Headlines
FCMAT provides links to California TK-12 news stories as a service to the industry. Some stories may require a newspaper subscription.
May 20, 2025
Pasadena Unified School District Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco, Sunday, May 18, acknowledged rising concern from parents about the results of recent soil testing, which found 18 district sites with elevated levels of heavy metals in soil.
May 20, 2025
Last week the Pasadena Unified School District released the first batch of results from soil testing done at all district sites. The results were in line with Los Angeles County testing, which found elevated lead levels in and around the Eaton fire burn scar.
May 20, 2025
A handful of Ventura County school districts are moving to lay off staff in the summer as enrollment declines eat into funding and one-time, pandemic-related grants run their course.
May 20, 2025
Tepovich said Redwood is working on offering a full personal finance course in advance of the state Legislature’s mandate to offer at least a semester on the topic at every high school by the 2027-28 school year.
May 20, 2025
The district needed to cut the $220,000 cost for the program because of a budget shortfall, Leo Kostelnik, the superintendent, said in a letter to the community last week.
May 20, 2025
Fresno Unified School District plans to make $49 million in cuts for the 2025-26 school year, including 59 full-time positions, amid continued declines in enrollment and student daily attendance.
May 20, 2025
San Jose’s first charter school, founded in 2000 to serve low-income students of color, will permanently close at the end of the current school year, resulting in 99 employee layoffs.
May 20, 2025
A state legislative committe has approved a bill from Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria that would allow school districts to apply for waivers while working to adopt the state’s 2035 zero-emission school bus mandate.
May 20, 2025
A Southern California school district’s ban on teaching “critical race theory” — the history and culture of civil rights and racial discrimination — violates its students’ educational rights, a state appeals court ruled Monday.
May 20, 2025
After a decade-long push from reading advocates, California schools are on the verge of requiring every student in kindergarten through second grade to get a quick screening test to detect challenges that could get in the way of them becoming proficient in reading.
May 20, 2025
California law since 1993 has allowed children with learning disabilities to attend private schools at state expense, but only if the schools are non-religious. That is apparently about to change under a court settlement Monday between state education officials and a group of Orthodox Jewish parents.
May 19, 2025
The teen, who was not enrolled in Santa Rosa City Schools, was detained without incident, according to the Santa Rosa Police Department. No injuries were reported.
May 19, 2025
The school, which sits on Vallejo Street, is closing its doors for good June 5 as part of Santa Rosa City Schools district’s consolidation plan to overcome a $20 million budget deficit.
May 19, 2025
As school districts around San Luis Obispo County clash over policies related to transgender students’ participation in sports, calls to follow President Donald Trump’s executive orders raise the question of what exactly constitutes federal law — and whether it supersedes state laws.
May 19, 2025
The biggest impact will come to the district’s classified employees, especially student and family support positions.
May 19, 2025
San Luis Coastal moved to sell the Morro Bay Elementary site as well as the Sunnyside school site in Los Osos earlier this year to help manage the district’s ongoing structural budget deficit of at least $6 million.
May 19, 2025
As it has been for more than a decade, the superintendent’s position at the Sausalito Marin City School District is a topic of controversy.
May 19, 2025
After six months of revision, the Mill Valley School District’s $63.5 million budget is stabilizing, the administration says.
May 19, 2025
A long-time San Diego schools leader has joined the already crowded race for California’s top education job — one that stands to shape how students learn, how schools serve their local communities and how California responds to challenges from the Trump administration.
May 19, 2025
In the wake of allegations that Rialto Unified nutrition managers were inflating student meal counts to boost government subsidies, complaints also have emerged that excess food ordered for students was instead routinely shared by top managers with friends, family members and other employees.
May 19, 2025
San Francisco school officials have reversed plans to lay off dozens of educators as the district’s fiscal health improved, a decision the teachers union celebrated as a major victory.
May 19, 2025
When a student comes into the wellness center at Oceanside High School, clerk Emily Clement can immediately tell if they want to talk.
May 19, 2025
Javier Arroyo has been impressed with the education his 9-year-old son with a disability receives. “This country provides so many resources,” said Arroyo, whose son attends Kern County’s Richland School District.
May 19, 2025
Salinas City Elementary School District was awarded $12.1 million to transform nine campuses into community schools. The award was part of the state's fourth and final round of community schools implementation grants.
May 16, 2025
The growing debate over transgender athletes’ participation in school sports hit the North County on Tuesday night as a starkly divided crowd packed a Paso Robles school board meeting.
May 16, 2025
A controversial California bill designed to create content standards for mandatory high school ethnic studies courses and prevent antisemitism in classrooms was pulled by its authors Wednesday.
May 16, 2025
The Long Beach Unified School District’s Board of Education has approved updates to an existing policy aimed at protecting students from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
May 16, 2025
Fresno Unified School District plans to make $49 million in cuts for the 2025-26 school year, including 59 full-time positions, amid continued declines in enrollment and student daily attendance.
