State and education officials on Monday called for more investment in so-called community schools, which are intended to offer more resources to students and their families than traditional schools.

Governor Gavin Newsom, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, California Teachers Association President E. Toby Boyd and others held a virtual meeting Monday to discuss the community school model and advocate for the allowance. $1.5 billion in grants to create more community schools.

The state allocated some $3 billion last year to convert schools in areas with high poverty rates into community schools, which offer health and social services and, in some cases, even include on-campus housing. place for students and families.

Newsom proposed adding an additional $1.5 billion in one-time spending to expand access to community schools, but lawmakers did not include that allocation in the state’s draft budget for fiscal year 2022-23. , in part because the initial $3 billion grant pool will be dispersed over seven years.

“The funding will ensure that more schools can receive grants to implement the community school model,” Boyd said, adding that additional funding is needed because “this is not just a one-time situation.”

Newsom framed the proposed additional funding “the ability to provide supports that reside outside of the school system and to bring those supports into the school system.”

“Supporting students outside of the classroom is essential to helping our children succeed, and Community Schools provide these resources to local communities to strengthen support services,” Newsom also said in a statement.

The state announced its first community school grant recipients last month, delivering $649 million to some 268 school districts, local offices of education and charter schools.

These grant recipients included the Mt. Diablo Unified School District, the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, and the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, among others.