Recruiting, Supporting, Retaining: African-American Teachers and the Teacher Shortage

California faces an acute shortage of teachers statewide. The demand for teachers is even greater in school districts with a large number of low-income students and diverse populations. As part of CSBA’s blog series exploring African-American student achievement in honor of African-American History Month, this […]

More than $300,000 in Scholar Dollars grants available to California K-8 schools

ScholarShare 529, California’s official 529 college savings plan, is now accepting entries for its Scholar Dollars grant program. All of California’s public and charter schools serving grades K-8 are eligible for the program, but they must register online by the March 7 deadline. The grants […]

Recent studies show U.S. public schools facing resegregation

Today’s student population is becoming increasingly diverse, yet American public schools are not reflecting that. Almost 65 years after Brown v. Board of Education (1954) deemed school segregation unconstitutional in the United States, recent studies are showing that the vision of a desegregated school system has […]

Celebrating African-American History Month: A Snapshot of African-American Students in California

With almost 400,000 African-American students attending California K-12 public schools, our state is home to the sixth largest population of African-American students in the country — larger than the overall student population of 15 other states. Unfortunately, large opportunity and achievement gaps exist for this […]

Sudden cardiac arrest training and awareness now required for schools and coaches

A new California law requires all K-12 schools in the state to educate coaches, parents/guardians and student athletes about sudden cardiac arrest. SCA occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating — typically due to arrhythmia. It is also a leading cause of death for student […]

New initiative helps foster youth apply for college financial aid

Although 85 percent of California’s foster youth want to earn a college degree, only 8 percent will finish an associate or bachelor’s degree before age 26. A new initiative from John Burton Advocates for Youth, in collaboration with the California Department of Education and the […]

Report highlights lack of personal finance instruction in California schools

Can students in your district explain the difference between APR and AGI? What about a FICO score? Compound interest? Amortization? For students to be college and career ready, knowledge of personal finance is becoming increasingly important. Yet, a recent report from Center for Financial Literacy […]

From 6 to 600,000: CSBA salutes California trustees during School Board Recognition Month

In the spring of 1850, San Francisco’s city council established California’s first free public school. This was followed soon after by a city board of education and a city superintendent. Since that time, California school boards have served as stewards of an education system that […]