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State superintendent highlights wildfire relief, dual‑language immersion and educator housing in annual address
Summary
State Superintendent Tony Thurmond updated the Assembly subcommittee on education recovery efforts for fire‑impacted students, pushed for dual‑language immersion expansions to help enrollment and student outcomes, and described a bill (SB502) to provide predevelopment educator‑housing funds for district land.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond told the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance that California must continue focusing on student outcomes while responding to immediate needs created by wildfires, homelessness and workforce shortages.
Thurmond opened by noting emergency aid and private fundraising for fire‑impacted school communities: "they've helped us raise another hundred thousand dollars for the, those who've been impacted by fires, including students who are now gonna be homeless and are gonna be considered McKinney Vento, students." The Department of Education will administer those dollars through the Los Angeles County Office of Education to help affected students, he said.
On instruction and enrollment, Thurmond promoted expansion of dual‑language immersion programs, arguing they both raise student achievement and can help offset declining enrollment: "As we look at school districts that have dual language immersion programs and add them, we see a consistent demand from school families, and parents who want to be in those schools." He said the department will launch webinars and seek legislative partners to support districts that want to add immersion programs.
Thurmond also highlighted workforce challenges and a legislative proposal to address them. "One of the bills that we are sponsoring is SB502. This is a bill that we give predevelopment dollars to school districts to help them build housing on what is 75,000 acres of land that is ready for development," he said, framing district land as an asset to build educator housing.
Other items Thurmond raised included: - Support for reading and math coaches and a $1.8 billion proposal in the governor's budget for a student support and professional development block grant. - A proposal to help unaccompanied homeless youth with housing and wraparound services; Thurmond said an estimated 10,000 unaccompanied homeless youth exist in the state and called for additional supports. - A higher‑education proposal the superintendent called “pay it forward,” described as a way to create more predictable funding for college maintenance and expansion by having graduates repay after employment.
Why it matters: Thurmond combined immediate emergency responses for families displaced by wildfire (including McKinney‑Vento eligibility for homeless students) with longer‑term priorities—workforce housing, dual enrollment and expanded professional development—arguing that both relief and strategic investments are needed to support student outcomes.
Committee response and next steps Members expressed support and asked follow‑up questions. Several members asked for more detail on how dual‑language programs can be scaled and how educator housing proposals would operate in rural districts. The department said it will follow up with webinar schedules and materials for districts and with legislative staff on details for SB502 implementation.
