What happens if federal grant money stops flowing to California schools?
It would be about an eight billion dollar loss in funding. I’m part of a lawsuit that blocks cutting the federal funding and the courts have already held an injunction against the President’s executive orders to cut the federal funds. So right now, the federal funding is protected and we’re working with Congress to make sure that they don’t vote to close the U.S. Department of Education.
What do you think about ethnic studies not becoming a formal graduation requirement statewide as anticipated?
It is still a graduation requirement, but the implementation of that requirement is in question because it hasn’t been fully funded by the State of California. The government budget didn’t propose any money in it [this year]. Unless the May budget adds money for implementing ethnic studies, that requirement is in question. I think that’s a problem. Students should have a chance to learn about their heritage and the contributions that their ancestors have made to the state.
What can the State Department of Education do to make sure students aren’t targeted by the federal government for having critical opinions that should be protected by the First Amendment?
We are sponsoring a lot of legislation that will push back on the federal government. For starters, we have a bill called SP48 that says there should be no [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]-style immigration enforcement on school campuses, and that bill is in the Senate right now. We know that many of our students in the state have parents who are undocumented immigrants, and the disruption from ICE causes students to have challenges academically and socially, which could cost us money because the way our schools are funded is based on our daily attendance. When there are threats of deportation and people don’t show up to school, that suppresses attendance and revenue. Some estimate that we can lose $150 million just in revenue alone. We’ve signed on five lawsuits that say schools are within their rights to talk about diversity, equity and inclusion, and that schools shouldn’t be threatened … We think that the president is usurping the rights of Congress with what he’s doing, but we’ve had to go to the courts to block those executive orders, and we’ll continue to do that.
Are you willing to go into federal custody if they start arresting state executive branch officers like they went after the state judge in Wisconsin?
Yeah, I’ve said that before. The president can come and get me. I’m elected by the people. That’s who I answer to. I don’t have any fears that are gonna make me not do my job, and we’re defying these executive orders. We are continuing to say that we will support our LGBTQ+ students, that we will support transgender athletes, that we will stand up for the individual rights and freedoms of our students to go to school and not experience any kind of harassment or discrimination. California law protects our schools, and we’re standing on those laws. It’s sad that the president’s executive order is threatening people because that’s not a conducive environment to learning. We want to encourage [students] to continue learning civics and being involved in the community and learning another language. We want them to improve their reading and their math and we’re providing resources to do that, and even though these executive orders have created so much havoc, our message is that our kids still have to get an education. We can’t let these disruptions be a distraction.
What are your plans for the future and the rest of your term?
I’m a declared candidate to run for governor in the election in 2026. I see so many similarities between the job I’m doing now and the job of governor to protect education and fund education, but I also want to deal with how we address the homelessness issues in our state. We have 240,000 homeless students in our state and 10,000 of them are unaccompanied minors who are on their own who don’t have a place to stay. I have a bill this year that would build housing subsidies for homeless youth and I’m working to build affordable housing. I have a bill that would help our school districts build housing for teachers and classified staff and other police and nurses. Our schools have surplus property. We can build two million units by the year 2030, just by building on that surplus property. Those are the kinds of things that I made my platform on: [to] build housing, address homelessness, improve education, health care and mental health services for the people of our state.
