Newsom quashes bill offering more funding for Black students, pledges money next year

THE SPONSOR OF legislation that would have provided $400 million in additional funding to raise the academic achievement of Black students pulled the proposal hours before likely passage Aug. 31, after Gov. Gavin Newsom raised objections.

Newsom advisers did not say what those objections were, although four years ago, in a similar bill, Assembly legislative analysts suggested that the legislation would violate Proposition 209, a 1996 constitutional amendment. It bars preferential treatment by state and local governments in areas of public employment, education, and contracting based on sex, race and ethnicity. Two years ago, California voters reaffirmed Prop. 209 by voting down an initiative to rescind it.