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OP-ED: As California Faces Dramatic Student Enrollment Decline, Officials Seek to Stabilize School Funding

The pandemic has severely impacted student attendance. Unfortunately, it has become common for parents to receive notices from school saying their child has been exposed to COVID-19. Some parents are opting to keep their children home which is beginning to cause a sharp increase in chronic absenteeism in schools.

Published

3 years ago

February 22, 2022

Oakland Post

Margaret Fortune is president and CEO of Fortune School of Education.

Dr. Margaret Fortune is the President/CEO of Fortune School, a system of nine, K-12 public charter schools with over 2,300 students focused on closing the Black achievement gap by preparing students for college.

Looming Funding Cuts Worry Schools

LET’S TALK BLACK EDUCATION

By Dr. Margaret Fortune, President/CEO of Fortune School

Schools have become an extension of the public health system in California’s response to COVID-19.

As the leader of a public school system, I can tell you we have become masters of administering weekly COVID-19 tests to thousands of students and teachers, hosting vaccination clinics, and doing contact tracing. It’s a lot of pressure.

Meanwhile, student enrollment is dropping dramatically across the state. To put it in context, student enrollment was already in steady decline before the pandemic because of low birth rates and migration.

In the 2018-19 school year, student enrollment in California fell by 23,000 students. Last school year in 2020-21, California schools lost 160,000 students, nearly seven times the figure two years ago.

This is a huge problem for California public schools, because they rely on students’ average daily attendance for their state funding. In a year when California is expecting to have a $29 billion budget surplus, it’s imperative that elected officials give the state’s children the first call on the treasury by making school funding stable.

Senator Ben Allen, a Santa Monica Democrat, has a good idea to ensure predictable public school funding. SB 579 (Allen) would hold schools harmless from drops in enrollment for this school year and next.

This bill is on a fast track. It sailed through the Senate (37-0) and as of the writing of this column is in the Assembly. We applaud Senator Allen for his amendment to include public charter schools in the bill as well.

Funding for school districts has always been protected from drops in student enrollment from year to year, but not for public charter schools. Senator Allen’s bold action will keep all schools “whole” during a time when we are experiencing the traumatic impact of the pandemic.

SB 830 introduced by Senator Anthony Portantino, a Democrat representing the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, is another piece of legislation that deals with how schools are funded.

This bill proposes that the California Department of Education stop funding schools based on average daily attendance and instead provide funding according to a school’s enrollment numbers.

California’s policy to fund schools based on average daily attendance made sense before we were in a pandemic.

Now that public health officials are advising schools to require that parents keep their children at home if they are symptomatic, the rules about funding schools based on attendance must change with the times.

The problem is SB 830 (Portantino) excludes public charter schools from the fix. That means 690,657 of California’s public-school children would be left behind in the old funding scheme.

That is unacceptable. It’s particularly problematic for Black students because their parents are more likely to choose public charter schools than other ethnic groups.

That means that these students would be funded at a lower level than their counterparts in school districts. Senator Portantino should amend SB 830 to include public charter schools, so the bill is helpful to all of California’s public-school children.

As we continue to navigate through a pandemic where the state’s response is heavily reliant on using a child’s school as the delivery system for education and public health, one lesson is abundantly clear: If we want schools to stay open, lawmakers must stabilize funding for all public schools — including charters. In a state that has a surplus of funding, it is critical that our elected officials prioritize fully funding all schools to protect us from further feeling the impact of the pandemic.

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Oakland Post: Week of June 18 – 24, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 18 – 24, 2025

Published

3 days ago

June 20, 2025

Oakland Post

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Juneteenth: Celebrating Our History, Honoring Our Shared Spaces

It’s been empowering to watch Juneteenth blossom into a widely celebrated holiday, filled with vibrant outdoor events like cookouts, festivals, parades, and more. It’s inspiring to see the community embrace our history—showing up in droves to celebrate freedom, a freedom delayed for some enslaved Americans more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

Published

5 days ago

June 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Wayne Wilson, Public Affairs Campaign Manager, Caltrans

By Wayne Wilson, Public Affairs Campaign Manager, Caltrans

Juneteenth marks an important moment in our shared history—a time to reflect on the legacy of our ancestors who, even in the face of injustice, chose freedom, unity, and community over fear, anger, and hopelessness. We honor their resilience and the paths they paved so future generations can continue to walk with pride.

