The California legislature has ended a program for K-12 students that provides them with online educational resources, both in and out of school.
The budget change will redirect the $5.5 million in funding for the California Online Media Program for Access and Student Success, or COMPASS, to instead pay for a dyslexia screener and a repository of educational resources for California teachers.
The change will take effect on July 1, 2027, the beginning of the next fiscal year.
COMPASS provides online educational content and tools at no cost to public schools, districts, local libraries or students. Between the start of the 2018 fiscal year and the end of the 2025 fiscal year, students and educators interacted with it 717 million times, according to a COMPASS Seven-Year Report.
COMPASS providers and resources include National Geographic Kids, the PBS Video Library and Britannica. The program also has resources for young readers, including Capstone’s PebbleGo, a platform that helps develop literacy skills.
More than 90% of California public schools and all of California local libraries provide COMPASS resources, according to COMPASS. 41 out of 42 of San Diego public school districts have requested access to COMPASS, according to an analysis of data found in the San Diego Office of Education School Finder and the COMPASS report.
Greg Lucas, the California State Librarian, said school librarians and educators had tried to get the state of California to provide online resources to every kid for years.said he was not given any reason as to why the budget change was made. The California State Library helps administer the program.
“There was no public hearing. There was no policy discussion,” Lucas said.
Lucas said school librarians and educators had tried to get the state of California to provide online resources to every student for years.
“I personally have seen nothing but compliments and praise for this program,” Lucas said.
Jonathan Hunt, the Coordinator of Library Media Services at the San Diego County Office of Education, said he was surprised by the COMPASS budget change.
Hunt was invited to serve on the advisory committee that vetted the initial proposals for COMPASS and selected the resources that were added.
Hunt said the state’s investment in COMPASS essentially created budget savings for schools and districts that were already investing in online tools and providing resources for those who needed it.
“It kind of leveled the playing field and made things equitable across the board,” Hunt said.
Hunt said that he found it surprising that $5 million couldn’t be found to keep the program running.
“It’s one thing to say, ‘I love school libraries, I love media literacy, information literacy is important, dual citizenship is important,’” Hunt said. “But if you don’t allocate budget dollars towards that, it really rings very hollow.”
Chris Fluetsch, a teacher librarian for the Davis School District and a member of the California School Library Association, said he was shocked and infuriated by the legislature’s decision.
“We should be thinking about and educating every student, not just the students who can afford it,” Fluetsch said.
Fluetsch said that it was grossly negligent to get rid of COMPASS in a time when students need to learn how to find out what is real.
“It’s the kind of program that we desperately need in our current information age where there’s so much disinformation,” Fluetsch said.
Fluetsch said that Encyclopedia Britannica and TeachingBooks, a tool with a diverse selection of literacy resources for children and young adults, are two resources that will be sorely missed in his district if COMPASS goes away.
“It’s funded through 2027, so hopefully better decisions get made between now and when the funding actually runs out,” Fluetsch said.
Besides the vice chair of the Assembly Committee on Budget, members of the education budget subcommittees were unavailable for comment or did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
