How Will California's Multibillion-Dollar Bond Impact Public Schools? | Al Muratsuchi

Californians have just approved Proposition 2, which will issue $10 billion in bonds to upgrade infrastructure for public schools and community colleges. Today, we speak with Al Murasuchi, the lead author of Prop 2 and chair of the Assembly Education Committee, to discuss why new funding is critical for supporting quality public education. I'm a product of public education. I'm a son of immigrants. My parents are not Just as I know that public education has really made a difference in my life, I want to make sure that those same opportunities exist for all kids, again, regardless of who you are or where you come from. We also dive into how the public education is doing in California and what needs to improve. I'm Siamak Kourami. Welcome to California Insider. Al, it's great to have you on. Welcome. Thank you for having me. We want to talk to you about Proposition 2. It just passed, and you were a key player on putting this on the ballot. It's going to have bonds for schools. Can you explain to us what this proposition is about? So I'm the lead author of Proposition 2, which California voters passed overwhelmingly by almost 59 to 41 percent margin. This was a bipartisan school bond that is going to provide $10 billion for our K-12 schools, as well as our community colleges, to fix unsafe school conditions. We have 38 percent of our K-12 schools that have conditions that violate health and safety standards. They include anything like mold or asbestos and rough tiles, lead in drinking water. So those are the most urgent public health issues that we want to address to make sure that all of our schools are safe for our children. But beyond that, we want to continue to invest in our schools so that all children, regardless of who they are, where they live, can benefit from not only attending safe schools and safe school facilities, but also to invest in things like science labs, computer labs, things that will help prepare our children for the 21st century workforce. And can you expand on that? What's happening in the schools that need infrastructure? Most of our schools are over 50 years old. They are in desperate need of being updated, modernized. So what the school bond will provide is primarily matching dollars to local school districts. So in the state of California, we have about 1,000 school districts, K-12, as well as our community college system. But each school district is governed locally. They decide their own local priorities. That extends to school facilities. Rather than this one-size-fits-all approach of Sacramento imposing a common goal or mandate from the state capitol, that we are leaving it up to the local school districts to decide what are their school facility priorities, what buildings need to be fixed, where do they want to spend dollars in terms of investing in, say, science labs or computer labs. And then the state bond that is going to be provided through this measure that California voters just passed, Proposition 2, is going to provide matching dollars to the local dollars that school districts will be allocating to address their school facility priorities. So these school districts, they have to kind of allocate their own money, or is it they have to borrow? That's right. So for most school districts, they have to provide their own money. And then we provide up to 50% for school districts that have higher percentages of disadvantaged student populations, you know, low-income students, immigrant students, foster kids, that they would raise additional dollars. But the basic design of Proposition 2 is to provide matching dollars to local school districts with more dollars for disadvantaged schools and disadvantaged communities. How do the schools actually upkeep their infrastructure? Do they have an ongoing process? Yeah. So in the state of California, over 80% of our public school districts are funded by the state of California. And oftentimes, you know, because California, we live in such an expensive state, that most school districts' budgets are allocated for the teachers and the bus drivers and the cafeteria workers and the principals, you know, the people that operate our schools. And there's very little dollars left available to address the school facility needs. It's kind of like I compare these school bonds to mortgages. You know, most people, they pay for their daily living expenses through their paychecks, and, you know, they try to save for, you know, the rainy day. But in terms of capital needs, capital infrastructure, whether it's schools or whether it's, you know, highways and roads and bridges, most infrastructure needs are addressed in the state of California through bonds. How would they get paid back? Proposition 2 is $10 billion and state matching dollars that are to be raised without any new taxes. I should have emphasized at the beginning. The bond indebtedness is paid through the general fund, rather than concentrating $10 billion in one-time expenses, which would be a huge burden on our state budget. We pay it over time, essentially, like a mortgage. So essentially, the government, the state government would pay for it. That's right. Was it because we had budget issues that you guys decided to do this as a bond? No, not at all. In fact, you know, historically, whether in good budget times or in bad budget times, infrastructure needs have historically been addressed through these bond measures. And how is the condition of the buildings in the