Beautillion Year in Review - “I Am… Changing The Narrative”

By Marlene Davis

Swearing-In Ceremony For New SBCUSD Trustee Is February 7

With our theme being “I Am …Changing the Narrative” the Social-Lites Inc., are excited to have 5 outstanding young men participating in the 20222023 Beautillion Program. The Knights are Jermaine Moreno and Jordan Evans from Grand Terrace High School Senior, K’Miles Davis of Rialto High School, Shannon Williams of Mojave High School & Davion Boyd-Phenix of Arlington High School.

These Knights are in full swing with many dynamic speakers. To date we have had several special guests:

Starting with

• Edward Brantley, Student Outreach Coordinator for the PAL Center & Lead Instructor for the San Bern. County’s Probation Depts. Independent Living Program opened our season with a wellreceived spirited talk about SelfConfidence and How to Bring You’re A-Game into your Life.

Michael Davis, newly retired 25-year School Administrator who worked across Southern and Bay Area

California covered the proper attire for Dressing for Success for any occasion from head to toes.

• Tina Darling, BN MSN Educator and Asst. Director of American Career College discussed all avenues of health and the awareness of STD’s.

• Pastor Reginald L Woods, PhD, Pastor of Life Changing Ministries and former Sir Knight 1976, spoke to the entire units (Squires, Fair Maidens and Pages) about all aspects of life and how to attract positive relationships & how to recognize them at an early age.

• Chief Joseph Paulino, for the S.B.U.S.D. talked to our youth about life and how to think outside the box and now is the time to start your focus.

Zuriah McKnight –Police Officer of Valverde S.D. and Owner of District Charter Patrol talked to the men about entrepreneurship and how to seize the moment reminding the Knights “if you want something don’t waste time and get it.”

• Fire Chief David Reddix for the City of L.A. City Fire

Department shared his journey as an African American male and the challenges of growing to the top rank of Chief as well as the career paths available.

• Dr. Charles Brown, former Sir Knight 1989 and member Dar’rell Jones both of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Mu Xi Lambda Chapter along with Social Lites, Inc. member Twillea Evans-Carthen of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Eta Nu Omega Chapter presented information on the upcoming 35th Annual Oratorical Contest and encouraged each of them to participate for scholarships.

• Anthony Roberson, Associate Director of Operations at California State University, San Bernardino and former Knight of 1995 – talked about his past participation of being a “Knight” in the program and how it helped him with his future life experiences. He also shared with the young men the importance of being an African American man today.

Just this past weekend we accompanied the Knights to the L.A. Black College Expo where they were able to meet Admission

Counselors from the majority of our historically Black Colleges from around the United States. We were thrilled that several of our Knights walked away with partial scholarships that day!

The Beautillion Program, now it its 56th year, it’s designed to help young men who are seniors in high school prepare for college through the solicitation of ads, leadership development, accountability, responsibility, etiquette, attire for all occasions, spiritual growth, public speaking, and community service. At the conclusion of the program one young man will be recognized “Sir Knight.”

The Beautillion program will conclude on April 1, 2023 at California State University, San Bernardino. To date, we have given out approximately 2.5 million dollars in scholarships to our college bound young men. For more information, please contact Sheri Lewis (909) 3200799, Elsie Paulino (951)2058823 or Marlene Davis (909) 709-5502.

The San Bernardino City Unified School District Board of Education will hold a swearingin ceremony for newly appointed trustee Felicia Alexander at its next meeting on Tuesday, February 7 at the Dr. Margaret Hill Community Room, 777 North F Street in San Bernardino.

As a provisional appointee, Alexander will serve on the Board until the general election in November 2024. The public is invited to attend the Oath of Office ceremony and may also view the proceedings live online on the District's YouTube channel.

Alexander’s provisional appointment becomes effective in 30 days unless voters submit a petition to the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools calling for a special election, pursuant to Education Code 5091.

Alexander said she is interested in getting back to the pre-COVID graduation rates, making sure middle schools have the resources needed for afterschool programs, and growing the career pathways programs. She also said she has three grandchildren in San Bernardino City Schools, so she has a vested interest in the District. She brings to the Board her experience as Sector Director, Global Supply Chain, where she leads global logistics efforts for an aeronautics and defense company. Alexander is also an adjunct professor at California State University, Long Beach, teaching courses in operations management, supply chain management, and reversed logistics modules. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in organizational development and leadership. The six-member Board interviewed nine candidates publically during a special meeting held on January 24, 2023, before selecting Alexander.

