Education, childcare & workforce

Becerra has not published a detailed K-12 plan, and education is not among the priorities listed on his campaign site. What he does say points toward public investment: he frames childcare as part of the cost-of-living squeeze and promises to expand help with it, points to his work as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary expanding early childhood education, and would build workforce and AI-training programs through public schools, libraries, and community colleges. His record points the same way — a 100% rating from the National Education Association and votes against private-school vouchers across two decades in Congress — and the California Faculty Association, which represents CSU professors, has endorsed him. He has said little about charter school, teacher tenure, or exactly how he would close the achievement gap.

Education is one of Hilton's most detailed policy areas. He calls California's 'government-run schools' a scandal and argues that, with more than $22,000 spent per student, the problem is leadership and accountability, not funding. His K-12 plan would mandate phonics-based reading instruction, give every school a public letter grade tied to third-grade proficiency, let parents at a school graded D two years running trigger changes up to conversion to a charter school, and require five years in the classroom before a teacher earns tenure. He would create Education Savings Account (public funds families can spend on other schooling), starting with low-income and special-needs students, and open cross-district enrollment. For public colleges he would freeze in-state tuition, push three-year degrees, and enforce race-neutral admissions under Proposition 209. He names teachers' unions as the main obstacle.