May 16, 2025
Strapped for cash, the West Contra Costa Unified School District is preparing to pursue the renewal of a parcel tax that officials say is needed to maintain existing programming.
May 16, 2025
Plumas Unified, a small school district in the Sierra Nevada in far northeast California, is on track to become the first district in over a dozen years to join nine others that have had to get a bailout loan from the state to avert bankruptcy.
May 16, 2025
TK-12 schools and community colleges can expect the same funding in 2025-26 that they received this year, plus a small cost-of-living adjustment, and there will be a big boost for early literacy, Gov. Gavin Newsom revealed Wednesday in the revision to his January state budget plan.
May 15, 2025
In February, the Department of Education abruptly canceled $600 million in grants it said promoted "divisive ideologies" such as diversity, equity and inclusion.
May 15, 2025
The Tamalpais Union High School District mishandled an investigation into alleged antisemitic speech by a teacher, state officials said.
May 15, 2025
Measure E, a proposal to renew and increase the Ross Valley School District parcel tax, has been defeated, the county elections office said Wednesday.
May 15, 2025
Parents and district staff slammed the Oakland school board this week after news landed that after-school programs face devastating cuts due to the board’s last-minute budgeting decisions. The board pushed back, blaming staff for the impact to school sites, which board members said caught them by surprise.
May 15, 2025
Successful high school principals know that motivating students, teachers and staff is the key to academic achievement. But what do you do about snakes? When you are Grant High School’s Rebecca McMurrin — recently named principal of the year by Magnet Schools of America — you wrangle that snake.
May 15, 2025
In teacher’s lounges across California, the same advice is whispered year after year: Plan your babies around summer vacation. Unlike private sector employees in California, teachers and other public employees do not have access to the state’s paid family leave or state disability insurance programs.
May 14, 2025
A Long Beach middle school student has been arrested for allegedly destroying a Chromebook computer, leading to a fire that caused an evacuation of Perry Lindsey Academy, authorities said.
May 14, 2025
A high school teacher in Redlands was arrested in Riverside on Tuesday night on suspicion of sexually abusing a minor, police said.
May 14, 2025
The Tehama County Sheriff’s Office announced early Sunday evening that it was able to prevent a potential act of school violence — thanks to a tip from Tennessee.
May 14, 2025
A former candidate for the Paradise Unified School District’s board of trustees is suing two sitting board members after making claims of defamation.
May 14, 2025
When Jerry Hobbs was a teacher in the Grossmont Union High School District seven years ago, a district investigation concluded he had made more than two dozen racist, sexist and other offensive remarks around students and staff over the course of four years.
May 14, 2025
The California Department of Education said the district should have indicated there was unlawful discrimination under the state education code. The department issued its decision on Friday in response to an appeal by a parent.
May 14, 2025
The Modesto City Schools Board of Education voted 5-2 to appoint Modesto High graduate Vanessa Buitrago as the district’s next superintendent during Monday night’s board meeting.
May 14, 2025
Andra Hoffman, the director of the Career Center at Glendale Community College and a board member for the Los Angeles Community College District, announced her candidacy for California superintendent of public instruction this morning.
May 14, 2025
Members of the Legislative Jewish Caucus have switched strategies to address their alarm over rising incidents of antisemitism in schools. They have abandoned a bill that called for creating academic standards that would have spelled out what should and should not be taught in American ethnic studies courses.
May 14, 2025
By 2:45 p.m. the regular school day at August Boeger Middle School had already ended, but one class is about to start. More than 20 eighth graders drop their backpacks and settle into desks — not for extra credit but for college credit.
May 14, 2025
California became a national pioneer four years ago by passing a law to make ethnic studies a high school graduation requirement. But only months before the policy is to take effect, Gov. Gavin Newsom is withholding state funding — delaying the mandate as the course comes under renewed fire.
May 13, 2025
A 15-year-old Santa Rosa boy will stay in juvenile hall for up to 90 more days before being released on probation for stabbing a classmate at Elsie Allen High School in February.
May 13, 2025
More than 50 parents signed a letter to superintendent Becky Rosales and board president Brad Honsberger objecting to a recent message sent to the community to defend the district’s position.
May 13, 2025
Starting next school year, students interested in aviation can enroll in a new career technical education program that will offer the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Foundation’s “You Can Fly” curriculum for high school students, according to a news release from the airport.
May 13, 2025
Southern California school districts are warning parents about a new TikTok challenge urging students to damage their school-issued Chromebooks.
May 13, 2025
A group of parents at La Jolla High School is criticizing a college preparation course at the school over what the parents perceive as ideological imbalance and “political indoctrination.”
May 13, 2025
In a classroom that smelled like a campfire, a student at Pasadena Unified’s Sierra Madre Elementary School broke down when he saw a student-made stuffed rabbit that had X’s for eyes.