schools? You mentioned they're 50 years old. So, I mean, obviously, there's a big range in terms of the conditions of school facilities in some communities, like, say, in Riverside, for example, rapidly growing communities. They're building new schools. And so their school facilities would be newer. But on the other hand, districts like Los Angeles Unified, I know that, you know, I represent the community of San Pedro and San Pedro, their high school, you know, while it's a beautiful, charming high school buildings, some of them are over 100 years old. Now, in terms of, you mentioned Los Angeles, and this is a county where there's a lot of schools might shut down, right? If the enrollment is going down, what will happen to this infrastructure that's there already? That's a good point. So, you know, it's, again, based on that local, the governance model of local control, it's up to every school district to make plans in terms of, you know, which communities are growing, which neighborhoods are growing in population, and which ones, you know, the population is declining and where it would merit closing down schools. Those are all difficult decisions that have to be made by the governing school board of each school district. Now, Al, we have a history in the state, sometimes we pass laws, and then there is no follow through. And we had that with Prop. 1, where it was for infrastructure for water, the money was there, but I guess there was no construction, not a lot of it. What do you think will happen to Prop. 2? Do you think there is going to be a process around making sure the money? Okay. I mean, I cannot speak to Proposition 1 because I, you know, my focus is on public education. I chair the Assembly Education Committee. In terms of Proposition 2, the accountability comes, again, from the local school districts, which schools are going to be fixed, what buildings are going to be fixed, what are the dollars going to be spent on, whether it's, you know, replacing lead pipes to get lead out of drinking water, you know, replacing mold. Those have to be spelled out in the school facility plans. And then it's up to voters to hold the school districts accountable in terms of whether they actually spend the dollars as they promise through these school facility plans. So the schools would use their funds first, and then they will apply for the state. No, actually, they need to submit a school facility plan and indicate how much money that they can put up, and then the state would provide matching dollars. It may or may not be dollar-to- dollar matching, again, depending on the formula of, you know, what the percentages of disadvantaged students are. There's also a provision, you know, there are a lot of, like, rural parts of the state of California where they can't raise a lot of local bond dollars because they don't have a lot of commercial or residential tax base to pass local school bonds. And so in that case, Proposition 2, under the provisions that are called financial hardship, would provide up to 100% to address those local school facility needs. And how did you get involved with this? You put this on the ballot, right? Yeah, well, number one, we knew that the last time that we passed a statewide school bond was back in 2016. Those dollars that were allocated through the statewide school bond that passed in 2016 have long been accounted for, and so it was way past time to attempt to pass a new school bond. We actually tried in 2020, but as you may recall, that was extremely bad timing. It was right after the beginning of the COVID pandemic. You know, there was just a lot of reluctance to pass any new major fiscal initiatives at that time, so that bond initiative in 2020 failed. So we knew that we had to try again, and so this was our successful attempt to pass the statewide school bond, and that was Proposition 2. We are honored to be sponsored by Shen Yun. Shen Yun Performing Arts is reviving 5,000 years of lost Chinese traditional culture. It takes you back in time to the magical world of ancient China with a unique blend of brilliant dancing, beautiful costumes, and legends coming to life. The show choreography and production values are top-notch. However, it isn't just a technical ability of the dancers. It's the inner beauty and the devotion of the artist that will stir your soul to move you to tears. Make sure to go see it this year. Go to ShenYun.com and book your tickets today. It was spectacular. So beautiful. Gosh, I thought I was going to heaven. Oh, it was electric. I'm getting chills talking about it. It gets a 10 from me, that's for sure. It was that good. Absolutely marvelous. Hands down the best show I've ever seen. So Al, you mentioned that Californians voted for 59% to 41%. That's right. It shows a lot of support for education in California. That's right. I say whatever people put on the ballot, Californians would vote for if it's education. No, there were some initiatives, as you know, that as to education, historically, Californians, you know, there's been bipartisan support to invest in our kids. Now, some people argue that education in California is not getting, public education is not getting better. Okay. And it's some people say that we go to Texas, they go to other states, they get better experience in public schools. What are your thoughts on that? So California, we are by far the country's biggest state with over 39 million people. We have some of the most educated, wealthiest communities in the country. But we also have one of the highest state poverty