SACRAMENTO — Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath issued the following statement after passage of the Legislature’s education budget trailer bill, SB 130.
“The investments made in this bill build on the lessons of the pandemic to ensure school communities can bounce back stronger from the challenges of the past year. Any mother or PTA leader like myself know schools do a lot more than just educate, and this pandemic has made that abundantly clear. Working families, and by extension, our economy, depend on nutritional and after-school services that keep kids healthy, growing, and engaged — even after the final bell. I have always maintained that our approach needs to consider the whole spectrum of a child’s mental and emotional needs, and this year has laid bare what’s at stake for their development if they’re missing out on key mental health supports and targeted interventions.
This budget bill reflects these values with historic investments in our children and communities, including:
- $550 million for targeted learning recovery and emotional support programs for kids with special needs.
- $790 million to set us on a path to make Universal Transitional Kindergarten a reality by the 2025-2026 school year.
- $1.7 billion to ensure that critical after-school programs are accessible in all school districts in time for the 2021-22 school year.
- $64 million to provide two free meals a day to all students in grades TK-12, regardless of free and reduced lunch eligibility, starting with the 2021-22 school year.
While there is still plenty of work to do to make sure this vision for post-pandemic education is realized, I'm encouraged by the priorities reflected in this bill, and I look forward with optimism to the Governor's signature.”