May 12, 2025
A San Rafael man lobbying the Tamalpais Union High School District to launch a girls flag football program says it is violating federal discrimination law by failing to approve a team this spring.
May 12, 2025
More than 50 parents signed a letter to superintendent Becky Rosales and board president Brad Honsberger objecting to a recent message sent to the community to defend the district’s position.
May 12, 2025
On April 29, the U.S. Department of Education sent letters to hundreds of school district — including Conejo Unified — telling them it had "determined not to continue" their funding under a $1 billion mental health grant program passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in 2022.
May 12, 2025
By next school year, more Fresno Unified schools will be transformed into resource centers that provide comprehensive services to families and their neighbourhoods as part of a sweeping effort to remove barriers to children’s academic success.
May 12, 2025
A new district probe is underway into allegations that possibly millions of extra dollars were extracted from state and federal meal subsidy programs for needy students.
May 12, 2025
As states rush to address falling literacy scores, a new kind of education debate in state legislatures is taking hold: not whether reading instruction needs fixing, but how to fix it.
May 12, 2025
A recent visit to Alpha Cornerstone Academy, a TK-8 charter school in San Jose, offered a glimpse of high-impact tutoring. It was during the intervention period in third grade, when teacher specialists work in small groups.
May 09, 2025
Former student Joshua Santos, 19, from Santa Ana, said school administrators have not been transparent about problems at the campus. “They try to keep it as lowkey as possible,” he said.
May 09, 2025
In their first meeting since outrage over sexual harassment and assault allegations at Westlake High School boiled over into a student walkout, the Conejo Valley Unified School District's trustees said they would implement new programs to prevent violence and harassment, support victims and encourage students to report misconduct.
May 09, 2025
The Petaluma City Schools Board of Trustees on Tuesday made its final vote to cut a number of positions from its 2025-26 budget as the district tackles a $2 million deficit following the ending of federal COVID relief funds.
May 09, 2025
Parents have brought forward complaints about racist taunts that were hurled toward players at two recent high-school baseball games featuring an East Bay school — and what they say was an inadequate response from the district that oversees the campus.
May 09, 2025
The teacher who police said threatened to blow up a middle school in Baldwin Park then holed up in an office for hours has been arrested on charges related to the barricade.
May 09, 2025
Colleges and school districts in Fresno will proceed with their popular ethnic graduation ceremonies this spring after the Trump administration attempted to declare them “illegal.”
May 08, 2025
Only 14 school districts and county offices of education have begun billing for behavioral health services under the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative Fee Schedule Program, according to state health officials.
May 08, 2025
Motorists in Los Angeles may soon have to ease up on the gas near hundreds of schools as city officials move to slow traffic during drop-off and pick-up hours at schools.
May 08, 2025
Of the roughly 25,300 ballots tallied by 8 p.m. Tuesday, 62% of voters supported Measure T, which would temporarily charge homeowners an additional $130 each year — the school district’s plan for generating about $4.5 million.
May 08, 2025
A 14-year-old Santa Ana High School student died and two other students at that school were injured after a stabbing near campus shortly after the school day ended Wednesday, May 7.
May 08, 2025
A new lawsuit filed against the Gilroy Unified School District alleges that school officials do not sufficiently protect students from physical assault on school campuses after a 16-year-old student was violently assaulted by another student at Christopher High School last year.
May 08, 2025
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Education Department to undo a freeze on the last of the U.S. relief money given to schools to help students recover academically from the COVID-19 pandemic.
May 07, 2025
"The district is growing exponentially, and there is a need to be able to adapt to constantly changing situations," the jury said in its report.
May 07, 2025
“The unit range is from one-bedroom apartments all the way up three-bedroom, two-bath townhouses,” said Derek Knell, the district’s staff housing development director. “So it’s not what you would consider high-density affordable housing.”
May 07, 2025
Jeanette Rodriguez-Chien, superintendent of the Sonoma Valley Union School District, announced Tuesday night that she will not return next year.
May 07, 2025
If approved, Measure E would assess a tax of 52 cents per square foot of the built area of a home or business annually, over nine years. The tax is expected to generate $7.8 million annually.
May 07, 2025
Anaheim Elementary School district officials voted to replace former trustee Mark Lopez, who they ousted out of office earlier this year, with Board President Juan Gabriel Álvarez’s cousin.
May 07, 2025
Budget cuts have been years in the making for the West Contra Costa Unified School District. But for what some consider one of the most underserved groups in the district, English learners, there is a fear that they may be among the hardest hit by approved reductions.
May 07, 2025
A special election measure that would extend San Jose Unified School District’s $72 parcel tax for eight years trailed in early returns after polls closed Tuesday night, with 60% of voters supporting a measure that requires two-thirds yes votes, according to results released by the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters’ Office.
May 07, 2025
At 14, Charlotte Peery dropped out of high school. “I was one of those silent sufferers,” Peery said. “I was battling with addiction, and once I finally decided I couldn’t go to school anymore, there wasn’t anyone around to say, ‘Well, let’s see what we can do’.”
