I have strongly supported local control in my career, but local control has never meant no state role. The evidence now makes clear California also needs a coherent state role — something its history has never quite forced it to...

Even a decade ago, the horror stories behind some of the 13 children’s online protection bills Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Thursday seemed the stuff of fiction.  An AI chatbot coaching a teenager to isolate himself from friends and...

For school districts facing enrollment declines and mounting budget pressures, closing schools seems like an obvious – if often contentious – way to get finances back on track. But new research from Stanford suggests the reality is not so open-and-shut...

The first webinar in the five-part Getting Down to Facts III webinar series is now available to watch on demand.  Held September 3, the webinar examined how California funds its public schools and the fiscal pressures shaping future policy choices...

In a step toward giving math the attention early literacy has gotten, the Legislature on Monday approved a bill that would require schools to assess the math capabilities of all students in kindergarten through second grade each year, beginning in...

Since last October, the California School Boards Association has pressed the Legislature to take greater responsibility for narrowing California’s immense student achievement gap.    That gap is the disparity — by 30 percentage points or more — in test scores...

Earlier this year, Ideas We’re Watching explored California’s long-standing education governance challenges with Dr. Julie Marsh, one of the authors of the PACE report that helped spark a statewide conversation about the need for reform. Since then, that conversation has...

A new school year begins for California students this week with fresh data for administrators. Stanford University released an 18-month study of California’s K-12 public school system on May 7, 2026, with contributions from 112 researchers. The project, led by...

The Getting Down to Facts III Central Valley Convening brought together educators, policymakers, and community leaders to tackle the region's most pressing educational challenges. From addressing teacher shortages to improving student outcomes in rural districts, expert presenters shared research-based strategies...

A first grader reads an entire page on her own after months of specialized instruction. A middle school student with autism delivers his first classroom presentation. These moments are not medical breakthroughs, they are educational ones.   Unfortunately, our history...

Students returning to school may not have noticed it.  As the years pass, they hang out with the same friends or play on the same sports teams. But something’s been changing.  There are fewer students.  While charter school enrollment in...

As Rudy Garcia neared completion of his associate’s degree in cybersecurity at Moorpark College, he was excited to learn of the Ventura County community college’s plans to offer a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity and network operations.  The father of four...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation July 10 that will transfer executive control of the California Department of Education from the state’s elected superintendent of public instruction to a commissioner appointed by the governor.  Assembly Bill 181 places the department’s...

The number of kids with disabilities there has been nearly cut in half. It’s the largest decline of any California school district with at least 100 students with disabilities. But Del Mar wasn’t the only local district to see declines...

The education news publication EdSource, Wednesday, July 29 at 1p.m, will host a roundtable discussion on the potential expansion of the state’s community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees to students in California. The discussion will be hosted online. Register here...

https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2026-07-13/chabria-monCalifornia and across the country has been somewhat distressing.  Along with claims that Americans are becoming illiterate, here in the Golden State there are worries that even the highest-achieving students aren’t prepared for our universities, and a study shows backsliding...

The role and responsibilities of the state’s top elected education official will be changing as part of a dramatic overhaul of education governance in California.   The State Superintendent of Public Instruction will no longer oversee the California Department of...

Whoever California’s next governor is, he’s going to be more powerful than Gavin Newsom.  With one foot out the door, Newsom just convinced lawmakers to approve a radical bureaucratic reimagining that consolidates power in the governor’s office.   Starting in...

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill that will vastly reshape the role of the state superintendent of public instruction, an elected position that currently oversees the California Department of Education.  Instead of leading the department, the new position will...

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced he has signed legislation to implement long-standing recommendations to strengthen California’s education governance system to better support its nearly 10,000 schools and approximately six million students. The legislation — Assembly Bill 181 by...

California voters this year are set to decide who will serve as the state’s next superintendent of public instruction. But with campaign season already underway, the job the two contenders are running for is about to change drastically.  Starting next...

For decades, the teachers association and other education unions have easily gotten their favored candidates for state superintendent elected. And those chosen officials have faithfully echoed the unions’ position that the key to increasing outcomes is allocating more money.  School...

California lawmakers secured billions of dollars for public schools, community colleges, special education students and more in the 2026-2027 state budget.  In all, the budget included $128 billion of the $350 billion budget package for a myriad of education priorities...