California Schools Face Major Enrollment Decline: What's Happening? | Gloria Romero

California Schools Face Major Enrollment Decline: What's Happening? | Gloria Romero

From California Insider by The Epoch Times

June 4, 2026 · 37 min

About this episode

Gloria Romero discusses the significant decline in California's K–12 enrollment and the challenges in improving educational outcomes despite funding.

Over the past decade, California's K–12 enrollment has fallen by hundreds of thousands of students. Less than half of those still in the system can read at grade level. If fewer students are in the system and outcomes are not moving, what is the money doing? Gloria Romero, a former California state senator and longtime education reform advocate, joins the show to walk through how the state funds its schools and why the outcomes have been so difficult to move. *Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

People in this episode

Host: California Insider

Guest: Gloria Romero

Topics covered

  • education
  • enrollment decline
  • school funding
  • California politics
  • education reform

Keywords

  • California schools
  • enrollment decline
  • education funding
  • K-12 education
  • reading levels

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: California Insider, The Epoch Times

Places: California, California

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