LRT among those organizations thanked for: #Allin4FinancialAid Partners! Education Equity Wins Big in California’s 2021-2022 Budget

The Latino and Latina Roundtable is among the organizations that Ed Trust-West thanks in the collective effort to pass this important financial aid legislation:  “Ed Trust-West  is excited to be celebrating the official passage of the FAFSA/CADAA proposal! We are so grateful to you all for the support you offered throughout the years that we have been collectively pushing towards this goal. This policy, which will ensure that all California high school students apply for financial aid before they graduate, is going to impact the lives of so many statewide and will increase access to higher education. We could not have gotten to this point without the advocacy and support from all of our partners – including you!

While we are incredibly excited that the proposal has been included in the signed budget, we know that there is still work to come to ensure that this requirement is implemented well at the LEA level. Looking forward to continuing to advance financial aid access for our students with you all.

Thank you again!”

Jose Zapata Calderon
President of the Latino and Latina Roundtable
Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Chicano/a and Latino/a Studies
1050 North Mills Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711-6101
(909) 952-1640
 Jose_Calderon@pitzer.edu

Website:  www.josezcalderon.com


From: Clara Medina <cmedina@edtrustwest.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2021 4:14 PM
To: Clara Medina <cmedina@edtrustwest.org>
Cc: Christopher Nellum <cnellum@edtrustwest.org>; Denise Castro <dcastro@edtrustwest.org>; Manny Rodriguez <mrodriguez@edtrustwest.org>; Lange Luntao <lluntao@edtrustwest.org>
Subject: Thank you #Allin4FinancialAid Partners! Education Equity Wins Big in California’s 2021-2022 Budget

Dear #Allin4FinancialAid partners, 

 

Ed Trust-West is excited to be celebrating the official passage of the FAFSA/CADAA proposal! We are so grateful to you all for the support you offered throughout the years that we have been collectively pushing towards this goal. This policy, which will ensure that all California high school students apply for financial aid before they graduate, is going to impact the lives of so many statewide and will increase access to higher education. We could not have gotten to this point without the advocacy and support from all of our partners – including you!  

We invite you to celebrate this win with us by posting on social media! Attached are two graphics you can share, including one showcasing the fierce advocates that made up the coalition, and here is some sample language you can use to tag legislators. 

While we are incredibly excited that the proposal has been included in the signed budget, we know that there is still work to come to ensure that this requirement is implemented well at the LEA level. As we determine what the next steps in this fight are, we will be sure to keep you all in the loop! Looking forward to continuing to advance financial aid access for our students with you all. 

Thank you again! 


In Response to California’s 2021-2022 Budget, Dr. Christopher J. Nellum, Executive Director, Issued the Following Statement:

View Statement Online

Californians have reason to celebrate a budget that leverages a historic surplus toward significant investments in public education, from early learning and care to K-12 to higher education. But most remarkable isn’t this budget’s sheer size; it is its potential to finally address long-standing systemic equity issues that have long shut out too many students of color and students from low-income communities from opportunity. The Education Trust–West applauds a commitment to ensuring students with the highest needs are embedded in many of the budget’s boldest policies, including two particularly historic wins.

One of the most significant is a policy that ensures every high school senior completes a financial aid application, enacted after years of advocacy from students, families, and educators. If implemented properly, no California student entitled to financial aid will set their college dreams aside under the assumption they would have to pay for it on their own; an experience that today is far too common.

Another win is the further development of California’s Cradle-to-Career data system, which will revolutionize our understanding of programs across the educational spectrum—including each of those included in this year’s ambitious budget. We are thrilled to see the data system receive funding for Phase I of its development, which will help illuminate students’ educational journeys in ways currently inaccessible to researchers, policymakers, and community members.

Additional equitable investments in early childhood education will offer our state’s youngest learners a strong start and give relief to parents under pressure, especially those with the least access to child care. From universal transitional kindergarten to additional subsidized child care slots, greater access to child care options will make a world of difference to today’s youngest learners—and have a lasting positive impact on our state. Early learning and care providers can finally look forward to reimbursement rates from the state that recognize the true cost of providing child care—no matter where in California they live. It’s a step that will go a long way toward helping the hard-hit early learning and care industry bounce back while advancing pay equity for its workforce of primarily women of color.

K-12 school districts can look forward to powerful tools that will enable education leaders to rebuild and reimagine how schools can meet the needs of students and parents. Those tools include funding for expanded learning, community schools, teacher workforce development, and for the highest-need schools, an increase in the Local Control Funding Formula concentration grant with which to increase staffing.

Increased funding for all higher education segments, from assistance for basic needs to housing, will be crucial to ensuring students reach their educational goals. While we appreciate the removal of inequitable restrictions to Cal Grant eligibility based on age and years out of high school, we believe that more improvements are needed to make college affordable for all, including a modernized Cal Grant program and investments in our financial aid system.

The potential of bold measures like these to improve the lives of students and families will require faithful implementation from regional and local leaders. The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare a long-standing reality: that California is a land of abundance and possibilities—but only for some. But if resources continue to be allocated where they are needed most and policies are executed with the spirit of equity with which they were enacted, California will not only succeed in rebuilding from a devastating pandemic, but reimagine schools for the better.

 

Dr. Christopher J. Nellum
Executive Director
The Education Trust–West
@chrisnellum

 

P.S. As of the release of this statement, AB 132, the Higher Education Trailer Bill, has not been signed. If any major provisions are changed after the release of this statement, our analysis of the issue will be reflected in The Education Trust–West’s State Budget At-A-Glance, which will be posted on our website.

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