School board races are becoming a big magnet for donations from top conservative politicians and groups. That's having an impact on who gets elected in school districts across the state - even the small ones. 

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For conservatives running for school boards in California, any dream of a “red wave” proved to be a dud as Republican candidates, including a member of an extremist right-wing group, lost in most races across the state. But even some...

California K-12 schools will get a windfall of nearly $1 billion annually for drama, music and other arts programs, thanks to the likely passage of Proposition 28 on Tuesday. At 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, with more than 5 million votes counted, the...

For more than six decades, Michael Kirst has made a mark on public education. Starting fresh out of graduate school to draft Title I legislation that was part of President Lyndon Johnson’s vision for a Great Society, Kirst has had...

One of the seven propositions on the ballot for California this Nov. 8 is Prop. 28, which will require 1% of Prop. 98 funding, a proportion of the state budget dedicated for public school and community colleges, to be spent...

Harvard Senior Lecturer Jennifer Cheatham and Claremont Graduate University Professor Carl Cohn discuss how extreme politicalization is affecting the role of the superintendent. The upcoming election has the potential to greatly shift the landscape many superintendents are working in around the...

Your ballot for the Nov. 8 election may already have arrived, and if you live in the East San Fernando Valley, downtown LA and its surrounding neighborhoods, or much of East LA, you’ve got the chance to determine the makeup...

Local educational agencies statewide planned to provide technology, assess student learning, implement tiered levels of support and prioritize services for special student populations during the 2020–21 school year, but methods of doing so largely varied across districts, according to recent...

Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, Associate Professor at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, is a co-author—with Jacob Kirksey, Assistant Professor at Texas Tech University and Gevirtz School alumnus—of the Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) brief “Effects of Immigration Enforcement on Students in...

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences has awarded a $3 million research grant to a University of California, Davis-led research team to assess pandemic recovery efforts undertaken by the California Community Colleges. The goal of this three-year...

Our country has long likened its drug prevention efforts to a war, marshaling resources at the local, state and national levels to disrupt the production, distribution and consumption of illegal substances.

But the rise of fentanyl represents a dark and...

In a biography out now in paperback, “Michael Kirst: An Uncommon Academic,” Richard Jung tracks the life and career of an unusual academic who made a big imprint on K-12 public policy in and out of government service. Kirst will...

A study of the Alisal Union School District found its exemplary community engagement practices  and collaboration with parents resulted in an outstanding response to students’ needs when the pandemic hit. In “Crisis Response in California School Districts: Leadership, Partnership, and...

tate Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor emeritus at Stanford University who founded the Learning Policy Institute in Palo Alto and Washington, D.C., is this year’s co-recipient of the Yidan Prize.The 6-year-old prize is one of the world’s...

Silicon Valley's school board races have become the focus of a local right-wing group, and experts and school officials worry the outcomes could become politically polarizing. The infiltration of far-right candidates in local school board races could have an impact...

A group of educators, researchers and advocacy organizations is asking the U.S. Department of Education to develop resources and supports for students new to the U.S. who are English learners known as newcomer students, according to a letter sent to...

Results from the latest annual poll conducted in July by Policy Analysis for California Education and the University of Southern California (USC) Rossier School of Education of California voters on their opinions of and priorities for public education identified several...

A Senate bill awaiting the governor’s signature would change California’s education code to align with how Los Angeles Unified pays its school board members, allowing for compensation more than five times the code’s initial cap. LAUSD currently pays $125,000 to school...

The U.S. Department of Education recently announced a notice inviting applications for the Full-Service Community Schools Program to provide high-quality academic, integrated health and social service, and engagement support for all students. The grant program continues to reflect steady increases...

Teacher shortages, waning enrollment and growing civil unrest: these are but a few of the challenges facing school districts today. A new study examining the first 14 months of the pandemic provides insights into the origins of these current challenges...

Strong relationships among leadership and stakeholders helped districts navigate challenges caused by COVID-19, the politicization of the pandemic and divided political beliefs, according to a new report from the Policy Analysis for California Education. Conducted during the first 14 months...

A new analysis of the enduring impact of Proposition 13, the 1978 initiative that voters passed as a backlash against rising property taxes, concluded it has contributed to a widening wealth gap, a severe housing shortage and, for decades, inadequate...

During the pandemic, public education became a highly contentious arena for vitriol around masking, vaccines and reopening schools. But those tensions did not culminate in a heated election for California’s top schools chief. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond...

Community Schools are a time whose idea has come, a solution that was waiting for the perfect storm–and the perfect storm is here. In this final installment, we’ll look at the lessons learned from the community schools movement. What can...