October 21, 2024—Lookout Santa Cruz’s education reporter Hillary Ojeda explains how Proposition 2, a $10 billion bond on the November California ballot that (if passed) would provide $8.5 billion for new construction and renovations for K-12 schools and community colleges—and what that means for districts across Santa Cruz. Public Advocates has argued that the funding structure within Prop 2 favors wealthier districts at the expense of lower-wealth districts. However, the need is very high across Santa Cruz districts.
Because of this disparity, civil rights law firm Public Advocates has threatened to sue the state, and said Proposition 2 included this “unconstitutional structural flaw.”
“As study after study has demonstrated, over the past 25 years, California’s universal 60% match for modernization funds has delivered more than four times as much state bond funds per student to wealthy districts as low-wealth districts,” the firm wrote in a release.
Public Advocates urged the state to change its matching formula to address the disparity.
