By Dr. Margaret Fortune | CEO, Fortune School | Special to the OBSERVER
Governor Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal to direct $300 million in education funding to the state’s poorest schools dodges his pledge to address sagging academic achievement among the state’s lowest performing group – Black students. The problem lies in the funding’s focus. The Governor’s proposal directs funding to low-income schools rather than the lowest-performing student groups. There is a big difference.
Branded the “equity multiplier,” Administration officials claim the Governor’s proposal will close the academic achievement gap for Black students, who consistently fare worse academically than all other students across the state. But that outcome would be hard to achieve, given that very few Black students actually attend the state’s poorest schools that are the focus of Newsom’s plan. In fact, Black student enrollment in these schools is just 5 percent. While politicians often offer poverty as a proxy when asked to address stubborn racial disparities in student outcomes, the truth is Black students as a group underperform their peers regardless of income.
Who are the real beneficiaries of Newsom’s plan? Estimates show 75 percent of the $300 million in Newsom’s “equity multiplier” will go to Latino students, a student group that performs at the state average on the California School Dashboard, the tool the state uses to measure public school performance.
As it stands now, California’s Black students are the lowest-performing group of students not currently receiving state or federal supplemental funds, followed by Native American students. Looking at Black students specifically, 70% do not meet English Language Arts standards and 84% are below grade level in Math, compared to the state’s averages where 47% of students meet reading standards and 33% meet math standards.
Newsom introduced his “equity multiplier” in reaction to AB 2774, a race-neutral measure that would have triggered more school funding based on a student group’s low academic performance on state assessments in English Language Arts and Math. The measure was widely supported and passed through the California State legislature with unanimous, bipartisan support. In fact, there was no opposition to the bill. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle testified when the bill was heard that it was an idea “whose time had come.” Had Newsom signed AB 2774, it would have generated $533 million a year in additional funding for 81,000 unfunded Black students, not because of their race, but because of the student group’s terribly low academic performance.
But, rather than allowing AB 2774 to come to his desk, Newsom shelved it, saying he’d address the issue of Black student achievement raised by AB 2774 in his January budget. Yet that promise went unfulfilled. Under the Governor’s “equity multiplier” plan, Black students are poised to only receive $16 million, a perverse outcome for a proposal Administration officials tout as a remedy for persistently low Black student achievement. In proposing such a paltry sum in a state as large as California, Gov. Newsom has sent the message that Black students are worth less.
Tyrone Howard, director of the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools told EdSource, California hasn’t shied away from taking “unapologetic” action to improve the outcomes for groups such as English learners. He went on to say he worries there is a reluctance in the state to engage in any sustained effort focused on Black students, but said “bold and customized” solutions are exactly what these students need. Unfortunately, bold action is not what we are getting under Gov. Newsom. Instead, California has become the “don’t say Black” state as top policy-makers tiptoe around the issue.
Advocates from the Black In School Coalition have offered an alternative to the Governor’s proposal that would refocus the $300 million in funding on Black and Native American students, because they perform below the state average in at least two state indicators on the California School Dashboard. For example, Black students are below the state average in Math and graduation rates and above the state average in suspensions.
The Black In School Coalition, which includes 17 civil rights and education equity organizations, including the NAACP and Al Sharpton’s National Action Network Western Region, are holding a March for Black Student Equity this spring in which thousands of Black school children have registered to advocate in Sacramento alongside their parents and teachers as the Assembly Budget committee for education considers the Governor’s “equity multiplier.”
Now in its 10th year, California’s school funding mechanism called the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), has been helpful to some groups of students, but not to Blacks. Under the LCFF, the state provides more school funding to support three specific high needs student groups – English learners, low-income students and foster youth. “The fact that gains were felt by Latino students is encouraging,” said Bruce Fuller, a professor at the Berkeley School of Education. “Our inability to detect gains for Black students is worrisome.”
It is becoming increasingly clear that Black students and parents will have to make their voices heard in Sacramento to push elected leaders to deliver on their promises and ensure that as a group Black students are protected equally under the law when it comes to school funding.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Margaret Fortune is the President/CEO of the Fortune School of Education with 12 Preschool-12 public charter schools in Sacramento and San Bernardino counties, and whose work is pointed towards one North Star — to close the Black achievement gap. Fortune was an education adviser to two California Governors. Fortune School of Education was the sponsor of Assembly Bill 2774 (2022, Weber).