rates. We have by far the largest population of immigrant students from around the world. We have many English learner students. So that's all to say that, you know, we have communities that have some of the best public schools in the country, and we have many neighborhood schools that are struggling. You know, by and large, I just came back from a national education conference. And so I was comparing notes with other states. For example, I was talking with the Secretary of Education from Massachusetts. You know, Massachusetts is often the top score on the national test scores. They said that, you know, state of Massachusetts, one of the most, the highest education levels among the general population. And that's reflected not only in their support for their local public schools, but also in terms of the education levels of the family members. And that, you know, we see that trend clearly across the country, including here in the state of California. For example, here in the South Bay, we have, you know, among the best public schools in the affluent communities like Manhattan Beach or like Palos Verdes. But, you know, we also have lower income communities where many students come from families, you know, whose parents may not be college graduates. They may not be high school graduates. And so those socioeconomics, you know, are often reflected in the statewide test scores. Having said that, you know, we all need to do better, and that includes California's public schools. But a big part of it is the fact that California historically has been lower on the national rankings in terms of per-pupil funding. Many of the states that have the highest test scores, especially, you know, those that are in the New England states, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, their local school, public schools are primarily funded through local property taxes. You know, whereas here in the state of California, we're kind of like an outlier in that ever since the landmark Proposition 13 passed that dramatically cut property taxes here in the state of California. You know, we know that California has, you know, among the highest taxes in the country except for property taxes. And property taxes, local property taxes, are the bread and butter of funding local public schools. And that's where California is behind the rest of the country in terms of the amount of dollars that we're investing in our public schools and public education. Can you give us some ideas of how much other states are putting in education compared to California? Because I've seen some numbers. We are at 23,000. Is it different for other states because they get funding locally as well from the state? Sure. So I was just reading, you know, at this conference that I was at last week, where California ranks in terms of national per-people funding. We used to be clearly in the bottom half of the nation. But in the last 10 years, with California's economy significantly growing, you know, the legislature and the governor, we have made public education funding a top priority. And so we have moved up to, I believe our current position is around 21st in the country in terms of per-people spending. It's not in the bottom half like we used to be. Before Proposition 13 passed, California used to be in the top 10 in the nation in per-people funding, per-people spending in public education. Now, you know, the latest survey indicates that we're maybe above the national average, but not that far above. Money is not everything, but it does translate into being able to attract good teachers in the classroom, being able to provide for art and music programs, you know, that are a big part of the quality of education. And so those are the kind of investments that I'm working on to continue to improve California's public schools. Now, in your opinion, what's the biggest challenge the California schools face? I think, you know, it's clearly the huge diversity in our student population, especially, you know, as it relates to those that come from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, communities, is growing scientific evidence that students that experience, you know, trauma, poverty, homelessness, these kinds of adverse childhood experiences, you know, not only make it difficult for students to be able to succeed in the classroom, succeed in their educational careers, the science is showing that it actually affects their brains and their ability to impulse control, you know, for managing their time to be able to get their schoolwork done. And so a lot of what we had previously written off as like, oh, you know, someone's just lazy or someone is not disciplined, is in fact, as we're learning more and more, a reflection of those kind of adverse childhood experiences that they, you know, have experienced or accumulated. It's a reflection of, again, of the fact that what I was talking about earlier, that California has among the, you know, the world's wealthiest communities, but we also have among, you know, the poorest communities. It's trying to close that achievement gap that I think is our biggest challenge. Something that we have heard from educators, they've kind of become like daycare in California. In a sense, the parents drop off the kids, and they tell them this is their responsibility. And then parents are not as involved in the education system. And they probably would vote for the bonds. What are your thoughts on that? There are clearly differences in communities in terms of the culture of education, how important