Did Thurmond bring 500 million back into programs for the developmentally disabled?

1. What the sources actually show about Thurmond and big-dollar education funding

Two 2025 items in the dataset report that Governor Gavin Newsom and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond announced approval of more than $618 million for community schools — a statewide grant round that supports 458 school sites and builds on earlier rounds that together funded nearly 2,500 community schools ^{[1] [2]}. Those pieces explicitly tie Thurmond to large education funding for community‑school services (health, mental‑health, social services) — not to a $500 million infusion specifically for developmental‑disability programs ^{[1] [2]}.

2. What the sources say about funding for people with developmental disabilities

The search results include a variety of items showing funding actions for developmental‑disability services at widely different scales and times: federal DD Act allocation tables and state council roles at the Administration for Community Living ^{[3] [4]}; smaller or more targeted state funding announcements (e.g., $8.9 million in British Columbia, $9.3 million in Arkansas, $30 million approved in Oregon) and local news about program losses and advocacy ^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]}. None of these items documents a $500 million single action connected to Tony Thurmond ^{[3] [5] [8] [7] [9]}.

3. Tony Thurmond’s prior engagement on disability issues — documented but not $500M

Several earlier news items show Tony Thurmond as a legislator and advocate raising concerns about funding and closures in services for people with developmental disabilities (for example, protests and appeals to increase state funding in 2015 reporting) ^{[10] [11]}. Those items illustrate Thurmond’s history of engagement and advocacy on the issue, but they do not report a $500 million funding restoration or reallocation led by him ^{[10] [11]}.

4. Possible source of confusion: big education grants vs. disability program dollars

The presence of a headline about $618 million for community schools ^{[1] [2]} could be conflated with disability services because community schools often provide health, mental‑health and social supports — services that overlap with needs of students with disabilities. But the cited community‑schools funds are programmatic school grants, not direct restorations to statewide adult developmental‑disability systems or the Medicaid/Regional Center budgets typically associated with those services ^{[1] [2]}. Available sources do not mention a $500 million transfer from community‑school funds into developmental‑disability programs.

5. Limits of the available reporting and what we can’t confirm

The provided search set lacks any explicit source that claims Thurmond “brought $500 million back into programs for the developmentally disabled.” If such a claim exists elsewhere — for example, in internal budget documents, press releases not included here, or statements from other officials — those are not present in these items and therefore cannot be verified based on the supplied material (available sources do not mention Thurmond bringing $500 million to those programs).

6. How to verify the $500 million claim

To test the assertion rigorously, one should consult: (a) official California budget documents and line‑item appropriations for developmental‑disability services (state budget or Department of Developmental Services materials), (b) press releases or policy announcements from the State Superintendent’s office and the Governor’s office focused specifically on developmental‑disability funding, and (c) reporting from state Capitol reporters or advocacy organizations tracking developmental‑disability budgets. None of these specific documents are in the current search set, so they are recommended next steps (available sources do not mention the $500 million claim).

Summary: The supplied reporting links Tony Thurmond to a major $618 million community‑schools funding round ^{[1] [2]} and shows his past advocacy on disability funding ^{[10] [11]}, but the claim that he brought “$500 million back into programs for the developmentally disabled” is not supported by the provided sources (available sources do not mention Thurmond bringing $500 million to those programs).