Endorsement: Vote yes on Measure LA to invest in community colleges and college graduates
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Today, I want to talk about the state of higher education in California. While the public education system is on the decline in California, our community colleges have been growing and are showing significant promise in keeping our state in the top tier in terms of education. They provide a rich array of programs that are affordable and offer a broad array of career options, and they are well respected around the nation as a place to begin a career or continue a path toward a higher education.
Over the past several years, many legislators have made good progress in implementing and implementing higher education reform in California. We have made great strides in our effort to reform California’s K-12 education system, and in my opinion, we are still making good progress. For example, earlier this year, in my State of the State Address, I outlined a bold vision for the future of school reform in our state, which included:
Expanding the work of the governor’s “One-Stop Shop,” to ensure all students have the capacity to transfer into higher-ed institutions,
Making California education more affordable by reducing the amount of money spent on higher education,
Improving outcomes in the classroom by investing in early childhood education and career education, and
Reform of the K through 12 system to ensure all students graduate from high school ready to be college and career ready.
These reforms are consistent with the recommendations of the Brown Commission on California’s K-12 system, which was appointed by the governor and the Legislature in 2013 and was tasked with developing a vision for the K-12 system that would be responsive to the needs and priorities of our diverse society and would ensure that all students have access to the basic and secondary education they need to thrive throughout their lives. While I believe we can do better, and that we should do better, I believe that our state must do better. This is why I am