Commentary: Why the Debate Between Advocates and Gov. Newsom Over Black Student Funding Is Heating Up

Joe W. Bowers Jr. | California Black Media

When Gov. Gavin Newsom presented his 2023-24 budget, educators around the state were happy to hear his funding plans for California’s public schools.

The deficit had little impact on education funding. K-12 per-pupil funding is $17,519 from the Prop 98 General Fund and is $23,723 per pupil when accounting for all funding sources. Last year, it was $22,893.

Newsom announced, “We’re keeping our promises.”

The budget reaffirms his commitment to invest in Transitional Kindergarten (TK)12 education. Funding levels are being maintained for universal TK, community schools, behavioral health programs, special education, programs to mitigate learning loss during COVID-19, teacher and staff recruitment and retention and the universal meals program.

The biggest new program presented in the budget is called the LCFF (Local Control Funding Formula) Equity Multiplier.

“We made a commitment with leaders in the Assembly and the Senate, led by the great work that former Assemblymember Weber and now current member Weber is doing in terms of equity,” Newsom described the program.

“We're committing an additional $300 million in this year's budget.”

Newsom was referring to the efforts Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber made with Assembly Bill (AB) 2635 and her daughter, Assemblymember Dr. Akilah Weber (D-San Diego), with AB 2774. The bills were written to fix the LCFF by creating a supplemental grant for California’s lowest-performing subgroup of students not currently receiving funding, which are African American students.

Black students have consistently been the lowest performing students in the state. Currently, 70% are not meeting the English Language Arts standards and 84% are not meeting math standards.

About 80,000 African American students -- or just over 25% -- are not receiving additional supplemental funding or accountability through the LCFF.

It’s only by targeting additional funds to the lowest performing subgroup that most school districts will be willing to adopt specific and concrete solutions to bridge the achievement gap for Black students.

Although Shirley Weber had shelved the bill in 2018, Gov. Jerry Brown agreed to fund AB 2635 with $300 million in onetime money. The funding went to “low performing students” not the “lowest-performing student subgroup”. It is estimated that Black students received about 8% of that amount.

Last year, AB 2774 passed through the Senate and Assembly without opposition, but Akilah Weber opted to pull the bill before it was sent to Newsom due to potential constitutional issues and lack of an appropriation to fund it. However, she secured Newsom’s commitment to include it in the 2023 budget – targeted funding that would address the needs of Black students.

However, the LCFF Equity Multiplier Program Newsom is proposing falls short of the expectations of the educators and education advocates that supported AB 2774.

They formed the Black in School Coalition and they are asking Newsom to develop a program more like AB 2774.

Coalition member Debra Watkins, Founder and Executive Director of the California Alliance of African American Educators, told California Black Media (CBM) the program was, “Almost the opposite of what we were asking for… it’s misguided.”

Dr. Margaret Fortune, the president and CEO of Fortune School of Education,

Biden-Harris Administration Invests $2.7 Billion to Improve and Expand Rural Electric Infrastructure

a charter school network based Sacramento told CBM, “You have a proposal that is put out there as the solution for Black kids, but the funding is not going to get to the Black kids.”

The Equity Multiplier Program is a $300 million ongoing add-on to the LCFF to accelerate gains in closing opportunity and outcome gaps. The funds will be allocated to LEAs (Local Educational Agency) which are a school district, county office of education, or charter school with schools serving high concentrations of students eligible for free meals (90% or more free meal eligibility for elementary and middle schools and 85% or more free meal eligibility for high schools).

Brooks Allen, Education Policy Advisor to the Governor and Executive Director of the California State Board of Education, revealed to CBM that budget trailer bill language is being written to strengthen the ties between the three elements of California’s accountability system: the LCAP, the California School Dashboard, and the Statewide System of Support.

According to Allen, the trailer bill will require LEAs, where student group performance is low on a Dashboard indicator at the school level, to include specific goals, actions, and funding to address these demonstrated student group and school-level needs in the LCAP and LEA budget.

Assemblymember Weber told CBM, “I am a huge supporter of this proposal in its entirety…. It's about making sure that the money that we're getting is being used properly. That it's going to the students that are supposed to be getting it and making sure that whatever indicators that we have found to indicate poor academic performance are being

Teachers and parents concerned over safety after the United States Department of Education instructs Victor Valley Union High School District to amend its disciplinary policies to ensure equal treatment of students...continued from page 1 had been filed.