May 06, 2025
At their study session on April 22, the trustees directed district staff members to explore options for closing Flowery at the end of the 2025-26 academic year in the face of declining enrollment.
May 06, 2025
The Davis Joint Unified School District has not implemented safety procedures created three years ago to prevent a school shooting, though some progress has been made, according to a report released by the Yolo County Grand Jury.
May 06, 2025
President Donald Trump would maintain funding levels for students with disabilities and for Title I aid for low-income students while wiping out long-standing programs serving migrant children, teachers in training, college-bound students, English learners and adult learners in the education budget for fiscal year 2026.
May 06, 2025
California public school systems spent 10.3% more per pupil in fiscal year 2023 than in 2022, per new Census Bureau data. The state's growth in per-pupil spending nearly doubled the nationwide increase of 5.7%.
May 05, 2025
Hundreds of Marin public school students stand to lose mental health support services with the cancellation of $14.5 million in federal grants.
May 05, 2025
For most of fourth period and into lunch on May 2, one student after another took the microphone and shared stories of sexual harassment, assault and abuse by boys at their school.
May 05, 2025
Irvine Unified is the third-largest school district in Orange County, serving more than 38,000 students across 45 schools. The district has 4,100 employees.
May 05, 2025
Some California lawmakers are pushing for a massive bill that would institute sweeping changes to charter schools and their oversight for the first time since the San Diego A3 fraud scandal six years ago prompted calls for reforms to prevent further mishandling of public money.
May 05, 2025
Redlands Unified School District’s human resources director, who has been on paid leave for more than a year after state and federal investigations revealed that the district systemically failed to properly address reports of student sexual abuse, has agreed to resign.
May 05, 2025
Pending site visitation and Board of Education approval, Vanessa Buitrago will replace current Superintendent Sara Noguchi, who in January announced her retirement.
May 02, 2025
California teachers had the highest average salary in the country during the 2023-24 school year, according to recently published reports by the National Education Association.
May 02, 2025
The risk of toxic exposure at Mill Valley Middle School would be high if contractors disturb a clay cap under the school without a rigorous mitigation and response plan, according to a preliminary report.
May 02, 2025
Parents and advocates dedicated to improving indoor air quality at schools are pushing an issue they believe plagues a majority of campuses.
May 02, 2025
For the past 15 months, Fresno Unified board has been searching across the country for a permanent superintendent, but their eventual choice was right under their noses.
May 02, 2025
Violating a school dress code. Using a cellphone in class. Mouthing off at a teacher. There was a time when that kind of behavior, called “willfully defiant” conduct, would get a California public school student suspended.
May 01, 2025
Courtney Goode, an assistant superintendent at the Escondido Union High School District near San Diego, will start the Marin job on July 1. His starting annual salary is $311,326.
May 01, 2025
At Napa’s two public high schools, a widening gap in demographics, academic performance, and funding has sparked concerns over equity and the future of school choice.
May 01, 2025
Marti Maes says paraeducators like herself represent the “foundation” of San Francisco public schools. Maes, who has worked at Longfellow Elementary School the last 12 years, said she and her peers are the Swiss Army knife of the education system.
May 01, 2025
New school renaming policies in San Diego Unified aim to bring clearer direction to schools in how they change their or their mascots’ names, after the district was criticized last year for a lack of transparency in the process.
May 01, 2025
Oakland educators called off their planned one-day strike for Thursday after teachers reached a tentative deal with the Oakland Unified School District, the union said Wednesday.
May 01, 2025
A new bill that could reshape early reading instruction quickly passed its first test in the Legislature on Wednesday, with a major opponent doing an about-face and publicly announcing support.
May 01, 2025
In recent years, new homes built in southwest Fresno and east of the city have drawn many new families and their school-aged children to the region — resulting in the construction of new schools in the Central Unified and Clovis Unified districts to accommodate the influx of students.
May 01, 2025
He hung out in hallways and loitered on Northern California elementary school campuses, apparently unafraid of being noticed. When an administrator would question him, the man would say he was looking for a teacher or student to throw off the inquisitor.
Apr 30, 2025
It's no coincidence Kern nabbed a disproportionately large share of the 1,000-bus initiative: The program targeted school districts in rural areas serving poor or disadvantaged communities.
Apr 30, 2025
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas has nudged parties at odds on how early literacy should be taught to agree to legislation that could significantly advance reading proficiency in California.
Apr 30, 2025
Anaheim Union High School District board members are looking to increase funding for public schools as they join the statewide “We Can’t Wait” campaign.
Apr 30, 2025
Monárrez was leading a Massachusetts school district, where she was involved in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the Education Department.
Apr 30, 2025
The Oakland teachers union announced a one-day strike set for Thursday, saying the district has “refused to provide basic financial transparency” and keep cuts away from schools.
