Public Advocates is also a member of Parents and Students for Great Schools (PSGS), a coalition composed of CFJ, PICO California and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE). This coalition represents more than half a million low- and moderate-income families statewide in 81 cities and 19 counties, 36 of 40 State Senate Districts, and 61 of 80 State Assembly Districts. PSGS works to engage parents, students, and community members in state-level education policy reform that addresses inadequacies and inefficiencies in the school finance system, invests in the data infrastructure needed to make informed decisions related to students and spending, and ensures that students with the greatest academic needs—low income students, students of color and English Learners—have access to equitable resources, including qualified, effective teachers.
Our statewide survey of low- and moderate-income families, Now That We Have the Facts found that 86 percent of respondents would be willing to pay more taxes to improve California schools as long as accountability, transparency and local involvement in deciding how education dollars are spent are also increased.
