It’s time to make California’s education system work better for our kids

It’s not often you see over 900 diverse organizations across California all agree on something. But when a problem affecting our kids’ education has existed for over a century with little progress towards fixing it, it brings people together to finally demand a solution.

In 1919, the California Special Committee on Education identified that our education governance system was in desperate need of reform. For 106 years, that fragmented and inefficient system has remained unchanged, hindered our students’ ability to succeed, and helped lead California to have some of the largest achievement gaps and lowest student performance of any state in the country.

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Now in 2026, thanks to overwhelming support and the governor’s leadership, we finally have a chance to reform California’s education governance system to better address our students’ needs.

More than 950 organizations across California have signed on in support of education governance reform, demanding that the California Department of Education be aligned under a more logical leadership structure to provide clearer guidance for schools and hold state leaders accountable for delivering results. The campaign, coordinated by Children Now through the Children’s Movement of California, features a vast collection of supporters across parent, student, civil rights, business, faith and community groups. They come from 48 of the state’s 58 counties, from Modoc and Trinity in the far north to Imperial in the far south. They range in diversity from the California School Boards Association, to the American Academy of Pediatrics, to Boys and Girls Clubs all across the state.

Within that broad and diverse support (which also includes a coalition of 27 education equity groups), what’s clear is that the people who work the closest with the Department of Education are all in favor of this reform. That includes the Association of California School Administrators, the California County Superintendents and the California Association of School Business Officials — all of whom represent school leaders throughout the state who rely on the Department every day for support.

Failing to properly support our kids’ education affects all of us, no matter what business, industry or community you’re in. To make a new set of needed improvements, we must start with a sensible governance system people can easily understand.

Failing to properly support our kids’ education affects all of us, no matter what business, industry or community you’re in.

Ted Lempert, president of Children Now

Fortunately, Gov. Gavin Newsom has come forward with a proposal to do just that, one that is more straightforward and effective than misguided attempts in the past.

It aligns the state Department of Education under the state Board of Education, with a gubernatorially appointed education commissioner responsible for day-to-day management.

The elected superintendent of public instruction remains a critical, independent spokesperson for education.

The state board retains its role of setting standards.

The governor and the state Legislature keep their budgetary and policy functions. Local districts keep running their schools.

What changes is accountability for effective implementation. The governor is the top leader of the state, so it’s the governor who should be accountable for an issue as critical as our kids’ education, as they are in other states with stronger student performance. This change will help immensely in providing clearer guidance to schools and improving academic outcomes that work to close our achievement gaps.

This reformed system already exists in most states across the country with significantly stronger results. From 2003 to 2024, states where the governor appointed the chief education official ranked in the top half of the country on demographically adjusted national test scores 71% of the time.

In contrast, California’s system has led to relatively poor student performance — just 46% of California fourth graders are proficient in English, while just 42% are proficient in math, according to Children Now’s 2026 California Children’s Report Card. The Getting Down to Facts III report released this month also confirmed the need for education governance reform as a prerequisite to the other major reforms needed to improve student performance.

We cannot wait any longer to address a core reason for our state’s education failures. Will adopting the governor’s proposal miraculously change student outcomes and solve all our issues? Of course not. But governance is foundational to improving our student achievement. It is critical that our education system has clear accountability for delivering support to students and getting results. With nearly 1000 organizations across California in agreement, now is the time to make California’s education system work better for our kids.

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Ted Lempert is a former state legislator and the president of Children Now, a whole child research and advocacy organization that coordinates The Children’s Movement of California.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view.

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