School board members facing death threats. Protesters disrupting meetings over vaccines and sex education. Activists demanding schools ban books and critical race theory. Welcome to the new front in America’s culture wars: local school boards. Often obscure and largely nonpartisan...

Entering a contentious debate over reading, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes that districts base literacy instruction on decades of research known as “the science of reading” as the next step to getting all children reading by third grade. In budget language...

When California children were stuck at home in distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and schools reopened unevenly across the state, raising equity concerns, frustrated parents demanded action from Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. But unlike other states, where...

Tony Thurmond could be California’s last elected superintendent of public instruction if a constitutional amendment introduced Monday is approved. ACA-9, introduced by Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, would give the governor the power to appoint the superintendent of public instruction, although...

Distance learning in the COVID-19 context provides a unique challenge in that, in many cases, neither families nor educators chose to engage in this model of instruction, it is an opportunity provided due to circumstances beyond our control. It is...

After years of ambitious and record-breaking investments in education, Gov. Gavin Newsom signaled a decline in funding for California’s K-12 schools and community colleges in his 2023-24 proposed budget. EdSource asked practitioners, observers, advocates, students and legislators...

While media attention has been focused on Washington, D.C., and the early moves of House Republicans (following Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s messy election to become speaker), I’ve been reflecting a lot on an issue that’s closer to home. It’s the trauma...

California Governor Gavin Newsom released his January budget proposal for the 2023-24 fiscal year Tuesday. The proposal accounts for a projected $22.5 billion “budget gap,” or deficit, a major change from the $100 billion surplus the state saw in its...

For generations, public schools have struggled to equitably prepare all students—particularly those furthest from economic and social opportunity—to learn and thrive. This is not because they don’t know how. The science of learning and development shows that all children—regardless of...

Community schools—an education reform strategy—have been described as another way of thinking and acting and a new way of “doing” school. This type of school transformation is complex, involves change that can be uncomfortable, and doesn’t happen overnight. Starting in...

Michal Kurlaender, 49, of Davis, has been appointed to the Education Commission of the States. Kurlaender has been a Professor at the University of California, Davis since 2016, where she has served in several positions since 2004 including Associate Professor...

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. 

For more, KCBS Ring Central...

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...