Apr 30, 2025
Last year, a Washington Post investigation identified more than 200 school police officers across the country “who were charged with crimes involving child sexual abuse from 2005 through 2022.”
Apr 30, 2025
Many California school districts’ contracts for policing services do not prohibit officers from involvement in routine student disciplinary matters, despite the federal government’s guidance that administrators are responsible for handling those issues, an EdSource investigation found.
Apr 30, 2025
A former Ventura County school counselor, who was arrested in November on suspicion of molesting eight young children, has been charged with 14 additional felony counts of lewd acts upon a child after five more victims came forward, authorities said.
Apr 30, 2025
A bill that could reshape literacy education in California elementary schools cleared a major hurdle in the Legislature this week after dueling sides reached a compromise that provides funding for phonics-based instruction but stops short of requiring it.
Apr 30, 2025
The Redland Unified School District Board approved a resolution to enforce “fairness in girls’ interscholastic sports,” placing the Inland Empire district in the middle of escalating conflicts over transgender students’ rights.
Apr 29, 2025
The north Santa Rosa campus drains significantly more money from the district than its other two charter schools because of transportation, property insurance and loan costs for the site, which has experienced declining enrollment.
Apr 29, 2025
The Sonoma Valley Unified School District board of trustees unanimously agreed to direct district staff members to explore options for closing Flowery Elementary School at the end of the 2025-26 academic year.
Apr 29, 2025
We began by sending requests for contracts and memoranda of understanding with law enforcement agencies under the California Public Records Act to nearly 20% – 178 – school districts across the state, in urban, suburban, and rural communities.
Apr 29, 2025
The state of California has awarded a half-billion dollars to school districts and educational agencies across the state to help add 1,000 zero-emission school buses and chargers — with a portion of that money going to 12 districts in San Diego County.
Apr 29, 2025
Many California school districts pay cities and counties millions of dollars a year to put law enforcement officers on campuses, moving tax dollars allocated for education to policing with little oversight by elected school boards, an EdSource investigation found.
Apr 28, 2025
Among teachers, concern is mounting that for all of the disruption the junior/senior high configuration is causing, it will not elicit the needed budget savings, miring the district in a fiscal crisis that will ultimately require more painful measures, including additional school closures.
Apr 28, 2025
The U.S. Department of Education has put Marin school districts on notice that they risk losing federal funding if they use diversity, equity and inclusion programs to give advantages to one race over another.
Apr 28, 2025
California is spending $500 million to put an additional 1,000 electric school buses on the road as federal cuts and freezes paused efforts in other states to replace aging diesel-fueled fleets that are more polluting.
Apr 28, 2025
Long before Misty Her became superintendent of Fresno Unified, she was a kindergarten student struggling to learn how to read at Jefferson Elementary in the 1980s — about a mile from the school district’s downtown headquarters.
Apr 28, 2025
When Rialto Unified school board member Edgar Montes apologized recently for his “inadvertent” vote to hire his mother for a district job, in violation of board bylaws, he neglected to mention that he had done it before.
Apr 28, 2025
California issued 18% more teaching credentials last school year, compared with the previous year, but education experts remain only cautiously optimistic.
Apr 25, 2025
"With the C2C Student Pathways Dashboard now live, Californians can visualize their futures by seeing disconnected data from across sectors and previously unavailable insights, all in one place,” Newsom said in a statement.
Apr 25, 2025
The West Sonoma County Union High School District is planning an Academy of Innovative Arts for the former El Molino campus, as well as a $27 million career center at Analy High School.
Apr 25, 2025
Manieri cited personal health concerns and negative interactions with members of the public who objected to stances she has taken as a school board member.
Apr 25, 2025
The Oakland Unified School District elected-board officially fired the superintendent on Wednesday at a contentious meeting where they gave no reasoning for the dismissal.
Apr 25, 2025
The Trump administration has taken aim at a key assumption of federal civil rights enforcers and California’s school discipline strategy: that large racial disparities are a red flag for discrimination.
Apr 25, 2025
California K-12 schools got a reprieve today when a judge blocked President Donald Trump’s order to eliminate diversity programs or risk losing federal funding.
Apr 24, 2025
The embattled superintendent, who had only been on the job 10 months, had been under fire for her handling of a district-wide restructuring and was the subject of an overwhelming no-confidence vote by teachers.
Apr 24, 2025
As the federal government threatens funding cuts over school diversity programs, California says it already complies with federal law and that the Trump administration’s actions are illegal.
Apr 24, 2025
Daisy Morales, who was the subject of a recent no-confidence vote by 97% of the district's teachers and staff, has made a number of controversial administrative moves over the past year.
Apr 24, 2025
The board voted 4 to 1, with trustee Mark Koerner voting no, to approve a resolution asking staff to weigh the benefits and risks of guaranteeing income for up to 27 apartments at the planned Oak Hill Apartments complex near San Quentin.