At its October 6, 2022, student services director Michael Williford provided the VVUHSD Board of Trustees meeting, with a presentation spelling out what the US Department of Education, Office of the Civil Rights determined and what the district is required to accomplish to comply with the resolution the district reached with the US ED.

Williford showed graphics illustrating the number of students enrolled in the district, and the number of students suspended by race, White, Hispanic, and Black, during school year 201819, looking at percentages by race of enrollment compared to suspensions, which the US Department of Education found were not proportional.

Williford acknowledged that during school year 2018-19, Black students had a coin flip chance of being suspended, explaining that is what the Office of Civil Rights found disproportional.

After questions by VVUHSD board members, Williford responded that the OCR also found VVUHSD disciplined Black students more severely.

Williford explained after OCR instructed VVUHSD to stop suspensions for truant students, the district stopped the practice, reasoning that disciplining a student with an unauthorized absence by excluding them from classes, was not an effective way to correct student behavior.

Williford pointed to education code changes, and OCR’s findings resulting in the revision of its disciplinary policies, brought new disciplinary policies using restorative justice measures, trauma informed practices, social emotional learning, and schoolwide positive behavior, interventions and support to help pupils gain critical social emotional skills, transformed trauma-related responses, and helping the student comprehend how their actions impact others, and developing meaningful ways the student could repair the damage to the school community.

In prior years, the district failed to track students referred for discipline resulting in inaccurate data, Williford shared, in response, VVUHSD has developed a uniform referral procedure to assure future data would be accurate, which the district can use to make educated decisions.

Williford claimed current data showed a decrease in discipline referrals, interpreting the data as demonstrating VVUHSD’s improved interventions were working, while confirming six assaults of staff members raised alarm during VVUHSD’s 2021/2022 school year.

Of the 15 years she has been a teacher at Hook Junior High, Teacher Cynthia Meade told the VVUHSD Board of Trustees at its November 7, 2022, meeting, “This is probably the most challenging in terms of safety at our school.”

“We've had numerous fights almost daily,” Meade declared. We don’t have enough security on campus, Meade warned, expressing her concern for the safety of teachers and students while navigating this new world.

The students don’t have any social norms yet, don’t settle down, yell at her, and refuse to put things away, Adelanto High School Teacher Janice Bedian voiced explaining her daily apprehension of her tenth-grade classes, fourth and sixth period, and sharing that she is frightened not knowing what to do, because she can’t respond to the behavior as she could in the past.

Inspired by a TikTok challenge, the students were throwing pencils and pens at me today, Bedian related finding that the kids don’t know how to behave. “So, I don't feel safe in my classroom all the time,” Bedian declared.

Bedian told the board that she was asking for help and guidance, asking where was her safety and confidence, and that she would love to install a camera in her classroom, but it was prohibited due to student confidentiality.

Dr. Saniyyah Mayo, a therapist, and sister of a parent with three children attending schools at VVUHSD who have experienced violence on campus told the VVUHSD Board of Trustees at its January 12, 2023, meeting, that she was there to address the violence at the schools explaining that two of her nieces were removed last year from Lakeview Leadership Academy due to violence and this year her other niece has been jumped three times.

The Lakeview Leadership Academy Principal explained

Funding Includes $613 Million to Improve Grid Security and Reliability

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2023

– U.S. Department of Agriculture

(USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the Department is investing $2.7 billion to help 64 electric cooperatives and utilities (PDF, 175 KB) expand and modernize the nation’s rural electric grid and increase grid security.

“These critical investments will benefit rural people and businesses in many ways for decades to come,” Vilsack said.

“This funding will help rural cooperatives and utilities invest in changes that make our energy more efficient, more reliable, and more affordable. Investing in infrastructure – roads, bridges, broadband and energy – supports good-paying jobs and keeps the United States poised to lead the global economy.”

Background:

USDA is investing in 64 projects through the Electric Loan Program. This funding will benefit nearly 2 million rural people and businesses in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and

Wisconsin.

The loans include $613 million to help rural utilities and cooperatives install and upgrade smart grid technologies. Smart grid can be a catalyst for broadband and other telecommunications services in unserved and underserved rural areas in addition to improving grid security and reliability.

Nearly half of the awards will help finance infrastructure improvements in underserved communities.

USDA’s Electric Loan Program can help finance wind, solar and natural gas plants, as well as improvements to produce cleaner energy from coal-fired plants. Local utilities also use the loans to invest in infrastructure to deliver affordable power to millions of residential, commercial and agricultural consumers.

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural, Tribal and high-poverty areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda. gov.

