Our Union applauded historic investments in public education while remaining cautious about the lack of full funding guaranteed by Proposition 98, in response to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s initial 2025–26 state budget proposal in January.

“We are excited to see so many transformative education initiatives supported by CTA members come to fruition in this state budget, including investments in transitional kindergarten, school nutrition and professional development,” CTA President David Goldberg said. “However, we are concerned that the proposed budget does not allocate the full funding guaranteed by Prop. 98.”

Our union remains cautious about the state budget proposal, especially the lack of full education funding guaranteed by Proposition 98.

“In the coming months, our union will carefully monitor the required funding levels for schools and community colleges to ensure full funding is provided to our students in a timely manner, without unnecessary delay.”

—CTA President David Goldberg

Goldberg said that despite a promising economic outlook, some school districts have already started issuing layoff notices to educators.

“We will work to ensure there are no layoffs to educators and school employees this year, especially as we face a budget with higher than anticipated revenues for our state,” Goldberg said. “Layoffs are devastating and chaotic for educators, students and communities. In this moment, more than ever, our schools must continue to be safe and stable centers for our students and communities.”

Highlights of the budget proposal include: Prop. 98: The Prop. 98 minimum funding levels for public schools and community colleges are projected to be $119.2 billion in 2024–25 and $118.9 billion in 2025–26. These revised Prop. 98 levels result in an increase of $7.5 billion over a three-year period. The governor proposes $117.6 billion, instead of $119.2 billion in 2024–25, $1.6 billion below the calculated Prop. 98 level, with the stated intent to “mitigate the risk of potentially appropriating more resources to the Guarantee than are ultimately available in the final calculation for 2024–25.” Potential adjustments will be evaluated in the May Revision.

“In the coming months, our union will carefully monitor the required funding levels for schools and community colleges to ensure full funding is provided to our students in a timely manner, without unnecessary delay,” said Goldberg.

Per Pupil Spending for TK–12 Education: Per-pupil funding totals $18,918 in Prop. 98 funding ($564 above the 2024 Budget Act) and $24,764 per pupil when accounting for all funding sources ($138 above the 2024 Budget Act).

Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF): The budget includes a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of 2.43% for the LCFF. When combined with student attendance adjustments, the budget includes an increase of $2.5 billion in Prop. 98 funding for the LCFF. Total LCFF funding proposed for school districts, charter schools and county offices of education is $84.8 billion in 2025–26.

Transitional Kindergarten (TK): Includes a total of $2.4 billion ongoing Prop. 98 funding to support the full implementation of universal transitional kindergarten, so that all children who turn four years old by Sept. 1 can enroll in TK (providing access to roughly 60,000 additional children). The budget also provides an additional $1.5 billion ongoing Prop 98 funding to support further lowering of the average student-to-adult ratio from 12-to-1 to 10-to-1 in every TK classroom.

Educator Workforce: Includes the following proposals related to the educator workforce —

• Provides $150 million in one-time Prop. 98 funding to provide financial assistance for teacher candidates through a new Teacher Recruitment Incentive Grant Program.
• Allocates an additional $100 million in one-time Prop. 98 funding to extend the timeline of the existing National Board Certification Incentive Program to support National Board Certified teachers to teach and mentor other instructional staff in high-poverty schools.
• Includes $50 million in one-time General Fund monies to support the existing Golden State Teacher Grant Program to support students enrolled in teacher preparation programs who commit to working in a high-need school site after program completion.

Literacy Instruction: Provides $500 million in one-time Prop. 98 funding for TK–12 Literacy and Mathematics Coaches, which funds high-poverty schools to train and hire literacy, reading and mathematics specialists to support educators and provide interventions for students with the greatest need, including one-on-one and small group tutoring.

Community Colleges: Total of $14.8 billion for California’s community colleges, an increase of $851 million from last year. Includes a 2.43% COLA for Student Centered Funding Formula apportionments.

Note: This budget is only a proposal and must be negotiated with the Legislature.