Educators Appreciate Gov. Newsom’s Ongoing Commitment and Support in 2022-23 Budget Proposal

BURLINGAME – California Teachers Association President E. Toby Boyd, a kindergarten educator, issued the following statement about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2022-23 state budget proposal:

“California educators appreciate Gov. Newsom’s ongoing commitment to our neighborhood public schools and colleges reflected in the 2022-23 state budget proposal. The fast-spreading Omicron COVID-19 variant is adding new challenges, with thousands of students and educators testing positive and creating significant staffing shortages. We remain committed to keeping our schools open for in-person teaching and learning but to do so, schools must have proper safety measures, access to testing and adequate staffing. We appreciate the governor’s continued safety efforts and urge the state to provide rapid COVID tests in our schools, provide high-quality N95 or KN95 masks for educators and all school staff and proper ventilation. COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave for all workers in California must be a priority to allow school employees to quarantine, recover and return to their students and classrooms.

“The unprecedented investments prioritized in today’s budget proposal will be instrumental in the learning resiliency and recovery of our eight million students. We appreciate the record $102 billion in Prop. 98 funding, the $3.3 billion in discretionary LCFF funds to meet and adapt to local needs of students. The pandemic has made clear that living in the state with the fifth largest economy in the world doesn’t mean all students in our schools and communities have the resources and services they need to succeed. We commend the governor’s proposals for investing in academic programs, particularly the continued $3 billion for community schools which will allow parents, educators and local communities to work together to identify and prioritize much-needed services and resources.

“Access to early childhood education and transitional kindergarten for all students is essential to giving our youngest learners the strong start they need. We appreciate the governor’s commitment to ensure learning readiness, and the significant funding for higher education will help ensure more students can afford college.

“We are reviewing the details outlined in the budget proposal and look forward to working with Gov. Newsom and the legislature over the next several months to provide all students with equal access to a quality public education that is focused on the needs of each individual student.”

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