“Angry” and “Heartbroken,” California Leaders Want to See Action After String of Mass Shootings

Tanu Henry | California Black Media

he could not ensure her nieces’ safety and suggested her sister remove them from on campus classes, instructing her to instead home school her children, which is not beneficial, Dr. Mayo objected.

This is happening on your grounds, on your watch, and we can blame it on the parents, say it’s their responsibility, and it is but, Dr. Mayo voiced, it's also the community’s responsibility to make sure the students are receiving an education in a safe environment, the violence has to be addressed. Dr. Mayo pressed the district share how it is addressing violence on campus, while recognizing we can’t demonize these kids.

Dr. Mayo expressed her hope VVUHSD will hire the proper professionals and put programs in place, hiring mental health professionals knowledgeable with the culture of the students they are counseling, that the students lack emotional judgment, and effective communication skills, that they need to learn those skills, otherwise there is aggression, and fighting.

“My daughter, since school began, was jumped three times,” parent Shawntae Smith Bridges informed the board, explaining she did not want her daughter in independent studies, that she wishes her daughter to experience all the benefits of high school, in a safe environment.

Smith Bridges questioned VVUHSD’s administration asking what is the district doing as far as consequences for these kids?

“Faith and prayer without action is meaningless,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA13), the longest serving -- and the highest ranking -- African American member of California’s delegation to United States House of Representatives.

“House Democrats have met the moment and passed critical gun reform in the 117th Congress,” she added in a statement her office released last week. Lee was reacting to backto-back mass shootings in three California cities: Monterey Park, Half Moon Bay and Oakland.

The mass shootings left 19 people dead and at least 15 more people injured.

About a week before the Monterey Park shooting, six members of a family, including an infant, were shot and killed at their home in Goshen, a small town in Central California with a population of about 5,000 people.

“It is now on Republicans in both the House and Senate to stand up to the gun lobby and prevent the next tragedy,” Lee emphasized.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Californians should

“stand united against all attempts to divide us.”

"The reports coming out of Monterey Park are absolutely devastating. Families deserve to celebrate the holidays in peace — mass shootings and gun violence are a plague on our communities,” she said.

The frustration expressed in Lee’s and Bass’ remarks about the unending occurrences of gun violence in the United States (there have been 44 deaths by guns across the country in January alone) is not isolated. That sentiment was echoed in statements made by civic and political leaders across California.

Last Monday, Gov. Newsom was consoling victims of the Monterey Park killing when his visit was interrupted with news about another incident of gun violence.

“Tragedy upon tragedy,” the Governor took to Twitter, expressing his disappointment.

“At the hospital meeting with victims of a mass shooting when I get pulled away to be briefed

An Unflinching Advocate for Black Children: Honoring the Life and Work of Educator Dr. Rex Fortune

Max Elramsisy | California Black Media

California Reparations Task Force Agrees to Extend Its Work to 2024...continued

Bill (AB) 2296 authored by Assemblymember Reggie JonesSawyer (D-Los Angeles). AB 2296 proposed extending the Task Force’s mission until July 1, 2024. Newsom vetoed the bill at the request of California Secretary of State Shirley Weber who authored AB 3121 – the legislation establishing the task force in 2020 – while serving in the Assembly.

“Angry” and “Heartbroken,” California Leaders Want to See Action After String of Mass Shootings...continued from page 3

me that was missing is the argument that we are going to extend so we can ‘socialize’ all of these recommendations to build support from different communities and ethnicities to put marketing money on the table (to bring about awareness of California reparations).”

Dr. Rex Fortune, who was a husband and father, an educator, author and advocate passed away on January 29, 2023 at the age of 81. He devoted his life to lifting up the most vulnerable students and closing the academic achievement gap and in doing so made a lasting impact on the lives of countless students and faculty members during his extensive career.

Born in 1942, Fortune earned his B.S. degree in biology and US Army Commission from North Carolina A&T State University and then completed a MA in educational administration from the University of California, Berkeley and a PhD in educational administration from Stanford University.

He worked as a teacher and administrator for many years, including as superintendent of the Inglewood Unified School District and the Center Unified School District and associate superintendent of Public Instruction for the California Department of Education under his mentor, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Wilson Riles. Fortune also co-founded the California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators (CAAASA).

Fortune founded the Fortune School of Education where he served as chairman of the board. He had several public schools named for him in the Sacramento region including Rex and Margaret Fortune Early College High School and most recently, Rex Fortune Elementary School in the Center Unified School District, opening in 2023. Fortune was known for his unwavering commitment to his students and staff, and his passion for education inspired many.

