January 9, 2026— Politico reporter Eric He examines the growing backlash to Governor Newsom’s proposal to withhold $5.6 billion in constitutionally-mandated school funding—the second consecutive year he’s attempted such a deferral—speaking with managing attorney John Affeldt about how the administration is using budget uncertainty to short-change schools while claiming to make “the most significant investments in public education in California’s history.”

The budget maneuver would defer funding guaranteed under Proposition 98, the 1988 ballot measure that requires roughly 40 percent of the state’s general fund go to K-12 schools and community colleges. This comes after Newsom withheld $1.9 billion last year, prompting the California School Boards Association to sue the state. The group’s chief communications officer Troy Flint told Politico that “when the voters approved Proposition 98, it wasn’t a constitutional provision that was only to be honored when it was easy to do so,” and warned they will “be challenging that vigorously” if their analysis confirms the new deferral violates the constitution.

Affeldt described the deferral as the state giving a “very large IOU” to school funding after already making some “significant, transformative investments” so it can boost areas outside of education. The California Teachers Association also blasted the proposal, with President David Goldberg calling it “a shell game” that undermines Newsom’s State of the State promise. Education lobbyist Kevin Gordon warned Newsom was “cementing” budget manipulation as common practice: “You’re always going to have the excuse to short schools the money that they need in the coming school year.”

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