May 9, 2022 | The 74

A recent review of school guidance and communications from the Centers on Disease Control and Prevention argues that the federal agency failed often in its goal of providing timely, actionable information to states and districts around COVID-19 safety protocols. As...

July 28, 2021 | ABC 10

When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered schools, the grades and mental health of millions of students declined. Several of the leading Republican challengers in the upcoming recall election of Govenor Gavin Newsom see this crisis as an opportunity. Their solution: more...

July 28, 2021 | The Sacramento Observer

Schools are shaping up as a key battleground in the upcoming California recall election, and the coterie of Republicans running to replace Governor Gavin Newsom is offering voters an alternative vision of public education: school choice.

Unprecedented Times Provide Unprecedented Opportunity

Suburban Superintendents Reflect and Reimagine
Commentary authors
Sara Noguchi
Summary

The unprecedented closure of schools as a result of the global pandemic has had a dramatic—devastating, even—effect on our communities. In its wake, COVID-19 has exposed persistent inequities in our public school systems and has magnified concerns about providing for students’ basic needs, their emotional well-being, and their academic progress. Yet, as is often the case, hard times lead to opportunities to reimagine and rebuild.

Utilizing COVID-19 Recovery Funds to Serve English Learners in California

Commentary author
Oscar Jiménez-Castellanos
Summary

This commentary provides California’s K–12 education leaders 10 recommendations for utilizing COVID-19 recovery funds to serve English learner students. It is important for leaders to act boldly and innovatively to begin to reimagine K–12 education, in particular for English learners, whose learning has been yet more negatively affected by the pandemic than that of their English-speaking peers.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Can Help Districts Plot Their Financial Course

Summary

The coming much-needed influx of federal and state money to California public schools is an unforeseen and unprecedented windfall that will certainly help mitigate the many extra expenses the pandemic has created. It would be easy, and perhaps understandable, for local officials to become cavalier about how they use the extra funds they receive. The catch is that it is a one-time infusion of funds, not a permanent increase for California’s perennially underfunded K–12 system. How can local school districts best use this one-time bump in funding?

February 18, 2021 | Cato Institute

One of the most interesting things about the COVID-19 pandemic is the way it has exposed previously existing flaws in so many government institutions. Many of California’s long-standing problems, from housing to the criminal justice system to business regulation have...