STATE NEWS
From the Capitol
CSEA heads into 2022 legislative session with six new sponsored proposals
Looking to build on CSEA’s legislative successes in the 2021 session, six new legislative proposals were approved by the Board of Directors at the November 20 board meeting. As CSEA prepares for another busy session, which began January 3, 2022, the nation's largest union of classified school employees is poised to carry on the momentum after all six sponsored bills from the 2021 session were signed into law, including top-priority bill AB 438 (Reyes), which finally provides classified employees with layoff notice parity.
Gov. Newsom’s budget proposal to prioritize education
Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget, the California Blueprint, will include a total of $119 billion for TK-12 education. For the first time in California history, Proposition 98 funding will exceed $100 billion, creating the highest level of per-pupil funding ever at $20,855 per student as the state pivots to rebound from lost learning opportunities and wellness challenges. “Your kids deserve what every fancy family gets, which is extra support. You deserve that, especially with all the social emotional damage that's been done because of this pandemic,” Governor Gavin Newsom said during his January 10 press conference.
Member-sponsored bill becomes law, California first state to offer universal transitional kindergarten
A small idea can often spark a big change. This is certainly what happened when members Debbie Narvaes and Suzette Bromagem identified a solution to a problem and teamed up to write a resolution to address it. Their resolution -- approved at the 2019 CSEA Annual Conference -- is what inspired Assembly Bill 22, the $2.7 billion program incorporated into this year’s state budget to extend universal full-day transitional kindergarten programs to all 4-year-olds statewide by the 2025-26 school year, instead of the current policy that only funds the program for students who turn five between September 2 and December 2.