Apr 24, 2025
The Redlands Unified School District, which is located in Southern California (roughly 63 miles east of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County) approved a motion to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls sports.
Apr 24, 2025
Fresno Unified trustees selected interim Superintendent Misty Her as the full-time leader, making her the first woman to lead the state’s third-largest district since its inception in 1873.
Apr 24, 2025
The Oakland school board voted Wednesday to replace the district’s longtime superintendent, giving her a payout to step aside at the end of this school year, officials confirmed, rather than wait until the end of her contract in the summer of 2027.
Apr 24, 2025
On a recent Monday morning in Wendell Norris Marquez’s classroom in Austin, Texas, students were getting ready to read a story in Spanish by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. But first, they discussed the differences between a story and a novel, and between a story and a legend.
Apr 24, 2025
Trump’s U.S. Department of Education has opened an investigation into the California Interscholastic Federation, which oversees sports at more than 1,500 high schools, explicitly threatening California funding, but has not yet moved to cut off those dollars.
Apr 23, 2025
Contention brewed at a packed Lucia Mar school board meeting last week as dozens of people showed up in either support or against transgender students’ use of the bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identities.
Apr 23, 2025
Board of Education Trustees appointed David M. Toston on Wednesday after five months of political instability and division following the controversial firing of former superintendent Mary Ann Dewan in October. He will begin his new role May 1.
Apr 23, 2025
Heartland Charter School in Kern County has several dream field trips on the calendar this spring, including tours of In-N-Out Burger, an Amtrak train ride along the Central Coast and a matinee performance of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” at the Hollywood Pantages.
Apr 23, 2025
Jake, a 17-year-old junior, is beginning to think about life after he graduates from Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego County. This is a daunting task for any teen, but his mother, Angela, says it’s been especially thorny for Jake, who is on the autism spectrum, has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and struggles with anxiety.
Apr 23, 2025
The proposal by state Sen. Susan Rubio, a Democrat from West Covina, has stirred up broad opposition as well as support from dozens of organizations. It pits police, prosecutors and school employee groups against youth and disability advocates and the ACLU.
Apr 22, 2025
President Donald Trump has promised to keep special education intact, even as he dismantles the federal department that has overseen it for nearly a half century. But some experts and parents in California fear Trump’s policies will imperil the program on multiple fronts.
Apr 22, 2025
San Francisco school officials are within reach of a balanced budget after whittling down a $114 million deficit predicted in the upcoming academic year, a fiscal crisis so severe they faced insolvency and a state takeover.
Apr 21, 2025
According to a news release posted to DPD's Facebook page Thursday, school staff at Morningside Elementary, 2100 Summer Drive, received an anonymous call about a potential shooting at the school at 4 p.m. March 21 — 27 days before the news release.
Apr 21, 2025
Sonoma Valley Unified School District’s board of trustees has established four goals to address the district’s financial woes and has directed staff members to provide information to help achieve its objectives.
Apr 21, 2025
Most students at Pope Valley Elementary stayed home this week as parents launched a boycott over teacher firings, midyear staffing changes and what they call a hostile environment for Latino families.
Apr 21, 2025
The mother of Rialto Unified school board member Edgar Montes has resigned her position as a Nutrition Services worker for the district following a Southern California News Group inquiry about Montes’ vote to hire her more than two years ago.
Apr 21, 2025
Californians’ confidence in their public schools and approval of how Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature are handling public education have fallen sharply since the Covid pandemic, according to an annual survey on K-12 education released Thursday by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).
Apr 21, 2025
In January, the Palo Alto school board met to discuss requiring high schoolers to take courses covering the displacement of Native Americans and the Black Panthers’ role in the Civil Rights Movement. For one school board member, the day ended with death threats.
Apr 17, 2025
Gilroy Unified School District has reached a new contract with its teachers after negotiations finished late Tuesday.
Apr 17, 2025
Only 38% of third graders in Sacramento County are reading at grade level, according to a report from the nonprofit Sacramento Literacy Foundation. These rates, researchers said, is a “crisis.”
Apr 17, 2025
The Santa Clara County Office of Education and the Santa Clara County Board of Education are co-sponsoring a California bill that would establish school campuses as safe havens from immigration enforcement activity, as fears around deportations and arrests ramp up in Bay Area communities amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on noncitizens.
Apr 16, 2025
Furthermore, data shows that some of California’s rural students, as well as males and students of color, don’t enroll in and complete these courses at the same rate as others.
Apr 16, 2025
After several broad discussions yielding little, the three main opponents — the California Teachers Association, the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE), and Californians Together — released statements within the past month opposing the latest version of the legislation.
Apr 16, 2025
Of the 47 classified and classified management positions initially set to be eliminated at Modesto City Schools, only three employees were unable to secure new roles within the district.
Apr 16, 2025
Pasadena Unified School District officials updated the community on the impact of the Eaton fire, financial struggles and future renovations to district infrastructure Tuesday, April 15, during the annual State of Schools event.