education, how much of a priority education is in different communities. For example, I know that in the Asian immigrant communities here in the United States, you know, a lot of times we'll see so-called model minority stories of Asian students whose parents worked in like liquor stores in South Central LA, you know, that they would go on to Harvard, and people would look at these so-called model minority kids and say, well, why can't all kids be like that? You know, what a lot of times people don't realize is that even though those Asian immigrant parents, you know, are maybe struggling in a liquor store or grocery store in a poor neighborhood, that they in fact were college educated back in their homelands, you know, before they had immigrated to the United States. And so they came from a culture and a family history of, you know, recognizing the importance of education. And I think that's not limited to the Asian community, to the Asian culture. Now, Al, you've got, you're pretty passionate about education, what we've gathered. Why? Yeah, so I'm a product of public education. I'm a son of immigrants. My parents are not university graduates, but they always instilled in me the importance of getting a good education to, you know, achieve the American dream. And, you know, I continue to be a true believer that, you know, education is the best way to achieve the American dream. And I'm living proof of that. I grew up on U.S. military bases in the tiny island of Okinawa, closer to Taiwan than it is to mainland Japan. Attended public schools and had the privilege of being able to attend great public universities, like the University of California, and was able to become, you know, first a lawyer and then an educator, and now to serve in the legislature of the world's fifth largest economy. You know, I mean, that I would not have been able to do all of these things but for the great public education that I've received. Just as I know that public education has really made a difference in my life, I want to make sure that those same opportunities exist for all kids, you know, again, regardless of who you are or where you come from. And how did you get into public service? Why did you decide to get into public service? I went to Berkeley for college and a kid from Okinawa that was suddenly placed in a, you know, massive public university like Berkeley. I was, you know, pretty apolitical when I arrived, but as I received my great education at Berkeley, both inside the classroom as well as outside the classroom, I really took to heart the mission and the tradition of Berkeley to teach that, you're not just learning just for your own sake, but you're learning in order to make a difference and to change the world. And so, you know, I really picked up that idealistic spirit at Berkeley and that's really was my original inspiration to want to devote my life and my work to public service. Now, was it hard to get into Berkeley from where you were coming from? You know, I benefited from these good public schools that were provided on the U.S. military bases. Most of my class, all of my classmates, you know, were all the children of military families. Most of them, like me, they were not college educated. Yeah, the parents were not college educated. You know, there have actually been studies written about, you know, how these DOD schools, Department of Defense schools, how they show what can be done, you know, with a good public education if they are adequately funded and if there are like adequate support systems, you know, for these kids. While no one on the military bases that I grew up with, no one was rich, but no one was poor. No one was homeless. You know, if you had medical needs, it was provided for. That kind of stability in a public education setting, I think, you know, I really appreciate that great education that I received from the DOD schools and I think that prepared me well to go to Berkeley. Which is a hard one to get into, yeah. It was easier to get in back then, but it's much harder now as, you know, I'm a parent of a teenager and so I know how difficult it is to get in now. And you ended up serving on school boards, right? This is how you got into... Can you tell us more about that? Sure. So, you know, again, I've always been a true believer in public education and I lived in Torrance. I saw an opportunity to serve on my local school board. So in 2005, ran for and was elected to the Torrance school board. You know, Torrance is a predominantly middle-class community with some pockets of working class neighborhoods. More importantly, there's a long tradition of Torrance public schools providing an excellent public education. And so I, you know, benefited from learning, having my first school district experience with an excellent public school district like Torrance. At the same time, you know, as I went from Torrance to the California legislature and now as the chair of the education committee, you know, I realized the relative privilege of a community like Torrance. As a suburban school district, you know, it is very far from the neighboring Los Angeles Unified School District where, you know, there's only Western Avenue that separates Torrance Unified, the Torrance public schools from Los Angeles Unified schools. But Los Angeles Unified, about 85% of their students come from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities or back families, whereas in Torrance, about 37% come from socioeconomically disadvantaged families. That number just in and of itself shows