Laird Touts Record-Breaking Education Budget

EdSource spoke with Sen. John Laird Monday regarding the “historic” education funding contained in the budget the legislature had just sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“We go after the problems that have been intractable for so long and budget for impact,” Laird said. “We’ve been waiting for decades to have student aid that helps people. We’ve been waiting to restore our schools financially. I don’t think anybody has had a budget like this in front of them for a generation, if not longer.”

In remarks on the floor of the senate, Laird, who sits on the education budget committee, defended the budget against charges from Republicans that they had been cut out of the process.

“We had 13 hearings over the past few months," Laird said. “We heard testimony from hundreds and hundreds of people. And it’s significant that when we heard the testimony, we responded.”

Follow this link to read an analysis of the education items in the 2021-22 budget on EdSource.

Follow this link to watch a video of Sen. John Laird's remarks on the floor of the Senate.