{"id":381495,"date":"2026-07-01T01:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T01:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/381495\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T01:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T01:18:13","slug":"california-schools-in-hell-as-gavin-newsom-drops-catastrophic-cuts-for-classes-already-on-life-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/381495\/","title":{"rendered":"California schools in hell as Gavin Newsom drops \u2018catastrophic\u2019 cuts for classes already on life support"},"content":{"rendered":"

California kids will suffer<\/a> after a last-minute state budget cut stripped key research resources from public-school libraries, leaving millions of students without the materials they need for class projects and homework.<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers erased $5.5 million from the just-approved state budget<\/a> for a school program called\u00a0Compass<\/a>, which is a popular online database of research and curriculum material that\u2019s been vetted by teachers and librarians.<\/p>\n

The Compass program pays the online fees for thousands of online materials used by students and teachers including the Encyclopedia Britannica, National Geographic, PBS videos such as Ken Burns documentaries, scientific journals, and more.<\/p>\n

\"Newsom\u2019s<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s latest budget cuts funding for a popular school library program. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The cut goes into effect on July 1, 2027 and was made without any warning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had no idea this was coming,\u201d said Greg Lucas, head of the California State Library, which helps oversee the Compass program for the state\u2019s 10,000 public schools, told CalMatters. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis will have a huge impact on California students,\u201d Lucas said.<\/p>\n

Since Compass launched in 2018, it\u2019s received nearly 1 billion hits, the nonprofit news outlet reports. The vast majority of Compass users are at K-12 schools, although the program is also available through public libraries.<\/p>\n

Compass is available free to all schools in California. Schools would spend more than $216 million annually if they were to subscribe individually to all the materials available on the program, according to a\u00a0State Library report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA student half a century ago might browse an encyclopedia volume or nonfiction book to learn something new,\u201d the State Library report says. \u201cToday they can log onto an ad-free Compass resource to do something similar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The cut impacts 10,000 public schools. Getty Images<\/p>\n

And, with the vetted Compass program, \u201cparents can rest assured that the student is guided by a desire to learn and not by a mysterious algorithm intended to sell advertising or track users.\u201d<\/p>\n

Educators said the cut deprives today\u2019s digital learners from accessing materials that can be used for classroom assignments, as well as recreation. <\/p>\n

\u201cLosing Compass is catastrophic for the state of California,\u201d Kate MacMillan, library services coordinator for Napa Valley Unified told CalMatters. \u201cThis service is a lifeline. I can\u2019t believe the legislature would let this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier versions of the $351.7-billion state budget debated by the state lawmakers contained funding for Compass.<\/p>\n

But the final version of the newly approved budget eliminates money for the program after July 1, 2027.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

One school librarian said: \u201cI can\u2019t believe the legislature would let this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, it puts $5 million toward the\u00a0state\u2019s new dyslexia screener and provides $60,000 for a web-based lesson-sharing platform called California Educators Together.<\/p>\n

The final version of the budget also delays $3.9 billion in constitutionally guaranteed Proposition 98 funding for K-12 schools and community colleges, although it does leave many classroom programs intact.<\/p>\n

California Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer said the decision to cut Compass wasn\u2019t part of Newsom\u2019s latest budget proposal, even if he did approve it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, to be clear: the Governor did indeed sign the budget late yesterday that contained this provision,\u201d said Palmer. \u201cBut to suggest that this was an original proposal from the Governor would be incorrect and inaccurate.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of California\u2019s newly approved\u00a0$351.7 billion\u00a0state budget, Newsom and state lawmakers also allocated\u00a0$40 million\u00a0to help counties\u00a0process ballots more quickly<\/a>\u00a0before the November general election.<\/p>\n

The package includes\u00a0$29 million\u00a0for counties to hire additional election workers and upgrade ballot-processing equipment, but critics say it addresses the symptoms rather than the underlying cause<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California kids will suffer after a last-minute state budget cut stripped key research resources from public-school libraries, leaving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,112116,154174,457,101375,22334,13438,15081],"class_list":["post-381495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-compass","tag-compass-program","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-greg-lucas","tag-public-schools","tag-state-budget","tag-state-lawmakers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381495","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=381495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}