At least 32 school districts, including Los Angeles and Anaheim, have joined the California Teachers Association’s latest effort to extract more money from taxpayers. The “We Can’t Wait” campaign, endorsed by United Teachers Los Angeles, demands more funding for smaller class sizes, additional counselors and mental health professionals, and other spending.
“It’s no surprise that public schools are underfunded throughout the state,” claimed Anaheim Union High School District trustee Jessica Guerrero.
In reality, new Reason Foundation research shows that taxpayers are getting a poor return on their investment in California’s public schools, and the last thing those schools need is more money. Between 2002 and 2023, the state’s public school funding increased by nearly 79%, rising from $14,526 per student to $25,941 per student after adjusting for inflation.
The most recent data shows Los Angeles Unified spends $27,073 per average daily attendance, or per student, for shorthand. Santa Ana Unified spends $25,099 per student, San Bernardino Unified spends $24,881, Long Beach Unified spends $22,379, and Corona-Norco Unified spends $18,321.
California led the nation in K-12 spending growth over the past two decades, and you would expect commensurate gains in student outcomes. But results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) from 2003 to 2024 were disappointing, with declines in 8th-grade math and only modest gains in 4th-grade math and 8th-grade reading. The lone bright spot was 4th-grade reading, where the share of students scoring below basic on NAEP improved from 50.4% to 43.7%. That means that just over half of 4th graders are meeting the lowest reading threshold.
Despite record education funding, student outcomes have barely budged. While there is plenty of blame to go around, Reason Foundation’s data reveal structural problems with how K-12 dollars are spent. For starters, California’s public schools are a textbook case of mission creep. From 2002 to 2023, enrollment fell by 317,253 students while the number of non-teachers—including counselors, psychologists, social workers, administrators, and instructional aides—increased by 74,428.
There are fewer kids and more staff because public schools are increasingly focused on things like “whole child” development and content about everything from climate change to ethnic studies, which takes time away from core classes like math, English language arts, and science.
For example, California is spending $4 billion on community schools that provide both students and their families with healthcare, mental health support, legal clinics, and other services. These things aren’t bad, but it doesn’t make sense to turn public schools into social service hubs when nearly 46% of 8th-graders can’t do basic math and districts like Los Angeles Unified can’t cover their bills.
Teacher pension debt is also diverting resources from classrooms. In 2023, California’s public schools spent $4,900 per student on pension benefits, which include pension costs, health insurance, workers’ compensation, and other expenses. These costs have increased by a massive 134.9% since 2002, when schools spent $2,086 per student in real terms.
While benefit spending is up, teachers’ benefits aren’t any better. That’s because the main cause of this increase is unfunded pension liabilities. For years, lawmakers failed to set aside enough cash to cover pension promises made to teachers, and the bill has come due.
In 2024, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System reported $85 billion in debt, which is more than the state spends on K-12 education each year. Allowing this debt to accumulate means even fewer dollars will be spent on instruction in the years ahead, as money is shifted to pay for benefits promised to retirees and workers.
Finally, empty school buildings are eating up resources. Between 2020 and 2023, public enrollment dropped by 5.1%. Yet only seven of the state’s public schools closed in 2023-24—well below pre-COVID-19 school closure levels and fewer than rural states like South Dakota and Utah.
Public school closures are challenging for communities, but the alternative is worse. Underutilized schools are inefficient and costly, siphoning away dollars that could be used to boost student achievement with reading programs, tutoring, and increasing pay for high-performing teachers.
There are no easy fixes to California’s student achievement woes, and even more money won’t help. Policymakers must address structural issues with how education funding is spent, with a focus on academics, reducing pension debt, and closing underutilized schools.
Aaron Garth Smith is director of education policy at Reason Foundation and coauthor of the K-12 Spending Spotlight.