He was a mentor to many young educators and a friend to all. He was dedicated to making sure every student had access to quality education and the support they needed to succeed. He also created the Parenting Practices Academy, a resource empowering parents to become more involved in creating an environment that results in children being prepared for college.

Fortune published several books on education including “Bridging the Achievement Gap: What Successful Educators and Parents Do,” and “Leadership on Purpose: Promising Practices for African American and Hispanic Students.”

He is survived by his wife, three children and two grandchildren. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him, and his legacy will continue to live on through the countless lives he touched.

California Reparations Task Force Agrees to Extend Its Work to 2024

Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media

Task Force vice chair Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown said at the SDSU meeting that Jones had not been transparent about his intentions for proposing the bill. Brown thought the bill was designed to remove members from the panel. He said Jones-Sawyer has since “apologized” to him about not providing pertinent details about AB 2296.

Jones-Sawyer was the only task force member who abstained from voting at SDSU. As stated in the language, AB 2296 would’ve removed “the specified term of office for appointees and, instead, subject the appointees to removal at the pleasure of their appointing authority.”

The action alone would authorize the Task Force, by majority vote, to elect officers and create advisory bodies and subcommittees to accomplish its duties.

Friday Jones, co-chair of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Assembly of American Slavery Descendants and co-host of Politics in Black Podcast, opposed Jones-Sawyer’s Legislation. She now agrees with the current proposed extension.

“First of all, I think the way it was brought up now in front of the commission is the way that is supposed to happen. That did not happen the first time Reggie Jones-Sawyer asserted legislation without forming this body,” Jones told CBM. “That part they did get right today.”

Jones continued, “But the part of the conversation to about another shooting. This time in Half Moon Bay,” he wrote.

Overall, the meeting covered many issues, topics, and recommendations for the final report. Potential remedies, remedial programs, laws and apologies attached to harms pertaining to the wealth gap, and a comprehensive presentation of tax law considerations presented by Ray Odom and Sarah Moore Johnson were featured on the first day of the meeting.

California’s AB 3121, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, into law in 2020, created the ninemember task force to investigate the history and costs of slavery in California and around the United States.

Weber spoke briefly at the meeting. She started her academic career as one of SDSU’s youngest professors and established the Africana Studies department in 1972.

San Diego’s 37th Mayor Todd Gloria also spoke at the meeting. Gloria served in the state Assembly from 2016 to 2020.

Chris Ward, Assembly Speaker pro Tempore of the California State Assembly, who serves the 78th Assembly District in central San Diego, made remarks to the panel on opening day of the meeting.

“Your work is going to be pivotal to help so many Californians that have been affected by the injustices and inequalities we have seen in our education system, in our housing system, and economic opportunities,” Ward said. “This is going to be groundbreaking, and I am grateful for the work that you are doing.

Responding to Newsom, some Twitter users pointed out what seems like an irony to them: the series of horrific killings that happened despite California’s forceful firearm laws, the strongest regulations of their kind in the nation.

“Funny how your strict gun laws in CA aren’t working,” Twitter user S.D. Dank replied to Newsom.

But proponents of gun restrictions point out that California has a lower gun mortality rate per capita than states with more permissive gun policies like Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. All three states are among areas with the highest recorded rates of gun deaths in the country.

“Only Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New York, and Connecticut have lower firearm mortality rates,” a statement released by the California Department of Justice reports.

While visiting Half Moon Bay the next day, the Governor’s irritation was clear.

“I’m damn sick and tired of this stuff. I’m sick and tired of this. I don’t ever want to see this again,” he told reporters.

The Saturday night before, authorities say, a 72-yearold Asian American gunman, Huu Can Tran, walked into a Monterey Park dance studio where the local Asian community was celebrating the Lunar New Year. Tran shot 42 rounds from a semiautomatic gun into the crowd of partygoers assembled there. Eleven people died.

Then on Monday, San Mateo police accused another elderly Asian American man, Chunli Zhao, 66, of shooting and killing four people at a mushroom farm in Half Moon Bay and three others at a location nearby.

A few hours later the same day in Oakland, authorities say multiple shooters fired rounds into a crowd of about 50 people shooting a music video. One person died and about seven more were injured. At press time, the shooters involved in that Bay Area shooting were still at-large.

Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson) is a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) and one of the most outspoken supporters of strong gun laws serving in the State Legislature.

Last year, Newsom signed into law a bill Gipson authored, AB 1621, that tightened existing restrictions on “ghost guns,” firearms that are privately manufactured or assembled.

