CA school board president on Newsom's $2 billion COVID learning loss approval: "Admission of failure"

The allocation of $2 billion by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to address learning loss from COVID lockdowns is a "stark admission of failure," according to a Chino Valley school board president.

Sonia Shaw, the President of the Chino Valley Unified School District Board, admitted to the failures that occurred during the recent settlement in which California agreed to spend $2 billion to help children impacted by lost learning and mental health issues caused by school closures.

The state of California has been mandated to spend $2 billion to assist students in overcoming the learning loss they experienced following the resolution of the Cayla J. v. California lawsuit in February. Governor Newsom authorized the distribution of these funds on June 29 through Senate Bill 153.

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly every school in California was locked down for in-person learning and students attended school remotely from home.

The Golden State will allocate the remaining COVID-19 relief funds towards tutoring and other initiatives aimed at aiding students in overcoming the academic setbacks caused by the pandemic, as per Public Counsel, a non-profit law firm that worked on the case.

In February, an attorney from Morrison Foerster informed Planet Chronicle Digital that they had demonstrated that school closures during the pandemic negatively impacted low-income and minority students, resulting in learning loss.

Unfortunately, the damage is done, and this should have been a priority to the Department of Education and the Governor. I’m grateful to those who never gave up to ensure resources are used to help students.

The lawsuit recognized and addressed the damage inflicted on our children due to poor leadership and misguided policies.

Lance Christensen, a father of four in the Wheatland School District, spoke to Planet Chronicle about the bill signed by the governor that will increase funding for sub-par government schools, but lacks accountability, with reports that will likely be ignored.

The legislature should cut ties with teachers' unions who regularly reject educational reform opportunities, leaving parents with limited resources and options for their children in underperforming public schools, resulting in funds being directed towards bureaucrats instead of programs that will benefit their children.

The lawsuit stated that the federal government provided more than $190 billion to public school districts to address the learning loss caused by the pandemic from March 2020 to March 2021.

The defendants contended that the state of California did not adequately allocate funds to assist students who required the most assistance within local districts.

To aid students in recovering from learning loss, the settlement mandates the use of existing funds from the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant for hiring tutors and implementing other measures.

The objective of the funding is to aid students who are already disadvantaged in their education, typically from low-income families and minority backgrounds.

Jason Bedrick, the education policy research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, stated on Planet Chronicle Digital that the issue was caused by California legislators.

"The prolonged school closures in California were caused by policymakers, and now they are attempting to rectify the harm they have inflicted through financial means," he stated.

"It would be more beneficial to give families the power to select the learning environments that suit their children's needs, whether it's private schools, district schools, or home schools."

The state of California has been deemed by Public Counsel to be one of the largest education-related settlements in U.S. history. Additionally, the state has agreed to propose a new law that allows funds to be allocated to community organizations that have a demonstrated history of enhancing student achievement.

Local education agencies must adhere to the law and create a Local Control and Accountability Plan, which mandates them to report on the effectiveness of any program designed to assist students who encounter learning loss.

The California Dept. of Education spokesperson stated that the proposal includes changes that the administration believes are "suitable at this juncture following the pandemic to concentrate on the students who were most affected and still require assistance."

Corey DeAngelis, senior fellow at the American Federation For Children, stated on Planet Chronicle Digital that Newsom is "essentially an arsonist pretending to be a firefighter."

Gavin Newsom is rewarding teachers unions for keeping California's government schools closed by giving them additional ransom payments, despite their failure to educate children.

The California Department of Education and Gov. Newsom's office were contacted by Planet Chronicle Digital, but no immediate responses were received.