Rising pension contribution rates are causing great angst among school districts in California. The rates are not rising because benefits are improving—in fact, the benefit formula for new teachers today is much less generous than for teachers hired prior to...

California’s new State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond, is creating 13 work groups to identify and recommend strategies for addressing some of the state’s thorniest education challenges. The work groups will address the challenges identified in a study issued...

Living where they teach is a fading dream for many California teachers. An EdSource analysis of teacher salaries and rents reveals just how crushing California’s housing crisis has become for them. Teachers at the bottom of the salary scale working...

To adequately educate every student, California needed to spend $16,890 per pupil in the 2016–17 school year. The state spent $12,204.The vast funding gap was the highlight of Getting Down to Facts II research presented by Policy Analysis for California...

For California districts already grappling with teacher shortages, high housing costs pose one more obstacle to hiring. Many districts can’t find enough fully credentialed teachers to fill their classrooms, according to the “Getting Down to Facts II” education research project...

In this EdSource Commentary, Grant Boyken, public affairs executive officer for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), states, “CalSTRS’ dedication to act as fiduciaries on behalf of California’s teachers requires that we correct the record to assure our members...

A small group of advocates for equitable school construction asks why wealthier school districts keep getting the most state building aid. The group has been examining how school districts with small tax bases and low-income families can get a bigger...

An article about Vallejo, California-based iMod Structures, cites the September 2018 Getting Down to Facts II report, Financing School Facilities in California: A Ten-Year Perspective, that found that, “California school districts need to spend between $3.1 billion and $4.1 billion...

When Gov. Gavin Newsom recently proposed building a statewide data system to track students from pre-K through college and into the labor market, the empirical researcher in me said: “Finally.” Not because the new system, once established, will link between...

A report on California school policy finds the state lags in student achievement, and prescribes a much bigger investment in preschool.

SAT or not SAT? What’s the best way to assess California 11th graders’ readiness for college? In this EdSource article, journalist John Fensterwald describes the range of opinions on this important issue. Some families feel that the SAT “perpetuate the...

Calling the issue of underpaid teachers a “crisis” with “disastrous consequences,” Sen. Kamala Harris, the California Democrat who is running for president, says she wants to increase the average teacher’s salary in the United States by $13,500.

Use interactive map to see pension costs by school district.

California school districts have seen their per student pension costs double to an average of $1,020 since the Legislature passed a 2012 law to rescue the state’s two pension systems. A year later, districts were ordered to make higher payments...

California school expenses for employee pensions on average doubled to about $1,000 per student over the past four years according to newly released state data. Those increases will continue to rise for two more years. The Legislature mandated the increases...

When Joyce Ponce used to teach Head Start preschool programs in Santa Clara County, she taught in English, though many of the children in her classroom spoke Spanish or Punjabi at home. “I noticed the kids who did not understand...

The most damaging myth in American higher education is that college admissions is about merit, and that merit is about striving for – and earning – academic excellence. This myth is often used as a weapon against policies like affirmative...

After two years of hearings, focus groups, and study, the Assembly Blue Ribbon Commission on Early Childhood Education is releasing its final report. Among the commission’s recommendations are to focus on expanding access to children and families most in need...

Getting Down to Facts II combines 36 studies that explore a broad swath of K–12 policy topics central to school equity. Among some of the report’s findings: Large accountability gaps persist; students are behind before they even enter kindergarten; data...

As pension costs continue to soar, they are taking up a bigger share of the new funding that districts receive each year. Meeting their pension obligations and other rising costs limits the ability of districts to fund other academic and student support programs or increase pay...

In a highly anticipated but narrow decision on pensions for teachers and other state and local public employees, the California Supreme Court on Monday upheld the elimination of a retirement benefit in the 2012 pension reform law that then-Gov. Jerry...

Crafting successful education policy requires evidence. Generating this evidence requires data that do not currently exist, or are not used to their full potential, in California. An integrated educational data system would arm teachers, schools, districts, service providers, and policy...

Host Joseph Pace and guests discuss the policy and funding issues underlying Oakland and California’s public school crisis.  What solutions exist to get our schools back in session and back on track?

Instead of the “culture of compliance” that had permeated the public education system, the California Way reorients districts, counties, and the state to the principle and practice of “subsidiarity,” or local control. In partnership with students, families, and communities, school...