California's January Governor’s Proposed Budget has already been released and after watching the video on it, we at BBFK have a few ideas for the May Revision budget. Although Governor Newsom has many bold plans for the future of California, we want to address some of the inconsistencies and failures of said budget. Whether it is the rampant issue of homelessness to the affordability of higher level institutions, California legislators must change to how the budget is spent in this state.
It is time for California to readdress the issue of homelessness and the ineffective heavy financial allocations aimed at solving it.
Despite the state of California and Governor Newsom dedicating billions to eradicate homelessness and still advocating increased spending on the issue of homelessness , the situation seems to worsen with more funding despite the state government's admission of no progress.
We propose slashing the budget for the homelessness crisis by half, from $15 billion to $7.5 billion, to still maintain a standard fund to tackle the issue but not ramp it up anymore as it is ineffective
Here are a few articles that also show the extent of the problem in California when dealing with the homeless:
California's $20 Billion Effort to Combat Homelessness Fails to Curb Rising Unhoused Population
Audit Finds SF Homeless Housing Provider Misspent Taxpayer Money
After reports of botched homeless count, city ordered a redo—and then backtracked
In Hollywood, homeless encampments fuel neighborhood frustration with Bass and Raman
A year ago, L.A. County declared homelessness a state of emergency. Is it working?
L.A. hotel’s homeless residents forced school to shut down, lawsuit says
Although California's investment in mental health reform is commendable, it is important to address the root causes of mental health issues. One of the primary roots for mental health issues is social media that we see time from time again hurts our youth. Per Mayo Clinic, the risks social media poses to teenagers is emphasized through illegal acts, self-harm, and eating disorders.
If we have age limits on addictive products such as alcohol, gambling, smoking, etc. then maybe it’s time to put an age limit on social media as it is also addictive
If California is serious about dealing with this issue, they can look at the model of Florida’s social media ban for teenagers (should be 18 years old) and the social media companies should help pay for all the damage that they have caused to our use youth.
Remove TK-16 and stick with K-12 because we have to recognize that our youth have to make their own decisions instead of ramping up the use of tax-payer dollars. Also, if community college isn’t working for our youth, it’s time to make a change.
It should be mandatory that there is a detailed breakdown and oversight for all District spending, since schools pick there own auditors and the LAO or anyone else in government doesn’t double check where the money is going (over $100B of taxpayers money)
One of the big issues with the budget of California is the excessive funding College Corps receives which $293M from the state
The question that has to be asked is whether it is better to help 2,300 university students that have already been accepted to a higher level institution or 300k high school students (just to do the simple math, we are helping 130x the amount of students we would be helping)
Instead of focusing $1.9B on “Career savings accounts” or Cal Kids, which has low utilization rates at 16%, you can be redirecting it to BBFK to expand the education of our youth. Giving our youth the right information at the time!!
UC and CSU will not answer our calls/emails to give us a breakdown of where the billions they receive go towards nor can anyone in the government such as the people within the Budgeting Committee. This another issue with our colleges having far too much power. Both public and private in California, we ask you whether they need government grants when their foundations have so much in assets:
Stanford: $60B (received $1.37B in government grants in 2021-22)
USC: $13B (received $500M in government grants in 2021-22)
UCLA: $5B (Unknown as UC refused to answer calls to breakdown all UC’s government grants despite receiving $4.9B in California Budget)
UCSF: $3.47B (Unknown)
UC Berkeley: $3.4B (Unknown)
Santa Clara: $2.9B ($2M in government grants in 2021-22)
Pepperdine: $2.4B ($14M in government grants in 2021-22)
UCSD: $1.6B (Unknown)
UC Irvine: $870M (Unknown)
UC Davis: $758M (Unknown)
All in all, California is a state that has an excellent present and a potential for an even better future, but when it comes to the issues of the budget, it cannot be overlooked anymore. Whether it is excessive funding to programs that are inefficient, political conflicts of interest, and the incomprehension of oversight and accountability, California lawmakers must do better. One of many ways to address this issue is to dedicate 1% in any program that is passed, on the sector of accountability and oversight. While the progress is going to have to start small for California, it is better to start it rather than avoid the issues entirely. By California joining the principles shared with BBFK we can aspire for a better future for our youth.
A new bill that guarantees $500M to BBFK MORE Program on 2025 and beyond to educate all HS moving forward (so 15,500 classrooms equating to over 423,000 students PER year)
There is plenty of money circling through K-12 for BBFK to receive $500M to help our youth on a course that is worth "$100k of a lifetime benefit." per CNBC
We can amend Prop 98 or write a new bill (similar to Prop 28)
Instead of money being spent on programs that are uncertain or ineffective, that can be redirected to BBFK to foster the change we need in California
1% Accountability/ oversight on all money being spent within California budget
A threshold bill to stop government funding if your nonprofit organization has X amount ($500M, $1B, $2B) in net assets or fund balances