Guest Essay | Tina Fredericks: Pasadena USD Board Members Team Up with Hundreds of California School Board Members on Capitol Hill to Protect K-12 Public Education

A delegation of California school board members arrived in Washington D.C. early this week to urge Congress to protect and strengthen K-12 public education, in spite of recent efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. As the only elected officials representing children, school board members are fighting for nearly 6 million K-12 students in the nation’s most populous state.

Considered the great equalizer, public education is a non-partisan issue. California public school districts serve a variety of school districts, from urban to rural, small and large, serving children from diverse communities with a host of political leanings.

On its fourth annual Washington D.C. legislative visit, California School Boards Association (CSBA) and Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) broke its record by turning out 312 California School board members and administrators.  Three Pasadena USD Board members, Tina Fredericks, Scott Harden and Patrice Marshall-McKenzie joined the California delegation. Trustee Fredericks states, “We believe receiving a quality public education is a human right. It’s deeply unAmerican to dismantle this most American of institutions. Public education is not a partisan issue. The richest country in the world can afford to invest in K-12 public education. There can be no more unifying cause: the fight for education for all children is a fight for America’s future.”

Pasadena USD Board Member Fredericks, with Glendale USD Board Member Ingrid Gunnell organized a rally on the Capitol steps on Tuesday afternoon to draw public attention to the consequences of losing federal funding. Dozens of California Board members and Congresswoman Judy Chu came together. “I am proud to stand here with California school board members who are fighting for their students. They came all the way to Washington D.C. to say NO to cuts to education…. The Department of Education is so important for our low-income students and disabled students. We need to fight back…preserve the Department of Education,” said Congresswoman Chu.

One of the main issues that the California school board members addressed was funding for special education. Pasadena USD currently serves 2,612 students with disabilities – nearly 20% of the district student population. These students rely on federal special education funding. Currently Pasadena USD receives 7% of its special education funding from the federal government, far lower than the 40% funding that was promised when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was first enacted.

Making up over a majority of our student population, Pasadena USD’s over 8000 socio-economically disadvantaged students also stand to lose healthcare and their access to school meals, because Medicaid and federal nutrition programs are at risk of being cut.

The federal government threatens to cut Title 1 funds, which are used to support effective, evidence-based educational strategies that close the achievement gap and enable the students to meet the state’s challenging academic standards. Trustee Fredericks states, “Losing federal Title I funding would impact every school in our district as the funding pays for instructional coaches to support math and reading achievement for each site as well as librarians for our secondary schools, and services to homeless and foster youth student populations.”

This year, CSBA-ACSA are advocating for key issues including: increased special education funding for students with disabilities to 40%; increasing funding for cybersecurity protections;funding for transportation in rural districts, and increased funding for teacher training and workforce housing.

On last year’s legislative advocacy trip, CSBA-ACSA successfully advocated for the passage of the Social Security Fairness Act which ensures that California public school teachers, along with certain other public employees receive the Social Security that they earned. Previously, California public school teachers were penalized if they changed careers, and they were denied spousal benefits owed to every other married worker in the U.S. The bill was signed into law by President Joe Biden in January 2025.

Tina Fredericks is a member of the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education, representing District 6 since her election in 2020. She is a former high school math teacher and computer engineer who lives in East Pasadena.