SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday unveiled a sweeping proposal to overhaul how California\u2019s education system is governed, calling for structural changes that he said would shift oversight of the Department of Education and redefine the role of the state\u2019s elected schools chief.<\/p>\n
The proposal, which is part of Newsom\u2019s state budget plan that will be released Friday, would unify the policymaking State Board of Education with the department, which is responsible for carrying out those policies. The governor said the change would better align education efforts from early childhood through college. <\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia can no longer postpone reforms that have been recommended regularly for a century,\u201d Newsom said in a statement. \u201cThese critical reforms will bring greater accountability, clarity, and coherence to how we serve our students and schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
Few details were provided about how the role of the state superintendent of public instruction would change, beyond a greater focus on fostering coordination and aligning education policy.<\/p>\n
The changes would require approval from state lawmakers, who will be in the state Capitol on Thursday for Newsom\u2019s last State of the State speech in his final year as governor.<\/p>\n
The proposal would implement recommendations from a 2002 report by the state Legislature, titled \u201cCalifornia\u2019s Master Plan for Education,\u201d which described the state\u2019s K-12 governance as fragmented and \u201cwith overlapping roles that sometimes operate in conflict with one another, to the detriment of the educational services offered to students.\u201d Newsom\u2019s office said similar concerns have been raised repeatedly since 1920 and were echoed again in a December 2025 report by research center Policy Analysis for California Education.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sobering reality of California\u2019s education system is that too few schools can now provide the conditions in which the State can fairly ask students to learn to the highest standards, let alone prepare themselves to meet their future learning needs,\u201d the Legislature\u2019s 2002 report stated. Those most harmed are often low-income students and students of color, the report added.<\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia\u2019s education governance system is complex and too often creates challenges for school leaders,\u201d Edgar Zazueta, executive director of the Assn. of California School Administrators, said in a statement provided by Newsom\u2019s office. \u201cAs responsibilities and demands on schools continue to increase, educators need governance systems that are designed to better support positive student outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The current budget allocated $137.6 billion for education from transitional kindergarten through the 12th grade \u2014 the highest per-pupil funding level in state history \u2014 and Newsom\u2019s office said his proposal is intended to ensure those investments translate into more consistent support and improved outcomes statewide.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor decades the fragmented and inefficient structure overseeing our public education system has hindered our students\u2019 ability to succeed and thrive,\u201d Ted Lempert, president of advocacy group Children Now, said in a statement provided by the governor\u2019s office. \u201cMajor reform is essential, and we\u2019re thrilled that the Governor is tackling this issue to improve our kids\u2019 education.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday unveiled a sweeping proposal to overhaul how California\u2019s education system is governed, calling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[65166,7,9,8,15,65164,943,3290,346,3729,6049,4265,225,65167,4574,65165,2429],"class_list":["post-125191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-budget-plan","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-education","tag-education-system","tag-governor","tag-newsom","tag-office","tag-report","tag-role","tag-school","tag-state","tag-structural-change","tag-student","tag-sweeping-proposal","tag-thursday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}