the huge gap, the backgrounds and the families that kids come from. And I think you can't deny the significance of those kind of different demographics and how the challenges that are created in more disadvantaged communities are so much greater than in, you know, say, suburban school districts like Torrance. So that's been probably my biggest, the biggest difference. Was there a moment you realized that this coming from a different background will have a big impact? I've always been frustrated and I continue to be frustrated with the existence of this achievement gap, you know, is that why is it that kids that come from different neighborhoods, why is there such a big gap in their academic success? And as I've been exploring that question, I've just been learning more and more about how there's just so many more challenges. Right now I'm teaching a political science course at my local community college, El Camino College, you know, where most of the students are working class Latino and African-American. I'm hearing a lot of the same stories about, you know, I have to stay home today because I have to take care of my sibling. I wasn't able to make it to your office hours because I have to work. I couldn't afford the textbook, you know, I couldn't get internet access to be able to download the assignments. I mean, those are things that I don't, you know, I don't hear in suburban school districts. That has just been like the latest reminder of, you know, a lot of these advantages, a lot of these privileges that that many in middle-class families take for granted that students and families from low-income, from working-class backgrounds, they clearly have to struggle with. So you're seeing this gap, you know, and you're saying, do you think there is a way for California to overcome this? That's our number one challenge, you know, how do we close that achievement gap that, you know, some people call it an opportunity gap. Every child, regardless of who you are, where you live, you know, have the same opportunities to be able to succeed. I think that's the fundamental promise as well as the fundamental challenge of public education. Public education is supposed to be the great equalizer where, you know, kids, you know, again, regardless of your background, you know, have the same opportunities to succeed. But we know that the realities, you know, that they bring to the classroom is not just the realities that we have in the classroom in terms of, you know, having equally qualified teachers and equally funded classrooms, but it's all of the realities that bring to the classroom, you know, before they arrived. Did they have breakfast or did they have dinner the night before? How can you study and learn if you're hungry, you know, and then that you didn't have the dinner the night before? Those are the kind of realities that we're facing in the big, diverse state like the state of California. And so we're trying to address that, you know, through a progressive school funding system where school districts with the largest populations of needy, you know, of socioeconomically disadvantaged students get more funding. We've tried to prioritize mental health support, free meals, after-school enrichment programs. We're trying to expand early childhood education because we know that in middle-class communities, families are sending their kids to Montessori or to preschools, whereas in working-class families, they're often just staying at home playing video games. Those are the kinds of, they're already, you know, when they get to kindergarten, it's like the kids from the middle-class families, you know, already got a head start to those disadvantaged students. Those are the kind of those equity gaps that we're trying to close through public education. It's a huge, unfortunately expensive undertaking, but that's the fundamental challenge of public education. You've been in the assembly for 10 years. Is it challenging to be in these roles when you're serving the public? Sure. I mean, you know, there's number one, the financial sacrifice. I mean, prior to being elected the legislature, I worked as a deputy attorney general in the California Department of Justice. I was making more money than I am as a legislator, but I'm having, you know, more fun, and I find my work as a state lawmaker more rewarding than my work as a lawyer. But the financial sacrifice is real. The time that I can spend with my family, it's clearly a sacrifice. I'm in Sacramento Monday through Thursday of the week while my family lives back home. 10 years, not only of my life, but 10 years of my family's lives where I haven't been home for, you know, most of the week. I would say that those are the two big sacrifices. I get to wake up every day and go to work trying to figure out how to make the world a better place. That's what keeps me going. It makes the financial and the family sacrifice, you know, worth it, at least for me. And, you know, thank God I have a supportive, forgiving wife that lets me do this work. That is the reward of public service. One of the most rewarding jobs that I've ever had. And so I would encourage others to consider public service as a very rewarding career. California Assemblymember Al Murasuchi, it was great to have you on California Insider. Thank you very much. Really enjoyed it. Let us know what you think of Prop 2 and the education system in California. And you can always reach out to me at cmac.californiainsider.com. And remember, I read all of your comments and emails. See you next time.