If Hilton Is Elected, California Students and Their Families Will Be the Big Winners

Steve Hilton's education plan would put phonics in every early classroom, a letter grade on every school and an end to "voluntary" supply lists. For students and their families, it promises free classroom basics and a guarantee that children master reading and math by third grade. For districts like Simi Valley Unified — where most students fall short in math while parents are asked to pay for copier paper — it promises the hardest questions they have faced in years.

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Adam R Loew

8/31/20268 min read

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Steve Hilton is asking California voters to change how the state judges its public schools. If he wins the governor's race in November, the biggest winners could be the state's schoolchildren.

Mr. Hilton has built his education plan around one clear promise: Every California child should read and do math at grade level by the end of third grade. His campaign points out that only 47 percent of California students meet the state's English standards, and just 35 percent meet the math standards. Nationwide, the figures are roughly 60 and 65 percent (Hilton campaign).

The campaign also cites a well-known warning sign: A child who cannot read well by the end of third grade is four times more likely to drop out of high school.

Mr. Hilton's argument is simple. California spends more per student than most states, he says, so the problem is not money. It is leadership and accountability.

The Third-Grade Promise: Phonics, Letter Grades and a Parent Trigger

Mr. Hilton's plan, called "Making California's Schools Work Again," lists specific steps rather than broad goals (Hilton campaign).

He would require phonics-based reading instruction in every classroom from kindergarten through third grade. To do it, he would use executive action and new appointments to the State Board of Education. His campaign calls phonics the most proven way to teach children to read.

Every school would also receive a public letter grade each year, based on how many students meet state standards. The grading would begin in third grade. Schools that fail to improve would be placed in state-directed "special measures," which could mean new leadership and new strategies.

The plan would also revive California's Parent Trigger law and expand it. If a school earned a D grade two years in a row, parents could force changes in leadership or curriculum — or convert the school to a charter model.

Teachers would face changes, too. They would need at least five years in the classroom before earning tenure. Low-performing teachers could be removed more quickly, and strong teachers would be rewarded.

Finally, the plan would expand school choice. Education Savings Accounts would start with low-income students and students with special needs. Open enrollment across district lines would let families move their children to any better-performing public school, no matter their zip code.

The campaign says the plan requires no new spending — only, in its words, a new focus on results.

Free Supplies, a $1,000 Teacher Account and the Lottery to Pay for It

Mr. Hilton's second proposal takes aim at something familiar to almost every California parent: the school supply list.

His proposed Califordable Schools Act would ban public schools from charging parents for basic classroom supplies. More important, it would close the loophole schools now use. Schools could no longer ask individual families to buy supplies used in class — even if the request is labeled "suggested" or "voluntary" (Hilton campaign).

Under the act, schools would have to provide pencils, paper, notebooks, folders, crayons, glue, basic calculators, classroom books and other needed materials free of charge. Parents could file complaints under the state's existing pupil-fee law, found in Education Code sections 49010 through 49014. Schools that broke the rules would have to provide the supplies and pay families back.

PTA fundraisers and community donations would still be allowed. Shopping lists sent home to individual families would not.

The campaign sums up the standard in one line: "If the school requires it, the school provides it."

The plan would also give every classroom teacher a $1,000 Classroom Basics Account before the first day of school. Teachers could buy what their students need without spending their own money or waiting for district approval. With about 287,000 teachers in California, the cost would be roughly $287 million — less than two-tenths of 1 percent of the $149 billion the state already spends on K-12 education each year (Hilton campaign).

To pay for it, Mr. Hilton would change how the California Lottery divides its money. Today, 20.6 percent of lottery sales go to education. He would raise that to 25 percent, trimming prizes and overhead. At current sales, the change would add about $389 million a year for education, with about $306 million going to K-12 schools. Because the governor appoints the lottery's commissioners and director, the campaign says the change would not require new legislation.

The campaign notes that 93 percent of California educators say they routinely spend their own money on students, and that teachers nationally spent an average of $895 out of pocket during the 2024-25 school year.

Simi Valley Unified's Math Problem: Two of Three Students Fall Short

For districts that already put classrooms first, a Hilton administration might change little. Simi Valley Unified, led by Superintendent Hani Yousef, could face a harder road.

On the 2024-25 state tests, known as CAASPP, only 36.67 percent of Simi Valley Unified students, under Yousef's leadership, met or exceeded the standard in math. That means nearly two out of every three students fell short. More than a third of tested students — 35.73 percent — scored at the lowest level, "Standard Not Met" (EdSource CAASPP data).

At Simi Valley High School, about 26 percent of students reached proficiency in math, below the state average (Public School Review).

Under a system that gives every school a public letter grade — with special measures and a Parent Trigger waiting for schools that keep failing — numbers like these would carry consequences.

From Ventura to Oxnard, Modest Gains on a Low Baseline

Simi Valley Unified is not alone. Across Ventura County, the numbers tell a similar story: modest gains built on a low starting point.

