Thursday, April 26 & 27, 2023 | Sacramento, CA
On April 26 and 27, 2023, the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools and our College Access & Education Equity Partners – Brotherhood Crusade, Community Coalition, InnerCity Struggle, and Promesa Boyle Heights – will be in Sacramento, CA for two days of advocacy. Since our first State Advocacy Day in 2019, we have been working together to effectively advocate for stronger policies and practices at the state level to help close opportunity and achievement gaps in public and college education for students in historically under-resourced communities.
Our state advocacy days serve as a platform to build local capacity among our education equity partners and influence key legislative and budget priorities that positively impact public education. Over the last three years, the Partnership has coordinated training and learning days for our partners, conducted analyses of legislative priorities, and facilitated a process to identify shared advocacy priorities.
Next week, we will advocate for, meet with, and urge state leaders to adopt more equitable and just legislation for students. Our team of advocates will include our partners, a student, an educator, and a community leader, who will ensure the needs and concerns of our school communities are properly represented. This is an exciting opportunity to place equity at the center of policy and practice discussions in California. By placing equity at the center of policy discussions at a state and local level, we can collectively expand opportunities for students of color and students in low-income communities to learn and succeed.
Below is a list of assembly bills that we jointly support and will ask leaders to prioritize:
- AB 714 (McCarty) – Newcomer Students
- AB 714 requires the State Department of Social Services, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to administer the California Newcomer Education and Well-Being Program (CalNEW) to provide services for newcomer pupils, English learners, and immigrant families by allocating funding to school districts, as specified.
- AB 789 (Berman) – SAP Reform Act
- AB 789 would ensure that more California students are able to keep their financial aid and achieve their higher education goals.
- AB 1323 (Kalra) – Eliminating Unnecessary Police Interaction in Schools
- AB 1323 will protect students from unnecessary contact with the criminal legal system, decrease school-related law enforcement referrals and arrests, and keep students in school (ACLU).
- SB 333 (Cortese) – Direct cash assistance for homeless pupils
- SB 333 is a reintroduction of SB 1341 (2022), which would have provided direct cash assistance payments of $1,000 monthly to approximately 15,000 students. Direct cash payments from SB 333 would be awarded from April to August 2024.