Newsom’s Education Legacy: Rising Costs, Declining Performance
Dear John,
Earlier this month, Governor Gavin Newsom submitted his proposed 2026-27 budget to the legislature, weighing in at nearly $349 billion. His budget plan came one day after he gave the last State of the State address of his term, in which he touted California’s “record-breaking” education spending.
Newsom painted California as a model for “nation-leading investments” in education. But a closer examination reveals taxpayer dollars increasingly fund programs that expand the role of public schools in children's lives, even as academic performance continues to fall short.
“Key accomplishments” in Newsom’s education budget proposals include:
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Expanded access to free preschool programs for two-, three-, and four-year-olds,
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Community schools and school-based behavioral health services,
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Expanded school hours with before, after, and summer school programs,
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Universal school meals, and
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Literacy programs, including reading specialists and dyslexia screening.
The proposed budget’s education provisions total $149.1 billion for all programs from Transitional Kindergarten to Grade 12. This translates to per-pupil spending of $27,418 “when accounting for all funding sources, a 60.8 percent increase over 2018-19… the highest level ever for California schools.”
The $149.1 billion figure dwarfs not only the education budget when Newsom was elected in 2018 ($97.2 billion), but also total general fund expenditures that year ($140.39).
The cost increase comes despite a falling student population. Student enrollment fell from just under 6.19 million when Newsom was elected to 5.8 million in the most recent school year — even after California added Transitional Kindergarten as a new grade, enrolling more than 177,000 four- and five-year-olds last year. Universal Transitional Kindergarten reached full implementation this school year (2025-26), but the new grade is not making up for the state’s overall loss of enrollment.
Meanwhile, a growing portion of California public school students are choosing charter schools. Over the course of Newsom’s time as governor, California charter schools gained more than 74,700 students.
To justify increased costs despite falling enrollment, Newsom points to student performance, saying, “Just this year, we've seen improved academic achievement in every subject area, in every grade level, in every student group.”
Though Smarter Balanced testing showed a slight uptick in California students’ performance overall from 2023-24 to 2024-25, proficiency is still below pre-COVID levels for reading and math despite a roughly 33 percent increase in funding since 2019-20.
According to National Association of Educational Progress data, California fourth graders scored two points below the national average for reading in 2022, and by 2024, the gap widened slightly to three points. California fourth graders also scored four points below the national average in math in both 2022 and 2024. NAEP data additionally shows that the state’s eighth graders scored on par with the national average in reading in 2022, but by 2024 slipped two points lower. They remained three points below the national average in math for both 2022 and 2024.
Problems with student preparedness, specifically regarding math and reading, were highlighted by a November report from the University of California San Diego. The report says that “Between 2020 and 2025, the number of freshmen whose math placement exam results indicate them not meeting high school standards grew nearly thirtyfold,” at UCSD. It also says the university has a significant share of incoming students who “must take additional writing courses to reach the level expected of high school graduates.”
These results are not commensurate with California’s education spending, having among the highest per-pupil expenditures in the nation. California Policy Center reported last year:
“While Massachusetts spends slightly less per student ($21,885) than California, the state far outranked California [in 2024] on fourth and eighth grade reading and math. Even low-expenditure states like Idaho and Montana, with per-pupil spending of about $10,000 and $13,500 respectively, impressively outperformed California for both subjects in fourth and eighth grades. While these low-population states aren’t a perfect apples-to-apples comparison to California, they demonstrate that high spending is not a necessary prerequisite for better outcomes, and vice versa.”
Mississippi, a relatively low-expenditure state (spending an average of $14,600 per pupil in 2024), was able to prove that tried-and-true, evidence-based teaching methods are far more meaningful than the dollar amount spent per pupil. Dubbed the “Mississippi Miracle,” the state that once had among the worst student achievement in literacy was tied for 7th place in the nation in the 2024 NAEP rankings for fourth grade reading.
California’s weak academic results stem from a system dominated by insatiable teachers unions that aggressively block reforms and alternatives to the status quo. Newsom said in his January 8th speech that “it's long overdue that we modernize the management of our educational system.” In reality, teachers unions have become the de facto managers of California’s education system, and until their political influence is checked, students will continue to pay the price.
— By Sheridan Karras, Research Manager at California Policy Center, and Lance Christensen, CPC's Vice President of Government Affairs and Education Policy. Share this article.
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