The Ventura County Office of Education announced in late 2025 that countywide math scores had risen 4 percentage points since 2022, the third straight year of improvement. English scores had risen 2.6 points since 2023 (VCOE). The 2024-25 results were up 1.3 points in math and 1.9 points in English from the year before (VCOE Focus on Education).

But the starting point was low. In 2023-24, only 45.66 percent of Ventura County students met the English standard, and just 33.95 percent met the math standard. More than 41 percent of the county's students scored at the lowest math level (CAASPP county results). Even after three years of progress, roughly two-thirds of the county's students cannot do math at grade level.

Ventura Unified, which serves the city of Ventura, reported in its own 2024-25 accountability report cards that 49 percent of its students met the English standard and 37 percent met the math standard — unchanged in math from the year before (Ventura Unified SARC).

Oxnard's numbers stand out most. In the Oxnard School District, which serves most of the city's elementary students, only 33.66 percent met the English standard in 2025, and just 21.74 percent met the math standard. More than half of all tested students — 51.75 percent — scored at the lowest math level (EdSource CAASPP data).

At the Oxnard Union High School District, the district's own accountability plan shows that even after recent gains, only 46.27 percent of students met the English standard. Math proficiency rose from 15.01 percent to 18.18 percent (Oxnard Union LCAP). Fewer than one in five of its students can do math at grade level.

These are the numbers Mr. Hilton's letter-grade system would place in front of every parent. Under his plan, schools with results like these would not simply receive another improvement plan. They would face special measures, new leadership and parents holding a trigger.

A Principal's Request: Checks From Parents for Copier Paper

Then there are the supply lists.

Brandi Young, the principal of Vista Fundamental School in Simi Valley, asked parents for money to pay for copier paper. Her school, one of the district's two fundamental elementary campuses, sent families a 2026-27 donation notice printed on district letterhead. The notice assured families that California guarantees a free public education and said all donations were "strictly voluntary." Then it asked for monetary donations to buy paper for the district's own new machines:

"Due to newly purchased District Xerox Copy machines, we are asking for voluntary monetary donations to purchase approved paper through our District Warehouse. Please make checks out to Vista Elementary. Thank you!"

The notice does not say the district could not afford the paper. Ms. Young and district officials may have practical reasons for the appeal, and neither has publicly explained why donated funds were needed for a routine operating supply. But under the Califordable Schools Act, the "strictly voluntary" label would offer no protection. Mr. Hilton's proposal treats school requests for basic supplies as banned charges even when they are labeled voluntary. Paper is on the list of items schools would have to provide free (Hilton campaign).

A parent who received the Vista notice under that law could file a complaint. The school could be required to supply the paper — and to pay back families who donated.

It is, almost point for point, the situation Mr. Hilton's ban was written to end.

What a Governor Hilton Would Change for Districts

None of the facts above is against the law, and each may have a reasonable explanation. What would change under a Governor Hilton is that districts would have to give those explanations in public, and against fixed standards.

Every parent would see an annual letter grade. Every early-grade classroom would teach phonics. Parents would hold a trigger after two years of failure. Teachers would be funded directly instead of through donation envelopes. And the state would keep asking whether education dollars actually reach classrooms.

Districts that perform for students would have little to fear. Districts where two-thirds of students fail math while families are asked to pay for copier paper would face the hardest questions they have been asked in years.

The Bottom Line: Schools That Answer to Families

Elections decide who a system answers to. Mr. Hilton's proposal is that California's schools answer to the 8-year-old learning to read — not to the administration above her.

That is a bigger change than it sounds. For years, California has measured its schools by inputs: dollars spent, programs launched, plans filed. Mr. Hilton would measure them by outputs: Can the children read? Can they do math? Did the school provide the paper, or did it ask the parents to?

For families, the promise is concrete. A parent would no longer need to decode a state dashboard to learn how a school is performing — the letter grade would say it plainly. A parent would no longer receive a "voluntary" supply list that feels anything but voluntary — the law would ban it. And a parent whose child is falling behind in second grade would no longer be told to wait and see — screening and intervention would begin in the earliest grades, when help matters most.

For teachers, the promise is just as direct: $1,000 for classroom basics before the first day of school, no reimbursement forms, no waiting on a district office — and no more reaching into their own pockets for pencils and paper.

The plan will face resistance. Teachers' unions and district associations are likely to argue that letter grades oversimplify what schools do, that tenure changes threaten teachers, and that struggling districts need more support, not more sanctions. Those arguments will be tested against a simpler question that Mr. Hilton intends to put in front of every voter: After decades of rising budgets, why can't two-thirds of some districts' students do math at grade level?

If voters agree in November, the state's children would gain a governor who measures schools by whether they teach. Parents would gain free classroom basics, honest grades and a trigger they can pull. And districts that have treated parents as a backup source of funding — while most of their students fall short in math — would find that the era of consequence-free complacency is over.

The 8-year-old learning to read would finally have the system answering to her.

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