Sacramento, CA — CFT– A Union of Educators and Classified Professionals released the following statement from President Jeff Freitas on the 2023-2024 state budget signed by Governor Gavin Newsom today:

“In adopting the 2023-2024 state budget, Governor Newsom and the California Legislature have once again shown their firm commitment to protecting public education in California. Fully funding the 8.22% statutory COLA for both TK-12 and community college systems, and increasing the base funding for UC by 5%, provides critical ongoing funding  to address the pressing needs of our schools, including solving the growing staffing crisis in our TK-12 schools and eliminating the inequitable two-tier system for faculty in higher education.

“We are thankful to Assembly Speaker Emeritus Anthony Rendon and Senate Pro Tem Atkins for their leadership in preventing substantial cuts to critical funding, including the Arts, Music, and Instructional Materials Block Grant, the K-12 Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant, and the Community College COVID-19 Recovery Block Grant. 

“We look forward to working with our elected leaders in Sacramento to build on the important work of this pro-public education budget. There is no better place to start than passing AB 938 (Muratsuchi), which supports funding increases to raise educator and school worker wages by 50% in the near future and allows districts to hire the sorely needed staff to educate and support our students.

“And we can and must do more. We are committed to working with our allies in our communities, the labor movement, and Sacramento to raise revenue for public education through progressive taxation to ultimately deliver the quality public education that every California student deserves.”

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CFT – A Union of Educators and Classified Professionals represents 120,000 teachers, faculty, and school employees in public and private schools and colleges, from early childhood through higher education. It is the statewide affiliate of the AFT.