Chronic absenteeism, stakeholder engagement practices shared at PACE conference

Two timely and important issues facing districts and school boards, chronic absenteeism and stakeholder engagement, shared the spotlight at this year’s Policy Analysis for California Education annual conference. The Feb. 1 event in downtown Sacramento, with a theme of “Putting Evidence into Action to Advance […]

Toolkit offers guidance and resources for English learner, immigrant parents

The U.S. Department of Education has released a new guide to help schools better support English learner students, immigrant students and their families. Dubbed The English Learner Family Toolkit, the publication should be of particular interest in California, home to more than 1.3 million English […]

State budget workshop: Progress on key funding issues, but much work remains

School board members and district officials should be excited about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s focus on pressing K-12 education issues in his proposed 2019-20 budget, but larger inroads need to be made — particularly in boosting Proposition 98 base funding. That was the takeaway from the […]

State Allocation Board hears good news on Governor’s proposed budget

With a lengthy backlog of school facilities projects statewide due to the previous administration’s reluctance to release Proposition 51 bonds, State Allocation Board Executive Director Lisa Silverman told members at their Jan. 23 meeting that Gov. Gavin’s Newsom’s budget proposal is “great news for our […]

CSBA and its partners continue push for school facilities funds

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a notable shift from his predecessors’ policies pertaining to school facilities. When the voters of California approved Proposition 51 in 2016, which provided $7 billion for K-12 school facilities construction and modernization projects, then-Gov. Jerry Brown was less than […]

‘Silent Recession’: Rising costs and rising challenges confront California school districts

California’s public schools are still struggling to meet basic needs even as the state’s economy has rebounded from the Great Recession, analysis finds. Against the backdrop of a strike in the Los Angeles Unified School District and a looming financial crisis in districts statewide, the […]