Скачать или смотреть "We can't center student wellbeing without the proper facilities" | Dr. Summer Prather-Smith

California students urgently need school facility funding from the state to modernize outdated and unsafe facilities. We must pass an education bond this year because there are billions of dollars in unmet needs.

In moving forward with a much-needed education bond, however, it is crucial that our state legislature and the Newsom administration first fix the inequitable and unconstitutional system of school facility financing in California. Currently, low-wealth districts receive substantially less state facility funding per student compared to their higher wealth counterparts—even though they have greater modernization needs and less ability to raise local funds. This means, as Dr. Prather-Smith describes, some schools having to offer services in retrofitted storage closets—or not being able to offer services at all.

Through this system, wealthy school districts can build theaters and STEM labs and pools. But low-wealth neighborhoods, who have been historically ignored and underinvested in—who need more funds to meet the needs of their students​—are stuck using what funds they have to repair HVAC systems and maintain the conditions of their existing buildings​. The result is an unequal and unconstitutional system in which students in low-wealth districts receive an education inferior to that of their peers in higher-wealth districts.

Join Public Advocates and impacted students, families, educators, and grassroots community organizations across the state who are urging for an equitable education bond by signing onto our petition: https://campaigns.organizefor.org/pet...