(The Center Square) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing spending $24,746 per student in the fiscal year 2025-2026 budget as the majority of students continue to fail to meet basic standards in any subject.
Newsom’s proposed spending is an inflation-adjusted 30% higher than a decade ago, but students now perform worse in reading and math than they did in the 2015-2016 school year, highlighting academic research finding little correlation between education spending and educational outcomes.
In his budget preview, Newsom compared his proposed spending with that of a decade ago, which for the 2015-2016 fiscal year was $14,240 per pupil — or an inflation-adjusted $18,963.
In the 2015-2016 school year, 49% of California students met or exceeded basic reading standards, while just 37% met or exceeded math standards. Almost a decade later, California students are performing slightly worse; in the 2023-2024 school year, 47% of students met or exceeded English standards, while 35.5% met math standards.