SAN DIEGO–San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Cindy Marten will travel to Sacramento this morning to meet with state leaders on education funding. California is currently ranked 46th in the nation on per pupil funding, and San Diego Unified is one of many districts across the state facing a spending shortfall for next year.
“This is the best of times and the worst of times for schools across our state,” Marten said. “We’ve seen amazing growth in the graduation rate and student academic achievement. At the same time, teachers and parents are frustrated to be facing large deficits, which threaten this progress.”
Data released this month from the state Department of Education shows San Diego Unified has the highest graduation rates of any big-city district in the state. The district has also made strong gains in closing the achievement gap faced by persistently underserved students: Latino, African American and others.
“As education leaders, we understand what works for students, and results show San Diego Unified’s strategies are working. This is not the time to cut corners on our students’ success,” Marten said.
While at the state Capitol, Marten will meet with the staff to Governor Brown, the California Department of Finance, and key staff to the Senate and Assembly Budget committees to discuss a myriad of issues including budgets, closing the achievement gap, and accountability. Marten praised the Governor and Members of the San Diego legislative caucus for their efforts to boost education funding.
The search for increased state education funding comes at an important time for school districts, which are hoping for higher education spending in the Governor’s revised budget in May. Revenue results for the last month showed stronger than expected growth in state income tax returns, raising speculation further increases in state support for education is forthcoming.