As we head into the weekend full of festivities and summer celebrations, I want to offer a friendly reminder about who is not invited to the cookout: litter.

At Clean California, we believe the places where we gather—parks, parade routes, street corners, and church lots—should reflect the pride and beauty of the people who fill them. Our mission is to restore and beautify public spaces, transforming areas impacted by trash and neglect into spaces that reflect the strength and spirit of the communities who use them.

Too often, after the music fades and the grills cool, our public spaces are left littered with trash. Just as our ancestors took pride in their communities, we honor their legacy when we clean up after ourselves, teach our children to do the same, and care for our shared spaces.

Small acts can inspire big change. Since 2021, Clean California and its partners have collected and removed over 2.9 million cubic yards of litter. We did this by partnering with local nonprofits and community organizations to organize grassroots cleanup events and beautification projects across California.

Now, we invite all California communities to continue the incredible momentum and take the pledge toward building a cleaner community through our Clean California Community Designation Program. This recognizes cities and neighborhoods committed to long-term cleanliness and civic pride.

This Juneteenth, let’s not only celebrate our history—but also contribute to its legacy. By picking up after ourselves and by leaving no litter behind after celebrations, we have an opportunity to honor our past and shape a cleaner, safer, more vibrant future.

Visit CleanCA.com to learn more about Clean California.

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OPINION: California’s Legislature Has the Wrong Prescription for the Affordability Crisis — Gov. Newsom’s Plan Hits the Mark

Last month, Gov. Newsom included measures in his budget that would encourage greater transparency, accountability, and affordability across the prescription drug supply chain. His plan would deliver real relief to struggling Californians. It would also help expose the hidden markups and practices by big drug companies that push the prices of prescription drugs higher and higher. The legislature should follow the Governor’s lead and embrace sensible, fair regulations that will not raise the cost of medications.

Published

5 days ago

June 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Rev. Dr. Lawrence E. VanHook. Courtesy of Rev. Dr. Lawrence E. VanHook.

By Rev. Dr. Lawrence E. VanHook

As a pastor and East Bay resident, I see firsthand how my community struggles with the rising cost of everyday living. A fellow pastor in Oakland recently told me he cuts his pills in half to make them last longer because of the crushing costs of drugs.

Meanwhile, community members are contending with skyrocketing grocery prices and a lack of affordable healthcare options, while businesses are being forced to close their doors.

Our community is hurting. Things have to change.

The most pressing issue that demands our leaders’ attention is rising healthcare costs, and particularly the rising cost of medications. Annual prescription drug costs in California have spiked by nearly 50% since 2018, from $9.1 billion to $13.6 billion.

Some lawmakers, however, have advanced legislation that would drive up healthcare costs and set communities like mine back further.

I’m particularly concerned with Senate Bill (SB) 41, sponsored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), a carbon copy of a 2024 bill that I strongly opposed and Gov. Newsom rightly vetoed. This bill would impose significant healthcare costs on patients, small businesses, and working families, while allowing big drug companies to increase their profits.

SB 41 would impose a new $10.05 pharmacy fee for every prescription filled in California. This new fee, which would apply to millions of Californians, is roughly five times higher than the current average of $2.

For example, a Bay Area family with five monthly prescriptions would be forced to shoulder about $500 more in annual health costs. If a small business covers 25 employees, each with four prescription fills per month (the national average), that would add nearly $10,000 per year in health care costs.

This bill would also restrict how health plan sponsors — like employers, unions, state plans, Medicare, and Medicaid — partner with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to negotiate against big drug companies and deliver the lowest possible costs for employees and members. By mandating a flat fee for pharmacy benefit services, this misguided legislation would undercut your health plan’s ability to drive down costs while handing more profits to pharmaceutical manufacturers.

This bill would also endanger patients by eliminating safety requirements for pharmacies that dispense complex and costly specialty medications. Additionally, it would restrict home delivery for prescriptions, a convenient and affordable service that many families rely on.

Instead of repeating the same tired plan laid out in the big pharma-backed playbook, lawmakers should embrace Newsom’s transparency-first approach and prioritize our communities.

Let’s urge our state legislators to reject policies like SB 41 that would make a difficult situation even worse for communities like ours.

About the Author

Rev. Dr. VanHook is the founder and pastor of The Community Church in Oakland and the founder of The Charis House, a re-entry facility for men recovering from alcohol and drug abuse.