According to the Public Policy Institute of California, California educates more than 6 million kids in its public schools. Many of these children are economically disadvantages and many are not native speakers. Despite these challenges and years of constrained budgets, test scores have been rising. Further improvement will be challenging given the budget situation, the inequitable distribution of school dollars, and the complexity of government funding mechanisms.

In the second part of our three part series on k-12 education in California, Assemblymember Julis Brownley (Democrat from Santa Monica), Chair of the Education Committee, Assemblymember Chris Norby (Republican from Fullerton), Vice Chair of the Education Committee, and Kevin Yamamura, a reporter for the Sacramento Bee, will examine what the California legislature is doing to address the challenges faced by California schools.

ORIGINAL AIR DATE: JUNE 19, 2012