Apr 16, 2025
Six former Mountain View School District students molested by a teacher won their lawsuit against the district and their ex teacher and were awarded $48 million by a jury on Monday, April 14.
Apr 16, 2025
A security guard at a Riverside high school was arrested on suspicion of arranging to meet a minor for sex and committing other crimes on Tuesday, April 15, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and the Riverside Unified School District.
Apr 16, 2025
While the state does require students to receive certain vaccines, some students can claim medical exemptions, according to the California Department of Public Health.
Apr 16, 2025
Preliminary test results from soil, soil vapor and water samples taken at Mill Valley Middle School indicate a minute health or cancer risk from long-term exposure to a potential contaminant.
Apr 15, 2025
A petition circling San Luis Obispo County is calling on local school districts to roll back policies that allow transgender students to participate in sports and use the bathrooms and locker rooms aligned with their gender identities.
Apr 15, 2025
The Pasadena Unified School District will work with the Pasadena Public Health Department to test lead levels in the soil near area schools, in the wake of recent findings that areas downwind of the Eaton fire had levels of lead exceeding public health thresholds, Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco said Sunday night.
Apr 15, 2025
The Marin County Civil Grand Jury is calling on Novato Unified School District to delve deeper into discipline and discourse to keep campuses safe.
Apr 15, 2025
The tide of uncertainty that's roiled financial markets is raising new concerns about California's underfunded retirement systems for millions of teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public sector employees.
Apr 15, 2025
The proposed lease of an 11.36-acre site in Newport Beach is gaining the attention of local environmental groups, who are claiming an Orange County school district violated state law during the search for developers.
Apr 15, 2025
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) and other House Democrats are demanding that Department of Homeland Security officials justify their attempts last week to speak with students at two Los Angeles elementary schools.
Apr 14, 2025
Marin Transit, which manages the Measure AA fund for the county’s yellow school bus programs, has approved a three-year funding cycle amounting to about $1.1 million annually.
Apr 14, 2025
Concerned about the rebranding costs that would be needed if Altimira Middle School is renamed, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District board of trustees voted unanimously to postpone a decision on the matter for one year.
Apr 14, 2025
Superintendent Daisy Morales said the district is making progress on its massive restructuring and also addressed the fallout that has led to questions about her leadership.
Apr 14, 2025
The Trump administration has sent a letter to all states asking them to certify that DEI initiatives will not be implemented at schools or risk losing federal funding.
Apr 14, 2025
Parents say instability, uncertainty, feeling unheard top reasons they’re pulling students from Sonoma County’s biggest district.
Apr 14, 2025
Proponents of Measure E, the property tax proposal in the Ross Valley School District, are defending the plan against critics who say it would be too costly for some owners.
Apr 14, 2025
In separate decisions, the department ordered both the Campbell Union High School District and Santa Clara Unified to provide anti-discrimination training, and in the case of Santa Clara Unified, training in students’ rights against retaliation.
Apr 14, 2025
In 1971 California’s Supreme Court issued one of its most important and far-reaching decisions, declaring that the state’s system of financing public schools — primarily via locally levied property taxes — was unconstitutionally unfair.
Apr 14, 2025
California on Friday defied a Trump administration order to certify that the state’s 1,000 school districts have ended all diversity, equity and inclusion programs despite federal threats to cut billions of dollars in education funding if the state does not comply.
Apr 11, 2025
The Petaluma City Schools district has released and adopted an annual plan that outlines its transportation services – offering a look at the costs the district shoulders in transporting students and how it may try to solve the thorny issue of extracurricular trips in the coming year.
Apr 11, 2025
Nine Marin teachers and classified staff unions have formed a new coalition to push for better wages and greater staff retention in the county.
Apr 11, 2025
Clovis Unified plans to use funds from a state grant intended to raise student attendance and achievement toward investing in professional development in early literacy for teachers and behavioral counseling for students.
Apr 11, 2025
Sacramento-area school districts said it’s too early to know which school programs might be affected by Trump administration threats to cut federal education funding as it seeks to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Apr 11, 2025
After the Palisades Fire destroyed her son's high school, Shoshanha Essakhar found herself among the thousands of Los Angeles County parents wondering what to do. A potential solution came by way of an executive order California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Jan. 14.
Apr 11, 2025
Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho confirmed Thursday morning that the district denied campus entry earlier this week to Department of Homeland Security officials seeking information about five students in first through sixth grades.
Apr 11, 2025
The Trump administration overstepped its authority when it cut short pandemic relief grants for K-12 schools, a move that cost them hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a lawsuit filed today by California and a dozen other states.
Apr 10, 2025
The Oakland school board is considering whether to push out the district’s longtime superintendent, a board member told the Chronicle, a move that would create more upheaval amid a fiscal crisis, possible school closures and threats of a wildcat teacher strike.
