Kevin Kiley: “for years, I have been warning about the declining education outcomes that exist across our country, but in particular…”

“for years, I have been warning about the declining education outcomes that exist across our country, but in particular, in my State of California. We just received a jarring reminder of just how bleak things have gotten. UC San Diego, which is a rather selective school in California, has recently announced that a large share of its students can no longer even do basic math. The school announced that the number of students who require remedial courses has gone from 1 out of every 100 to 1 out of every 8. This truly jarring state of affairs comes in spite of a massive increase in education funding in California. Indeed, since Governor Newsom came into office, the overall education budget has increased by almost $40 billion. Yet, what is the outcome of that? We have students at a fairly selective university who can't do basic math, and, by the way, the State also has the highest illiteracy rate in the entire country. I have advocated for reforms to our education system in California that would actually close achievement gaps and serve students.”