In summary A ballot initiative that would require a personal finance class in high school circumvents the usual process for curriculum changes. School curriculum is usually the purview of education experts, but this fall it could be decided by California voters, who will vote on adding a new requirement for high school students: a one-semester class in managing personal finances. California’s Secretary of State is poised to certify that the California Personal Finance Act is eligible for the November ballot, which would add financial literacy to the list of high school graduation requiremen ..read more

In summary More of the state’s high school students are enrolling in career pathway programs for skilled, high-wage jobs. Lea esta historia en Español A school without steers? Unthinkable, said Mason Tucker, a 10th-grader at Madera South High School north of Fresno. “When I found out there were all these animals here, I thought, I can do this in school? I have to be here,” said Tucker, who commutes 40 minutes each way to attend the school’s agriculture program. “Why hate school when you can love it?” Steers, sheep, horses, pigs, rabbits, chickens, a sweet-smelling tangerine grove and acres ..read more

In summary A bill from a member of the Legislature’s happiness committee would require schools to come up with homework policies that consider the mental and physical strain on students. Lea esta historia en Español Update: The Assembly education committee on April 24 approved an amended version of the bill that softens some requirements and gives districts until the 2027-28 school year. Some bills before California’s Legislature don’t come from passionate policy advocates, or from powerful interest groups.   Sometimes, the inspiration comes from a family car ride.  While ca ..read more

In summary Supporters of a California trans youth ballot measure wanted to change the name assigned by the attorney general, but a judge said no. A group working on a fall ballot initiative that would limit the rights of transgender students lost a round in court Monday when a judge sided with the state in its description of the measure. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto ruled that Attorney General Rob Bonta’s title, “Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth,” is a fair description of the initiative, which would require schools to notify parents if a student identifies as ..read more

In summary California schools got $23.4 billion in federal pandemic relief money. Low-income schools that got the most may be hardest hit when the funds expire this year. After years of cash windfalls, California schools are bracing for a stretch of austerity that could jeopardize students’ already precarious recovery from the pandemic. An end to billions of dollars in federal Covid relief funds, declining enrollment, staff raises, hiring binges and stagnant state funding should combine over the next few months to create steep budget shortfalls, with low-income districts affected the most ..read more

In summary At some rural schools construction projects are left undone, teaching jobs are unfilled and students who need specialized services don’t get them. When Denise Massey’s daughter was 6 years old, she put the girl, who has Down Syndrome, on a van every morning for speech therapy in El Centro: 100 miles round trip, sometimes braving 120-degree heat, monsoons and severe dust storms known in the desert as haboobs. Thirteen years later she’s still making that daily trek, because her Imperial County school district is so small it can’t offer a full gamut of special education services, an ..read more

In summary Some programs and schools are working to prepare Native American students for college and support them once they get there. Dasan Lynch, a junior at San Pasqual Valley High, clearly envisions his future: He wants to go to college, play sports and pursue a career in law enforcement, like his great-grandfather. That’ll be the easy part. The hard part will be saying goodbye. “It’ll be like leaving a piece of my body behind,” said Lynch, a member of the Quechan tribe in the southeastern corner of California. “But I know I have to leave if I want to help my community.” Leaving home ca ..read more

In summary A recent legal settlement directs $2 billion to California schools to help students recover from learning loss. The lawsuit claimed remote learning was so ineffective that thousands of students were denied their right to an education. At the height of the pandemic, in spring 2020, Maria O. her husband and four children were quarantined in their one-bedroom apartment in South Los Angeles, each vying for privacy, quiet and adequate technology to work and attend school remotely. There weren’t enough tablets or laptops, and Wi-Fi was glitchy. Her children ended up logging into online ..read more

In summary More than half of the state’s students are below grade level in English language arts. Many experts say one of the main reasons why is how reading is taught. A new Assembly bill introduced today would require all California schools to teach students to read using the “science of reading,” a phonics-based approach that research shows is a more effective way to teach literacy. AB 2222, introduced by Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, a Democrat from West Covina, is backed by Marshall Tuck, who ran for California superintendent of public instruction in 2018. Tuck is now the chief executiv ..read more

In summary Learning loss during the pandemic hit California’s low-income students hardest. An agreement requires the state to focus spending there. California schools will have to spend $2 billion of their remaining Covid relief funds on tutoring and other measures to help high-needs students recover from learning loss, according to a legal settlement announced this week. The agreement, reached in Alameda County Superior Court, was between the state and a group of families in Oakland and Los Angeles who said their children fell calamitously behind during remote learning. Public Counsel, a n ..read more