With U.S. stocks just suffering their worst day since the 1987 crash, followed immediately by one of their best single days, some economists are saying buckle-up and worrying that the coronavirus may help send the economy into a recession. The...

Ballots from last week’s election are still being counted and it will be weeks before the final numbers are tallied, but with that caveat, it appears that a $15 billion school bond issue — the only statewide ballot measure —...

School districts have turned to parcel taxes in recent years to raise money for school programs, class-size reduction and teacher salaries. California voters were uncharacteristically stingy this week when they rejected more than half the local school bonds and tax measures...

Last October, when he signed the legislation that placed Proposition 13 on the ballot, Gov. Gavin Newsom made a prediction: “Voters will approve this bond, because voters historically approve school bonds.” Newsom and supporters, who spent millions of dollars campaigning...

When they cast their votes in the March 3 primary election, South Bay residents could be forgiven for thinking they had stepped into a time machine. There’s a divisive measure on the ballot with the potential to greatly change financing...

In winter 2019, strikes by Los Angeles and Oakland teachers dominated headlines. Teachers in both cities ultimately won more pay and support staff, but the strikes also presented an opportunity for additional change. The Los Angeles Times editorial board, for...

The March 3 California ballot includes a $15 billion state bond issue to help schools, community colleges and universities with construction costs for their facilities. Last fall, the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom placed the measure on the ballot by...

Impact of teacher activism in California being felt in multiple but less visible ways, leaders say.

A year ago teachers in Los Angeles were celebrating the signing of a new agreement with their district after an outpouring of support from teachers around California and the larger public. But since then, there have been few visible signs...

Governor Newsom’s proposed 20-21 state budget directs $3.8 billion in new revenue towards public schools. However, it is not enough. The California School Board Association reports that California ranks 38th nationally in school funding, $2,475 per student below the national...

Local officials have begun reevaluating how much their communities are getting for their single biggest expense: the degree-certified competence of public school teachers and administrators. Does every school system really need a credentialed curriculum director, when any good teacher should...

To help lay the groundwork for reforming California's faltering school system, more than 30 researchers nationwide have launched the largest independent investigation ever of how the state governs and finances education. Stanford Associate Professor of Education Susanna Loeb, an economist...

Countering a blistering study last fall that attacked the performance of minority high schools in four Southern California counties, including Los Angeles, a group of California education professors said Wednesday that minority pupils have made academic gains, particularly since a...

A recent report by USC education professors Allan Odden and David D. Marsh for Policy Analysis for California Education indicates that when schools put together all the critical reforms, they show improvement. All our estimates indicate that about 30% of...

Tougher school standards enacted by the state four years ago appear to be contributing to better learning conditions and academic gains, according to a study of 17 California junior and senior high schools released Thursday. The report, authored by two USC...

The majority of inner-city high schools in Los Angeles are doing a worse job of educating low-income black and Latino youths than they were 10 years ago, according to a study of standardized test scores released today by the University...

Four years after a torrent of school ''reforms'' began to sweep across the country amid fears that American public education was lagging, schoolchildren in almost every state are facing tougher academic standards and billions of dollars have been pumped into...

Financing California’s public education system is complex, difficult and expensive. This school year the system—which includes 1,000 districts, nearly 4.5 million students and 200,000 teachers—will receive $15.3 billion in general fund revenues, including $395 million from the state lottery. The...

Two privately funded studies, issued this fall, highlight the progress and problems of California’s schools and make numerous and expensive suggestions for improvement. Those studies and their recommendations: Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), a research group based at Stanford...

California faces a critical shortage of classroom space to accommodate a deluge of new public school students expected in the next decade. The state Department of Finance has forecast an enrollment jump of more than one million students—a 26.5% increase—in...