The Governor started the last budget cycle by slashing kids’ programs with severe cuts. The Children’s Movement (TCM) fought relentlessly to reverse many of them, but California must do better.
Send a clear message to the Governor before the next cycle begins: we won’t tolerate more cuts to our children’s future. Sign the letter to demand a budget that puts kids first!
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor
State of California
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, California 95814
Don’t Cut Kids in the 2025-26 Budget
Dear Governor Newsom,
Our state takes pride in its role as a national leader, crafting dynamic and impactful policy solutions that spark waves of change across the country. Yet when it comes to supporting our kids, we instead trail far behind too many other states. California’s state budgets for too long have sacrificed children’s well-being in favor of other priorities, instead of asserting our commitment to kids and our collective future.
As you prepare next year’s budget proposal, we call on you to truly prioritize kids and end the constant cycle of putting them on the chopping block: Preserve full funding for childcare, kids’ health, foster care, and education (pre-K through higher ed) and don’t cut kids in the 2025-26 budget.
Committing to our kids is especially critical given the alarming reality that California ranks 35th among all states in child well-being. Our inputs are poor — we rank well behind our tax burden in terms of per capita spending on kids — and so are our results. We are 3rd worst in both percentage of kids who receive a routine health checkup and who suffer from tooth decay or cavities. 77% of our 8th graders are below proficient in math, and over two-thirds of our 4th graders are below proficient in reading. This is unacceptable for a state that ranks so high nationally on per-capita spending on most other government programs.
We call on you to stop repeating the mistakes of our past. This includes the 2024-25 budget cycle, where draconian cuts were proposed to programs impacting all facets of child well-being, including youth mental health and youth in foster care whom the state is legally responsible for. Even in difficult budget years, California must prioritize our children – kids should be the last ones forced to sacrifice and the first to receive new additional dollars. We must prioritize where we are behind other states and where it’s most critical to our collective future.
It is time for California to ensure that every child can thrive and succeed. We urge you to prioritize our children. Don’t cut kids in the 2025-26 budget.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned Organizations
