On May 16, both the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees held their respective suspense file hearings, determining which bills that require an appropriation of funds will continue to advance this year. CSBA co-sponsored bills passed by the Assembly Appropriations Committee and sent to the Assembly […]
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: Meeting Pacific Islander student challenges
Nearly 30,000 Pacific Islander students are enrolled in California public schools in the 2018-19 school year. The majority of these students come from low-income households, and many struggle academically and have among the highest rates of chronic absenteeism of all student groups. As one of […]
Report card: Districts must better implement laws supporting, protecting LGBTQ students
A first-of-its-kind report card finds that many of California’s unified school districts must improve their implementation of LGBTQ-inclusive programs, policies and curriculum. The Equality California Institute surveyed and assessed 130 unified districts across the state to produce the 2019 Safe & Supportive Schools Report Card. […]
Governor’s May Revision sees slight increase for K-12 funding
Gov. Gavin Newsom released his much-anticipated budget revision on Thursday, May 9, taking a cautious approach in most areas despite larger than expected growth in state General Fund revenues. Overall, the May Revision projects an increase of $3.2 billion in state General Fund short-term revenues […]
Director-at-Large shares insights during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
CSBA joins the nation in celebrating May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Of the 6.2 million K-12 students attending California public schools in 2018–19, 9.3 percent are Asian, 2.4 percent are Filipino and .5 percent are Pacific Islander. These populations are composed of students […]
State Board clarifies, adopts health education guidance before large crowd
After nearly 200 people spoke on the contentious issue at its May 8 meeting, the California State Board of Education unanimously approved the 2019 Health Education Curriculum Framework for California Public Schools. The 741-page document provides guidance for teachers and administrators on how to teach […]
Reserve cap trigger looming: What districts need to know
In one of those déjà vu moments, we are growing concerned about the possible “trigger” of the school district reserve cap in the next fiscal year. While it is still early, CSBA wants to alert all school board members, superintendents and chief business officials of […]
CSBA’s first Equity Network concludes with deep conversations, action plans
Returning to their districts with a lens focused on equity and action plans in hand, a group of 20 school board members from across California completed their CSBA Equity Network experience on April 26–27 in West Sacramento. The two days of deep reflection and discussion […]
California must reform charter schools. Here’s how
By CSBA President Dr. Emma Turner In education circles in California and nationally, the fundamental question is this: How do we ensure all public schools are high quality? In Sacramento, much of the debate focuses on charter schools, as the Legislature considers several related bills […]
Negotiations begin for Fiscal Year 2020 federal education funding bill
On Monday, the House Appropriation Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and other Related Agencies (Labor H) Subcommittee released the text of a $189.8 billion bill to fund the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. Appropriators are assuming a total of $631 […]