“Another senseless mass shooting in our community in this state, the family and friends need more than prayers, they need/ we need more federal sensible gun legislation signed into law in hopes that these things will not happen again in any community in this country,” he tweeted.

Across the aisle, Gipson’s Republican colleagues in the Assembly acknowledged the seriousness of the mass shootings but insisted that more gun laws are not the solution.

"Another gun safety law won’t stop these mass shootings … we have to go deeper…policies that deter and prevent the individual behavior," Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) tweeted.

State officials from both parties, gun safety advocates and other concerned citizens assembled for a vigil on the Capitol steps in Sacramento last Monday During the event, attendees began to receive news about the Half Moon Bay shooting.

“There's still a lot that we are learning about these particular cases. We won't jump to conclusions," said Sen. Alex Padilla. “But we do take it as a reminder of the urgency with which we need to strengthen our gun safety laws across the country.”

CLBC Vice Chair, Sen. Steven Bradford, said the mass shootings left him “heartbroken and angry.”

“This shooting, again, points out that we must do more to protect everyone from gun violence,” he added.

Justin Zhu is the co-founder of Stand with Asian Americans, a coalition seeking justice and equity for Asian Americans that was started by businesspeople and activists in response to an increasing number of hate crimes perpetrated against people of Asian descent.

Zhou said the shootings left him feeling hopeless amid a social climate that feels chaotic to him.

“After these horrific crimes, the vast number of lives lost, and the years of heightened racism, hate and fear, Asian Americans are experiencing immense and complex pain. For thousands of years, Lunar New Year has been a celebration of not only happiness and luck, but also for coming together, and the Year of the Rabbit can symbolize healing,” he said. “To feel our communities wrenched apart at this moment, repeatedly, we are angry, blindsided and shattered.”

The California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans decided at the two-day meeting on the campus of San Diego State University that it would support legislation that extends the panel until July 1, 2024.

After an 8-0 vote with one abstention, the task force agreed that it would support legislation that extends the panel, so that it has ample time to satisfactorily implement an action plan based on the findings of its final report, which is due in five months.

The decision, enacted in SDSU’s Grand Ballroom of the Parma Goodall Alumni Center on Jan. 28, was made four months after Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation asking for a 12-month extension.

The first day of the meeting was held on Jan. 27 at the Alumni Center.

“The task force supports, in spirit, the extension of the life of the task force, by another year, July 1, 2024, for implementation purpose only,” task force chairperson Kamilah V. Moore told California Black Media (CBM). “We do not authorize or write legislation, but all agreed as a task force the idea of continuing this work to ensure that reparations become a reality in California.”

After a passionate debate -carried over from the first day of the meeting -- clarified the need for the extension, the task force members supported the notion that more time was necessary.

The nine-member panel has until June 30 to submit a final form of recommendations to the California Legislature. The group agreed that the necessity of the action is based on having to manage the implementation of the task force recommendations and not a continuation of the study. The task force is on schedule to release its final report and recommendations by July 1, Moore said.

On Sept. 29, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly

Commentary: Why the Debate Between Advocates and Gov. Newsom Over Black Student Funding Is Heating Up...continued from page 3 improved.”

Watkins is not convinced. “LCFF is almost 10 years old, and accountability was baked into it. That accountability legislated through LCFF has failed Black children. The money that was supposed to be directed to Black children, hasn't gone to them.”

The Governor’s program is trying to address the needs of Black students given constitutional constraints. But his office has not let the press know what the constraints are.

The advocates for improving Black student performance are urging Newsom not to shy away from the possibility of being sued.

The members of the coalition and Newsom’s office have a meeting planned to, according to Allen, provide an opportunity for a “meeting of minds.”

Watkins is open to continuing talks, but “they need to make adjustments.” Fortune says, “We're going to engage the governor's office. And we're going to get engaged in the Legislature, and we're going to engage the court. We'll be everywhere.”

The discussions about the LCFF Equity Multiplier have been conducted without the benefit of the budget trailer bill language. Details are expected to be available in early February.

Negotiations on how best to fund Black students are expected to be ongoing with the Governor’s office, the Black in School Coalition and the Legislature until May 15 when Newsom releases his May budget revision. And further negotiations will likely continue until the June 15 deadline for the Legislature to pass the budget bill.

Coalition member, Christina Laster, education advisor for Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, Western Region told CBM our motto is “No Justice, No Peace. We will do what is necessary to gain justice.”