Newsom’s ed budget: high spending, low results

OPINION – Despite a $12 billion budget deficit, Governor Gavin Newsom still proposes to spend more on the state’s public schools, despite findings of a Georgetown University study showing that California is not getting education bang for its taxpayer buck.

The “May Revise” is the updated version of the governor’s January budget proposal based on more current economic, revenue, and expenditure projections.

Newsom’s updated budget includes $137.8 billion in total education funding, which consists of state, federal, and local tax dollars allotted to TK-12 education.  This amount is nearly 3 percent more than the $133.8 billion in total education funding in the current 2024-25 budget.

The Education Data Initiative calculated that California ranks 16th in education funding among the states.

In discussing the education portion of his revised budget, Newsom bragged about increased student achievement during his governorship.  The numbers, however, tell a different story.

According to a 2025 study from Georgetown University, California is among the states that “continued to lose ground in both the key metrics of 4th grade reading and 8th grade math, even as investments skyrocketed.”

Georgetown researchers charted state education spending and reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the national test administered in most states.

According to their findings, from 2013 to 2024, education spending per pupil in California grew by 102 percent.  In that span, however, “4th grade [reading] scores fell through the decade even as spending increased.”  Eighth-grade math scores also fell precipitously and continue to decline even as the state’s education budget has greatly increased.

On the 2024 NAEP reading exam, 72 percent of California fourth graders failed to score at the proficient level, while 75 percent of eighth graders failed to achieve proficiency on the math exam.

In contrast to California’s high spending/low performance education record, Mississippi has demonstrated that it is possible to raise student achievement if tax dollars are spent on programs that work.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said, “Mississippi went from being ranked the second-worst state in fourth grade reading in 2013 to 21st in 2022.”

Further, when adjusted for demographic factors such as race, gender, English language fluency, and income-status, Mississippi leads the nation in fourth grade reading achievement.

Thus, Governor Reeves noted: “Look at African American fourth graders when compared to their peers.  In 2013 they were 45th best in the nation.  [In 2024], how are Black fourth graders compared to their peers?  Number three in the nation.”

These achievements occurred despite Mississippi ranking 44th in education funding.

How has Mississippi achieved their reading miracle?  Reeves credits a back-to-basics education agenda.

While California has been mostly using ineffective progressive reading instructional methods, in 2013 Mississippi approved the use of the long-proven science of reading, which includes strong emphasis on the phonics method of sounding out words.  Money was allotted to train teachers to use this approach, hire reading coaches, and to retain reading-deficient students in the third grade.

An independent 2024 follow-up study showed that the program “meaningfully improved grade 4 reading and math scores on the national assessment.”

Labeling it a “truth bomb,” the Georgetown study found that in Mississippi was among the few states where “gains in 4th grade reading were enough to essentially erase COVID learning gaps.”  The study concluded that Mississippi could “show how money can matter for students.”

Sadly, for California’s students, a bill to implement Mississippi-like science-of-reading reforms died in the Legislature last year.   Newsom is supporting a reading-funding bill, which, according to CalMatters “stops short of requiring [the science of reading]” and “doesn’t require schools or teachers to participate” in phonics-focused instruction.  Currently, 80 percent of California school districts do not use the science of reading.

Governor Newsom may brag about how much funding is going to government schools, but it is Mississippi that can brag that it is getting bang for the buck and significantly improving the achievement of its children.

Lance Izumi is senior director of the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute.