 and 2024-25 school years. These funds were guaranteed to public schools through Prop. 98, enshrined in the California constitution for nearly 40 years.    

Details of the suit were announced in a press conference this morning. The California Teachers Association filed a petition for a writ of mandate and a complaint for declaratory relief; seeking intervention from the courts to recuperate the $3.9 billion withholding in 2025-26, declare the $1.9 billion withholding in 2024-25 as unconstitutional, and safeguard against future additional withholding of public school funding.

California Teachers Association President David Goldberg released the following statement regarding the lawsuit announcement:

Today, our union of 310,000 educators is fighting back because Gov. Newsom and the Legislature have repeatedly failed to follow the constitution. We are filing a lawsuit to demand the protection of Prop 98. We are demanding a return of the funds that have been withheld so that our students and communities can be saved from yet another year of devastating educator layoffs and unnecessary cuts.

The law is clear. We will see this lawsuit through to the very end. We believe in our legal standing because we believe in the Californians who passed Prop. 98 decades ago and we believe in Californians today who love our public schools. The governor can end this harm to students and communities anytime – return the withheld funds immediately and declare that withholding is a violation of the constitution. At a time when the Trump administration is working to erode our democracy, California’s elected leaders should uphold our constitution and the will of the voters. We all deserve elected leaders who will protect democracy and work with public school teachers to make our schools #1 in the nation.

Just a few months ago, educators throughout California, in small towns and big cities, called on their legislators to reject Gov. Newsom’s shell game and his budget proposal to withhold billions of dollars for our public schools. We shared how eroding Prop. 98 would violate our constitution and cause great harm. We warned that local school districts would threaten layoffs, school closures, and kick off the new school year with cuts when our students deserve investments.  

Rather than raise new revenue, Gov. Newsom and the Legislature moved forward anyway – the final budget withheld $3.9 billion from our constitutionally mandated guarantee for public school funding. This is after withholding $1.9 billion last year. California is the fourth largest economy in the world – how are cuts to public schools on the table?

Nearly 1,000 public school educators were laid off last year. Our economy is booming, yet we just crushed the careers of public school teachers and disrupted communities up and down the state. Even just a threat of withholding Prop. 98 dollars led school districts to justify these devastating layoff notices. This is totally unacceptable.

While Gov. Newsom touts that “California is the #1 state for venture capital,” California also ranks 36th in the nation on per pupil spending when accounting for its capacity to invest, and ranks fifth among the nation for the highest educator-to-student ratios in the country.

Far too many educators are struggling to make ends meet and feel that their schools are underfunded. Just this year, we surveyed 2,000 educators: 80 percent believe that California schools don’t have enough resources to meet student needs, and 83 percent are concerned about affording basic cost of living expenses, like gas, groceries and electric bills. This is why we demanded to fully fund Prop. 98. This is why so many were outraged at the idea of eroding the FLOOR for funding California public schools.

And we are fighting back in more ways than one. This weekend, we launched an unprecedented grassroots campaign to pass Prop. 3. Passing Prop. 3 this November will safeguard nearly $15 billion a year for California’s public schools that would otherwise expire in 2030. This is a permanent extension for Prop. 30 and Prop. 55. If we don’t pass Prop. 3, the wealthiest would get a tax break, while 1 out of 6 educators could lose their jobs. We’re not going to let that happen.

###

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