California’s long-term economic viability and competitiveness is directly connected to the quality of the education system in our state. The state that is home to Silicon Valley is 43rd in science. That’s unacceptable. California has to do a better job of educating our kids. If our schools don’t improve, our prisons will continue to be overcrowded, welfare costs will continue to spiral upward, and we will lose our ability to be a center of innovation. Our tax base will shrink further, putting more burdens on working families who will end up paying far more in taxes for inferior government services. It’s a cycle that must be reversed, and it has to start with game-changing education reform.
Meg is setting a goal of moving the state’s test scores from near worst in the nation to the front of the class.
Direct More Money to the Classroom
Only 60 percent of education spending in California actually reaches the classroom. Meg will usher in reforms that will collapse the state’s more than 50 categorical grants, many of which are duplicative and far too prescriptive, into simplified grants for special education, rewarding outstanding teachers and schools, and other programs that contribute to greater student achievement. The remaining state funding will flow directly to local school districts in the form of a unified block grant that can be used as local administrators, principals, teachers and parents deem best.
We invite you to share Meg's vision for A New California. Please feel free to pass along our original news from the campaign trail.
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