| ACOE Press Release Laura Forrest, Public Information Officer [email protected], 510-670-7754January 31, 2020 Hayward, CA – A first-of-its-kind organization in California is bringing together educational stakeholders to advocate for full and fair funding for public education. The East Bay Coalition for Public Education is organizing Fund Education Now Week from February 3 to 7 to call for solutions to the funding challenges school districts face in serving students. Coalition members are educational leaders representing the 18 school districts in Alameda County, including superintendents, school board members, students, parents, and union leadership representing both teachers and classified employees. California is home to over six million K-12 students and is the fifth largest economy in the world. Yet over the past 40 years, the state has fallen from among the top 10 in school funding to the current rank of 40th in education spending, nearly $10,000 per student behind the top-funded state in the nation. “The story for our students today is a tough one to tell and even tougher to live,” wrote Alameda County Superintendent of Schools L. Karen Monroe in a recent opinion article published in The Mercury News. “Without robust academic programs and essential services that will help to propel ALL students – not just those in the districts that can afford them – into our dynamic workforce, we are shortchanging generations of children.”In places where the cost of living is high, such as the Bay Area, educational funding is stretched that much further, deepening inequities and placing students at an increased disadvantage. In 11 Alameda County school districts, voters are being asked for help closing funding gaps with local measures on the March 3 ballot.Alameda County districts will be sharing information with their communities through the week, as well as holding events to help illustrate the need for increased funding for our schools. Scheduled activities are listed on the Fund Education Now Week website. Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2020-2021 budget proposal continues to move California school funding in the right direction and begins to address critical issues impacting students and districts across our state, but educational leaders agree that significantly more permanent investment is needed to put us back among the best in the country. For more information on the state of school funding in California, visit acoe.org/funding and fullandfairfunding.org.#FundCAed |
| TweetShareForwardAbout ACOE The Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE), under the leadership of County Superintendent of Schools L. Karen Monroe, serves as liaison between the California Department of Education and the 18 Alameda County public school districts that serve more than 200,000 students and 10,000 teachers. ACOE provides oversight of district budgets and Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs). ACOE also directly operates schools that serve Alameda County most vulnerable students: Court Schools at the Juvenile Justice Center, ACOE Opportunity Academy schools serving students 16 and older seeking a high school diploma, and Community Schools that serve foster youth, students in substance abuse treatment, pregnant and parenting teens, Probation-referred youth, and students expelled from their resident school districts. ACOE also runs the Infant & Family Support Program, which provides individualized service for children from birth to three years and their families. For more information, visit www.acoe.org. |
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