Look, I want to fill you in on something that's happening in California schools that could have ripple effects on families in our market. According to CalMatters Housing, Governor Newsom recently signed Senate Bill 1067, which requires all kindergartners through second-graders across California to take a basic math skills test. The goal here is pretty straightforward: catch kids early who are struggling with foundational math concepts like counting and number recognition, so they don't get further behind as the material gets harder in the upper grades.
California's math performance has been a real problem for a while now. The state scores are still well below the national average, though they have edged up slightly in recent years. Before the pandemic, about 40 percent of California students were proficient in math, but when remote learning hit, those scores fell off a cliff. We're still climbing back, and the state figures that identifying struggling learners in the early grades could help reverse this trend.
The Department of Education now has to put together a list of approved tests that school districts can choose from, and they need to include options for English learners. Testing doesn't start until June of 2028, so schools have some time to prepare. This new math screening law is being rolled out alongside a dyslexia screening program that started back in 2023, both designed to catch at-risk students early. These students often come from low-income families, are Black or Latino, or are dealing with homelessness, foster care, or disabilities.
Here's where it gets a little complicated. The Assembly Appropriations Committee estimated that providing enough tutoring and support for struggling students could cost schools tens of millions of dollars every year, and the new law doesn't come with dedicated funding for that. There is about 4.4 billion dollars in the recent state budget earmarked for student support and professional development, which might help offset some of those costs, but that's not guaranteed.
The teachers union and a few other groups pushed back on this bill, arguing that standardized testing at such a young age isn't the right approach and that teachers already know which kids need help. They also worried about what happens if the state economy softens and school budgets get cut. Senator Akilah Weber Pierson, who authored the bill, has indicated there's more work coming down the pipeline to improve these numbers.
What I am seeing locally is that education quality and school performance are increasingly tied to family stability and economic resources. When California struggles with math proficiency rates, it affects the demographics and desirability of different neighborhoods and school districts, which absolutely impacts how families think about where to buy or rent. Early intervention programs like this one, if funded properly, could help stabilize communities and support the kinds of neighborhoods people want to move to for their families.
