During the past decade, California has made historic investments in early childhood that span income supports, health care coverage, early learning, and family well-being. Yet 3 years of research listening to parents show that families with young children continue to face severe, interconnected economic hardships, with rising costs for housing, child care, health care, and basic needs outpacing available supports. The authors recommend three strategies to support families: simplify governance and shared accountability across the 0–5 ECE system; expand investments for children ages 0–3, where unmet need and system strain are greatest; and leverage existing investments by investing in the workforce, aligning existing funding streams, and addressing facility and infrastructure constraints for greater impact. Together, these actions can help translate California’s commitments into a more coherent and equitable early childhood ecosystem that better supports families and young children.
Gov. Gavin Newsom dropped a brief and vaguely worded section into his State of the State address earlier this month, suggesting an overhaul of how California’s vast public education system is managed. “It’s long overdue that we modernize the management...
The Los Angeles school district is falling short of meeting school board-approved academic goals set four years ago, but students continue to improve faster on key Cecilia Rios-Aguilar, professor of education and chair of the Department of Education at the...
Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed record levels of public funding for K-12 schools, but in several Southern California school districts declining enrollment and rising costs may still lead to cuts next school year. The budget proposal allocates $125.5 billion, the...
State legislation from 2021 allowed the degree program to become permanent. Assembly Bill 927 authorizes California community colleges to develop and confer bachelor’s degrees in addition to associate degrees. These programs have several requirements: the bachelor’s degree must respond to...
The Los Angeles school district is falling short of meeting school board-approved academic goals set four years ago, but students continue to improve faster on key academic measurements than the state as a whole, based on data released this week...
Governor Gavin Newsom has made education funding one of his priorities during his final year in office. He also made an unexpected proposal during last week’s State of the State address — to bring oversight of the state Department of...
As part of his budget proposal, Gov. Gavin Newsom last week announced a new educational plan that sounds reasonable, as it streamlines regulatory authority and places more oversight in the governor’s office. Per Newsom’s statement, “California’s K-12 education system as...
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday previewed a major education system overhaul that would give the next governor more authority over state school policies and redefine — and almost certainly diminish — the role of the elected state superintendent of public...
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said he was blindsided by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal Thursday to curtail the superintendent’s duties and he disagrees with it, although it’s unclear what he can do to stop it. “Tony Thurmond is...
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said he was blindsided by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal Thursday to curtail the superintendent’s duties and he disagrees with it, although it’s unclear what he can do to stop it. “Tony Thurmond is...
Policy Analysis for California Education has released a new report, “TK–12 Education Governance in California: Past, Present, and Future,” that offers insights into long-standing structural complexities in California’s education system as well as recommendations for realigning roles and responsibilities to...
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday unveiled a sweeping proposal to overhaul how California’s education system is governed, calling for structural changes that he said would shift oversight of the Department of Education and redefine the role of the state’s elected...
Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing to move the state Department of Education to the control of the executive branch as part of his spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year. Newsom’s office teased the proposal in a release early Thursday...
Gov. Gavin Newsom will announce Thursday that he will ask the Legislature to shift the operation and control of the California Department of Education from the state superintendent of public instruction to the governor and the State Board of Education...
This year’s budget proposes to implement recommendations of the Legislature’s 2002 report, California’s Master Plan for Education, to move oversight of the California Department of Education and ultimate responsibility for state oversight and support of local educational agencies under the...
Governor Newsom’s January 2026 proposal to modernize California’s TK–12 education governance would unify the State Board of Education with the California Department of Education and redefine the role of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Announced as part of the 2026–27 state budget, the proposal draws on long-standing research highlighting fragmentation in the state’s governance system and aims to strengthen coherence in education policy and implementation. The proposal aligns with findings from the December 2025 PACE report emphasizing clearer roles, stronger alignment, and coherent leadership to improve outcomes for California students.
For years, California schools have pushed to change the way the state pays for K-12 education: by basing funding on enrollment, instead of attendance. That’s the way 45 other states do it, and it would mean an extra $6 billion...
California’s public school system, which purports to educate nearly 6 million students ranging from 4-year-olds in transitional kindergarten to near-adults preparing to graduate from high school, is in a world of hurt.Its students perform poorly in national tests of academic...
California’s school funding law hasn’t proven as equitable or effective as legislators envisioned when they passed the Local Control Funding Formula in 2013. So lawmakers and education advocates have been discussing several ideas to fix it, including adjusting the funding...
High school principals across California and nationwide say raids by Immigration, Customs and Enforcement have provoked a “climate of distress” among immigrant students who have been bullied on campus and whose attendance has dropped, according to a study released Tuesday...
John Rogers and Joseph Kahne, with the Democracy and Education Research Team, have authored a report that details the troubling impacts of immigration enforcement on students, families, and schools. The paper presents the results of a new nationally representative survey...
In American education, the scars of the “accountability wars” still run deep. More than two decades after the federal No Child Left Behind Act established punitive, high-profile accountability requirements for America’s K–12 schools, states and districts remain wary of debates...
California’s public school system, which purports to educate nearly 6 million students ranging from 4-year-olds in transitional kindergarten to near-adults preparing to graduate from high school, is in a world of hurt. Its students perform poorly in national tests of...
A few months ago, a high school English teacher in Los Angeles Unified noticed something different about his students’ tests. Students who had struggled all semester were suddenly getting A’s. He suspected some were cheating, but he couldn’t figure out...
