The iconic Mamas and Papas’ song “California Dreamin’” waxed poetic about the joys of living in the Golden State. Released in December 1965, those good vibes are long gone 60 years later. An example of the state’s deterioration is that over the past 25 years, more than 4 million people have moved, primarily to red states like Florida and Texas. The reasons for the exodus are myriad, including a high cost of living, high unemployment, an $18 billion budget deficit, excessive taxes, a poor job market, traffic, and excessive regulations.

Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-CA) maintains that California is the Fraud Capital of America, racking up $32 billion in unemployment swindles, $24 billion in homeless funds “lost,” and $18 billion for a nonexistent bullet train.

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, calls his far-left governing philosophy “The California Way.” More aptly, it should be called “California No Way,” as it has led to skyrocketing costs. Researchers at the Pacific Research Institute have found that one of Newsom’s many boondoggles, his “green transition” plan, will cost families between $17,398 and $20,182 to switch to alternative energy.

The education system is also a mess. California’s per-pupil spending was $25,941 in 2024, among the highest in the nation. Additionally, the average teacher salary in California is $101,084. (That amount covers about 180 days of work and does not include very generous health insurance and pension benefits.)

But the spending hasn’t done much good. On the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 28% of 4th-graders in the state scored proficient or higher in reading, and just 26% of 8th-graders scored proficient or higher in math.

California excels in one area, however: school-based sexual misconduct. A recent Los Angeles Times piece detailed its extent in the state’s classrooms. The newspaper contacted more than 930 school districts in California and submitted public records requests for information on all sexual misconduct suits and claims filed, as well as copies of settlement agreements for all such suits filed since Jan. 1, 2020. To date, California school districts have paid nearly half a billion dollars to settle past sexual abuse claims and could pay billions more.

Additionally, the transgender fad is alive and well in California. For example, the San Diego Unified School District uses its “Equity and Belonging” site to promote 28 sexual orientations and nine gender identities. Besides being transgender, you can identify as a demigirl, agender, third gender, etc.

But there is one bit of good news in the sexual realm.

AB 1955, which prevents school districts from requiring staff to inform parents if their child chooses to change their gender, was signed into law in 2024. However, on Dec. 22, Judge Roger T. Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California issued a permanent injunction prohibiting enforcement of the policies.

“The State’s desire to protect vulnerable children from harassment and discrimination is laudable,” Benitez wrote in a 52-page decision, but added that the parental exclusion policies “create a trifecta of harm: they harm the child who needs parental guidance and possibly mental health intervention to determine if the incongruence is organic or whether it is the result of bullying, peer pressure, or a fleeting impulse.”

Anti-Jewish bigotry also exists in many K-12 schools in California.

In late 2024, the Sequoia Union High School District in Silicon Valley faced a lawsuit over widespread antisemitism experienced by students, with administrators standing by and allowing it to worsen. When SUHSD parents and students raised concerns—through emails, petitions, and formal complaints—the district responded with “bureaucratic obfuscation and outright denial, demonstrating a deliberate indifference to SUHSD’s Jewish students. Emails were ignored, and meetings were canceled without explanation,” the lawsuit states.

“The district’s administrators and trustees have consistently and deliberately refused to take concrete action to stem the scourge of antisemitism on their campuses, to the detriment of Jewish SUHSD students who, subjected to harassment and ridicule from both peers and teachers, have been forced to endure an increasingly hostile learning environment.”

The Bay Area Jewish Coalition and StandWithUs filed a complaint against the Santa Clara Unified School District, alleging pervasive discrimination and bias against Jewish students, including anti-Semitic slurs, the demonization of Jewish and Israeli students, and anti-Semitic content and programming by teachers and guest speakers. One high school teacher showed students a propaganda video that compared Israel’s actions in its conflict with Hamas to the Holocaust.

According to the report, the teacher told her tenth-grade class that Israel is an “oppressive apartheid state” guilty of “genocide” against the Palestinians. Students who objected were bullied with taunts such as “All Jews should have burned in Auschwitz,” etc.

In addition, the governing body of the United Teachers of Los Angeles sent a message to pro-Israel U.S. Congress members on December 17. The union passed a motion stating that it will refrain from endorsing any candidate for public office who, as a member of Congress, voted to send weapons to Israel. The rationale presented to school site leaders in UTLA’s House of Representatives read, “Politicians should not be rewarded for enabling a genocide nor in perpetuating Israel’s periodic bombing attacks on Palestinians.”

For years, teachers’ unions have been a significant source of malign influence nationwide, but notably so in California. In fact, the California Teachers Association (CTA) considers itself “the co-equal fourth branch of government,” according to former Democratic State Senate leader Dom Perata.

At this time, despite an average salary of over $100,000 a year, local teachers’ unions across California, fueled by the “We Can’t Wait” campaign organized by the CTA, are rallying for higher pay, better benefits, smaller class sizes, etc., and are ready to strike if contract demands are not met.

CTA president David Goldberg recently bloviated, “We are leading a historic wave of resistance to demand safe staffing, affordable health care, and student-centered budgets, and local chapters are organizing to strike if needed… When we stand up for what schools, educators, and students deserve, we can transform public education.”

At this time, at least 14 school districts across the state are at an impasse with teachers’ unions over contract negotiations.

For many, many years, California was something of a promised land, and people flocked here. But now it has become closer to purgatory, and rather than being further sucked into the vortex, many are choosing friendlier climes.

Who can blame them?

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Larry Sand is a retired 28-year classroom teacher who also served as the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network from 2006 to 2025. He now focuses on raising awareness about our failing education system.