CA Community schools are key to falling crime rates

By Castle Redmond and John H. Jackson, Special for CalMatters

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In a recent State of the State address, Gov. Gavin Newsom highlighted data showing gun violence in California fell to a record low in 2025, with drops in every major crime category.

Oakland recorded its fewest homicides since 1967; Los Angeles, its fewest since 1966; Fresno also hit a 50-year low. And this progress occurred alongside measurable improvements in youth wellbeing.

A key reason this happened is that communities across California — and the nation — led campaigns to replace punishment-first systems with systems of support and healing.

They fought to dismantle the “school-to-prison pipeline,” to expand educational opportunities and end mass incarceration. They won hundreds of state and local policy victories that invested in youth and families to create safe, thriving schools and neighborhoods. We are now seeing the fruits of those efforts.

California’s historic investment in community schools was one of those victories. This year, we have the chance to lock in these gains and build on them by making our investment in community schools permanent.

Community schools are foundational

A community school is a public school that serves as a neighborhood hub, combining academics with health and youth development services. It builds strong partnerships with families, community-based organizations and local governments to meet the needs of the “whole child” and strengthen the surrounding community.

In 2021, California launched the $4.1 billion Community Schools Partnership Program, which now reaches more than 2,500 schools. It’s guided by a California Community Schools Framework that prioritizes mental health and restorative justice.

The first major evaluation of California’s community schools found clear impacts after just one year: chronic absence was down 30%, suspensions were down 15%, and academic achievement was up, with Black students and English learners gaining the equivalent of at least 50 additional days of learning.

The movement behind the gains

The improvements outside of school also are not accidental. They are the result of more than two decades of youth and family-led campaigns that reshaped California’s approach to education, community safety and youth wellbeing — part of what many call the 21st Century Civil Rights Movement.

Communities most impacted by violence and mass incarceration organized to stop both. They pushed government to shift hundreds of millions of dollars from youth prisons and school police toward youth development, employment, mental health and healing.

In Los Angeles, coalitions such as Brothers, Sons, Selves; the Dignity in Schools Campaign, and Police Free LAUSD secured major wins, including a School Climate Bill of Rights in 2013. In 2021, they won tens of millions of dollars for a Black Student Achievement Plan, Dream Centers for immigrant youth and supports for LGBTQ+ students — instead of more school police.

At the same time, the Los Angeles Youth Uprising Coalition helped move tens of millions of dollars more from county probation to a new Department of Youth Development. Communities across California waged similar campaigns. The organizers who built this work deserve credit for today’s progress.

What the data shows Los Angeles just recorded its safest year in decades; crime rates have plummeted. Incarceration rates and police budgets also are trending lower.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Unified School District announced the highest test scores in its history. And students are achieving more while being suspended less. School suspensions have dropped 80% in LAUSD since 2012. Statewide, suspensions have been cut in half and test scores are rising.

Communities have shown we can create safety and wellbeing without feeding a school-to-prison pipeline and mass incarceration.

California’s investment in community schools has delivered transformative results — but the funding is temporary. In his State of the State speech, Newsom proposed an additional $1 billion in ongoing funding. It’s a critical investment.

We applaud the governor for taking the lead to make community schools funding — and the California Framework — permanent. The future of our youth and our state depend on it.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.