Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1546952
e report also identified challenges and obstacles to Cal- ifornia's ongoing investment in education, and found that permanent reforms that facilitate increased and sustained funding have led to large and measurable gains to student achievement and success. Decades of disinvestment e report outlines several major issues that have affected how California has funded public education over the years. Despite currently boasting the fourth-largest economy in the world, California ranks 36th in the nation in per-pupil funding. Cal- ifornia spends only about 20% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita on education. Comparatively, 35 other states spend more on education relative to GDP. "It's baffling that in California we're still fighting to stabilize the unequal, volatile system of how schools are funded, when our state has more than $4 trillion GDP and when CA corpora- tions received $94 billion in tax breaks the last year alone," said CTA President David Goldberg at the press conference. e result of chronic underfunding, as educators know California has the highest cost of living of any state in the U.S. but ranks 36th in per-pupil education spending. "It's baffling that we're still fighting to stabilize the unequal, volatile system of how schools are funded, when our state has more than $4 trillion GDP and when California corporations received $94 billion in tax breaks the last year alone." —CTA President David Goldberg California's education spending per pupil as a share of per-capita GDP in 2022 was low relative to its capacity. California only spends about 20% of its GDP-per-capita on education, whereas other high cost, densely populated states like New York spend nearly 30%. Continued on Page 32 30 cta.org Feature