Gavin Newsom
A: My top education priority as governor has been to reduce barriers and increase opportunities across the board for our students, and this year’s budget invests more than any in state history to bridge gaps and help all our kids learn — $123.9 billion in total, making this the highest per-pupil spending ever in California. This historic budget includes a new $20 billion investment to transform California public schools into full-service community schools with wraparound services — from mental health, to social and family services, to tutoring and after-school programs — the kind of complete campus every parent would want for their child. And we’re making a historic investment for universal pre-K. With these investments, we are creating an educational system that supports students from the moment they enter the classroom.
John Cox
The No. 1 thing we have to do is get all our kids back in school. I was the first candidate to call for a return to school. As governor, I will do everything possible to make sure our children are safely in classrooms and learning in person. If it means withholding money from districts that won’t educate our children, so be it.
Larry Elder
Where do public school teachers send their own kids? A prominent Thomas B. Fordham Institute study from 2004 suggests that public school teachers are substantially more likely to send their kids to private schools than the general public. In fact, half of third-graders in California can’t read at grade level. Parents want the choice to avoid sending their children to underperforming schools.
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was asked why he did not have his own kids in public school despite his strong advocacy of public education. Villaraigosa, whose wife was a public school teacher, said, “I’m doing like every parent does. I’m going to put my kids in the best school I can … but I won’t sacrifice my children any more than I could ask you to do the same.” Likewise, Newsom had his kids in private schools throughout the pandemic, while all public schools in Sacramento County remained closed.
When I was in high school, I was bused from Crenshaw High School to Fairfax High School. For the first time in my life I got a D grade. I went home and told my mother that I felt like I had gotten ripped off. I knew that if I had had the same access to quality instruction as the students at Fairfax, I could have kept up with them. But I didn’t. My mom started crying and said, “Larry, I know your father and I should have put you in a better school, we didn’t have the money … maybe someday you can grow up and do something about it.” That someday is now.
Kevin Faulconer
A: As a parent, I strongly believe schools need to be open full time this fall for in-person learning in accordance with what we now know about COVID-19 from doctors and scientists. Students can’t afford another year of learning loss. The effects on their mental health and development have been devastating. My top education priority will be to ensure schools are open this fall, full time.
I’m also going to work to give parents and children the help needed to catch up on the education loss from the previous year. I also proposed providing parents an education stimulus to help with some of the costs of COVID-19 and cover tutoring services to help kids catch up.
Kevin Kiley
A: Gavin Newsom is setting the stage for another school shutdown. That will not happen if I replace him. My top priority is to ensure that every school will be open. Full-time, five days a week, no excuses.
But we can’t stop there. California was 50 out of 50 in getting kids back to the classroom. This had devastating impacts on academic outcomes, student mental health and working families. And our state was failing students long before COVID-19. We need a fundamental shift in education policy.
I strongly believe that your ZIP code shouldn’t be your destiny: that quality public education options must be available to all students. I have fought for school choice in the state Legislature, and have often been one of the few voices willing to speak out against the corrupt education establishment that is the status quo.
In California, it must be said, school choice is already fully available to a portion of the population: wealthy families like Gavin Newsom’s who can pay private tuition or move to a neighborhood with quality public schools. The prevailing education agenda at our state Capitol seeks to entrench this inequity.
A school choice agenda, by contrast, seeks to overcome it by putting every California parent in the driver’s seat, regardless of where they live or how much money they make. That is what I will fight for if elected governor.
Doug Ose
A: My No. 1 priority in public education is to give parents school choice with ADA funding that follows the child to whichever school the parents select. Closely behind school choice is shifting final control of classroom curriculum from the Sacramento-based state Board of Education to local school boards, because that’s where parents can hold elected trustees accountable. School choice will require either a significant turnover among elected legislators, or a voter-approved initiative requiring it. My appointments to the state Board of Education will be selected on the basis that control of curriculum will be shifted to local school boards.
Kevin Paffrath
A: My top priority in education is teaching practical skills. I propose “future schools.” Future schools will combine college, vocational school, high school and financial education. Starting at the age of 16, high school students will be given the choice to attend a future school or a traditional high school.
Future schools will partner with small, medium and large companies to develop a curriculum that will teach students career skills so they can be employed right after high school. While there will be dozens of career paths available to students, three examples would be computer programmer, nursing assistant or electrical engineer. These careers all have high starting salaries in California. High school graduates who go into these fields won’t be forced to rely on the social safety net of Medi-Cal and food stamps. Instead, these graduates will have a career that pays them a living wage without having to take out a penny of student debt, and they’ll have access to these services for free.
Separate future schools will also be available to adults: This means low-wage earners, homeless people, impoverished communities, and/or inmates will have access to separate future schools for adults. These schools will pay $2,000 per month so these individuals can afford to return to school and learn new skills, a financial education and a career. This helps break the cycle of poverty, crime and homelessness.
