So-called “free” education has recently come into vogue on the Left, with multiple 2020 presidential hopefuls either proposing legislation in Congress to fully fund education programs or including similar policies in their campaign platforms.
In spring 2017, both Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sponsored a bill which would have made college free for all families nationwide earning $125,000 a year or less and made community college free for students at all income levels.
Sanders and Warren’s bill would cost the federal government around $41 billion a year to implement, with states contributing their own share.
More recently, Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a self-described socialist, has advocated for tuition-free public colleges and trade schools.
California is one state where Democratic legislators are planning to implement this latest and expensive new push for free education programs.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., recently released his proposed budget for fiscal 2019-2020, with a whopping $80.7 billion allocated to education alone.
Newsom’s education budget includes a second year of free community college for first-time students who are enrolled full-time, which would cost approximately $40 million next year. According to the proposal, $125 million would be used to begin expanding preschool to all low-income 4-year-olds over the next three years, and $750 million would be made available to fund more all-day kindergarten programs.
Travis Allen, a candidate for chair of the California Republican Party, told me that many of Newsom’s education proposals do not include ongoing funding and that Newsom’s education budget as a whole is not affordable.
“The Legislative Analyst’s Office actually projects $7 billion less of a surplus than Newsom’s budget, which means that California’s new Democratic governor is already operating on potentially unrealistic assumptions,” he said.
Allen also said Newsom’s plan spends too much money on public K-12 education programs, ignoring cheaper, private alternatives, such as charter schools, which could make for a much more fiscally responsible education plan.
“Simply throwing more money into the system won’t solve the systemic issues that have led to our state’s disappointing K-14 system,” he added, noting that under its decades-long Democratic majority, California went from leading the nation in educational outcomes to being ranked 46th in fourth-grade reading and math nationwide by 2013.
“Clearly, the answer is greater accountability with the current dollars being spent on educational reform,” Allen said. “Unfortunately, with the election of Newsom and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, the top two Democrats in the state have dodged efforts for accountability and taken active positions against competition from charter schools from in California.”
“Democrats have failed California’s children,” he added.
Allen believes that Newsom’s plan reflects the wider goal of the radical left to institute supposedly free cradle-to-the-grave education, from kindergarten all the way through college.
“Gavin Newsom has a long history of pushing ideas from the far-left into California’s politics,” Allen said. “Sanders, Warren, and Ocasio-Cortez are now the new vanguard of the Democrat Party.”
Allen also noted that many of the most vocal proponents of these expensive education programs have larger political aspirations, especially those in California.
“As we have seen with the political ambitions of Kamala Harris, it likely won’t be long before we hear of presidential aspirations from California’s latest Democrat governor,” he said, referencing Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and her 2020 presidential campaign, as well as speculations of similar intentions on Newsom’s part.
“Unfortunately for Californians, that could mean higher taxes, lower standards, and a state education system that is not fulfilling the educational needs of our children,” Allen told me.
Allen said that state Republican parties should “demand reform, accountability, and competition in education” when combating similar proposals from their Democratic governors and state legislators.
“Very simply, Republicans believe that the primary goal of our education system should be the education of our children and that competition and accountability are critical components of improving educational outcomes,” he said. “Democrat efforts to undermine charter schools, relax achievement standards and spend money without oversight have only ended up hurting our children’s education.”
“At the end of the day, by putting our children’s outcomes first we will produce students who are ready to enter the workforce with the skill set they need to compete at the highest level,” he added.
Troy Worden is a recent graduate in English and philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was president of the Berkeley College Republicans in 2017.