Apr 10, 2025
Federal officials arrived and were denied entry at two L..A. Unified elementary schools this week, district officials confirmed Wednesday, the first reported instance of an attempt by U.S. authorities to enter a Los Angeles public school amid concerns of immigration enforcement.
Apr 10, 2025
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced Wednesday that 19 school attendance review boards (SARBs) statewide have been designated as model programs for exemplary practices in improving student attendance.
Apr 10, 2025
The spate of jarring incidents at schools in Sonoma County’s largest school district over the last two years — and the district’s response to them — has prompted some parents to call for stricter security, more transparency from district officials and additional resources for students.
Apr 09, 2025
Shasta County schools stand to lose millions of dollars if the Trump administration follows through on its efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, local officials said.
Apr 09, 2025
The Fremont Unified District Teachers Association and Fremont Unified School District officials met Monday in a fact-finding session that stretched until 2 a.m. Tuesday, the union said. After hours of discussion, the two sides failed to reach an agreement.
Apr 09, 2025
In spite of statewide initiatives to increase access to and participation in computer science classes, California lags behind the national average of 60% and trails about three dozen other states in the percentage of high schools offering at least one computer science course.
Apr 08, 2025
A high court on Friday overturned the dismissal of a 2023 lawsuit involving gender expression at Chico Unified School District, opening the case of an alleged “parental secrecy policy” by the district for further analysis.
Apr 08, 2025
California’s foster care students have improved their high school graduation rates since 2013, but have barely improved, or even lost ground, in rates of suspension, attendance and prompt college enrollment, according to a new report.
Apr 08, 2025
California education officials have signaled they could defy a Trump administration order intended to end all diversity, equity and inclusion programs — even as federal officials threaten to cut off billions of dollars per year in federal education funding.
Apr 08, 2025
Alum Rock Union Elementary District in East San Jose was out of time. By last fall, it had spent down most of its savings; enrollment, more than 16,000 K-8 students in the early 2000s, had dropped to 7,300 and was headed to under 6,000. The state was threatening to take it over.
Apr 07, 2025
Courtney Goode, an assistant superintendent at the Escondido Union High School District, was chosen from a pool of candidates. His contract and salary amount are still pending approval later this month.
Apr 07, 2025
Roughly a week after Coachella Valley Unified apologized for "inadvertently" turning away a U.S. Border Patrol recruiter from a career fair at Coachella Valley High School, a few school board members briefly addressed the incident at its latest meeting last week.
Apr 07, 2025
With two months left before summer break, San Francisco schools’ superintendent disclosed what led to the special education fiasco at the start of the school year, which left nearly 200 vulnerable students without their legally mandated teachers and other support staff.
Apr 07, 2025
As Bay Area schools face multimillion dollar budget deficits and the Trump administration has threatened to withhold federal education dollars, a new bill from a South Bay Democrat aims to level the playing field and stabilize school funding in California.
Apr 07, 2025
The battle over the best way to teach children how to read has re-erupted in the California Legislature, as dueling factions haggle over a bill that would mandate a phonics-based style of reading curriculum.
Apr 07, 2025
The Supreme Court ruled for the Trump administration on Friday and lifted a judge’s order that had blocked the canceling of $148 million in grants for recruiting and training new teachers in California and millions more nationwide.
Apr 07, 2025
A dozen teachers in Pasadena, Calif., whose homes burned were told they’ll lose their jobs at the end of the school year, a crisis for educators and students alike.
Increasingly organized groups of parents advocating for an immediate return to class are emerging as a potent political counterweight to teachers unions.
The teachers union in Sacramento City Unified School District released its framework for reopening for in-person learning on Tuesday, and the plan prioritizes offering the COVID-19 vaccine to all of its 4,500 district employees.
Experts have found that remote instruction falls far short of classroom learning. But surveys have shown that a majority of Black and Latino parents in Los Angeles are still hesitant about sending their children back into schools.
Some teachers are reluctant to return to classroom settings as Orange County students resume at least some in-person learning. So substitute teachers might be in demand more than ever before.
Santa Clara County schools have the green light starting Wednesday to usher in a phased return to real face-to-face lessons. But the vast majority are opting instead to stay the course through the rest of the semester.
At Lucerne Valley Elementary in Southern California’s high desert, hundreds of students have returned to in-person learning and a dramatically different school day.
Pleasanton is the latest city to take a hard look at the role of police in the community and schools — and how to respond to mental health calls. The city agreed to revise its police use of force policies and possibly remove school resource officers.
Rescue Union School District, home to 3,700 students at its five elementary schools and two middle schools, is able to open since the county has remained off of the state’s monitoring list and complied with the long list of requirements to reopen.
Masks will be required at every level. In elementary schools, half of students will end their day at lunchtime, before the other half arrives. Middle and high school kids will trade off and spend two days a week on campus.
At the June 23 Oceanside Unified School Board meeting, Trustee Mike Blessing asked staff to present an option for “100 percent return” in the fall, District Communications Director Matthew Jennings said.