What’s going on with K12 and higher education in California in 2025?
Several issues in education will continue to gain attention in 2025 including the budget, declining enrollment and school facilities, especially after voters approved a $10 billion bond in November for K-12 school and community colleges to renovate, fix or construct facilities. In January, Gov. Gavin Newsom, lelgislators, education leaders and advocates will outline their plans for the state’s 2025 education agenda. This page will be updated as new proposals are introduced.
CalMatters education team:Â
- Editor: Denise Zapata, dzapata@calmatters.org
- K12 education reporter: Carolyn Jones, carolyn@calmatters.org
- Higher Education: Mikhail Zinshteyn, mikhail@calmatters.org
- Education Reporter: Tara Garcia Mathewson, tara@calmatters.org
- Community College Reporter: Adam Echelman, aechelman@calmatters.org
- College Journalism Network Editor: Jennifer Burger, jennifer@calmatters.org
- College Journalism Network Asst. Editor: Matthew Reagan, matthew@calmatters.org
Quick Facts
- Enrollment: There are nearly 6 million students in California’s 10,000 K12 public schools.
- Demographic: Nearly 20% of K12 students are English learners; more than 60% are from low income families.
- Community College: 1.9 million students attend the largest system of higher education in the US.
- Financial aid: 744,000 college students receive $3.4 billion in financial aid, up from $2.4 billion five years ago.
K12 and Higher Education Bills
In Focus
Here are all of the bills considered in the current session involving K12 and higher education. Highlighted bills are identified by CalMatters as among the most significant this year.
Key Players
Legislative Leaders
These are the leaders in the Legislature for education issues as identified by CalMatters.
David Alvarez
District 80, Chula Vista
Marc Berman
District 23, Palo Alto
Mike Fong
District 49, Alhambra
Jacqui Irwin
District 42, Thousand Oaks
John Laird
District 17, Santa Cruz
Al Muratsuchi
District 66, Torrance
Non-Legislator leaders
Other than legislators, these are the people or organizations that have been most active on education issues as determined by the number of times they have testified in related hearings or taken positions on bills.
