Daily News Roundup, Nov. 9, 2026
Articles below are meant to inform members of significant reporting and commentary on public schools and do not necessarily reflect the views of CSBA. (Please note: Included in this post are articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)
ELECTION
Los Angeles Times: Richard Barrera wins state superintendent race as Sonja Shaw concedes
Richard Barrera will be the next state superintendent of public instruction, with opponent Sonja Shaw conceding the race on Nov. 4. Barrera, the school board president of San Diego Unified, was ahead by double digits in ongoing tallies and already had declared victory. He was the heavy favorite as the Democrat in the race, even though the office is listed as nonpartisan.
Barrera, 59, described his campaign message as “a positive vision for our public schools. We’ve got so many examples of great work happening in our public schools that deserve to be elevated.” He also campaigned on increasing school funding and “a message that our public schools need to be healthy, safe communities for all of our students. I think that was a clear contrast to a message that our public schools are failing.” Barrera benefited from more than $9 million in independent campaign spending in support of his election by the California Teachers Association, or CTA, which he said was instrumental in helping him get his message out. The superintendent’s office has an uncertain future. In June, the Legislature signed off on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to reshape the position, transferring oversight of schools and management of the state Education Department to an appointee of the governor. By nearly all accounts, the state superintendent’s power has been dramatically reduced. Many of the new duties of the elected office have yet to be worked out.
LEGAL
CalMatters: California’s new teen social media law challenged in court by Meta, TikTok and Google
Tech giants Meta, Google, and TikTok are suing to block a landmark California law meant to protect kids’ mental health on social media platforms. The law, one of a slate of bills signed by Gov. Newsom this year to protect kids online, would block social media companies from offering “addictive” features to teens under 16. Set to go into effect in January, the law defines addictive features as design choices like infinite scroll, autoplay, and recommendations. Those features are blamed in part for a teen mental health crisis, which the law seeks to curb.
The three suits, filed in multiple federal courts in California last week, argue that the law would infringe on the companies’ First Amendment rights. The Meta suit, for example, says that the law undermines the “fundamental principle” of free speech by making the state “the editor, curator, and controller of online speech.” Google, which owns YouTube, similarly argues in its lawsuit that the law would “frustrate YouTube’s efforts to provide under-16 users with safe, responsible, and enriching experiences on the platform.” The companies want the courts to block the law before it takes effect.
The New York Times: Parents sue Google over AI safety risks on school Chromebooks
After chatting for months with Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) on a school-issued Chromebook laptop, a 13-year-old student made plans to end her life, according to a lawsuit filed in California Superior Court on Nov. 2, the latest in a wave of litigation over Big Tech’s effects on young people.
The lawsuit, which calls the girl Emma, said her parents first learned she had access to Google’s AI in mid-March after her school sent a message warning she was in “imminent danger” of self-harm. The lawsuit is likely the first to claim that Google “hastily integrated” AI features into company apps used on K-12 Chromebooks, Google-powered laptops provided to millions of children by U.S. school districts, while failing to notify parents of potential risks. The claims add to mounting public concern that Silicon Valley has hooked young people on social media apps, video games and AI chatbots, putting children in harm’s way. José Castañeda, a Google spokesman, said the company had worked extensively with health experts to build features to help young people find emergency resources. The new lawsuit argues that Google’s “sprawling digital ecosystem” of laptops and apps has enabled the tech giant to spread its Gemini AI chatbot across public schools — as well as turn on some students’ access to AI features by default — without parents’ awareness or permission.
TEACHERS
Education Week: A major teacher-coaching program flopped. What went wrong?
New research calls into question whether teacher coaching — one of the fastest-growing models for teacher development — can truly succeed at scale. The largest evaluation of an instructional coaching program to date, published last month in the journal Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, found no benefits to either teacher retention or student test scores from an intensive, expensive teacher-coaching model used in hundreds of schools. It is the latest research showing that common professional development models often fall flat, a frustrating finding for a field that has struggled to prove its connection to improved student achievement.
Instructional coaching takes top educators out of the classroom, at least part time, to share their expertise with colleagues. Teachers often historically have considered it one of the more helpful kinds of professional development, and proponents argue the models can boost student achievement and teacher retention by helping struggling teachers improve and giving mentor teachers opportunities for extra pay and status. The findings are less an indictment of instructional coaching itself, and more a statement about the difficulty of scaling and sustaining education innovation, said Jessica Garner, the senior director of innovative learning at the International Society for Transforming Education, which works with districts to improve teacher professional development.
San Jose Spotlight: Silicon Valley lawmaker’s bill reimburses pre-K teachers for supplies
A new federal tax bill will expand help to more Santa Clara County teachers who dig deep into their pockets to pay for school supplies. Educators spend an average of $895 each year to cover classroom supplies and learning materials for their students.
The Supporting Early-Childhood Educators’ Deductions (SEED) Act, recently signed into law, extends a federal tax deduction previously available for K-12 teachers to transitional kindergarten (TK) and preschool educators. This bill piggybacks on a state law that created universal TK education in California. Through the SEED Act, authored by Silicon Valley Congressman Jimmy Panetta, early childhood educators can receive up to $350 next year in tax deductions to help offset their classroom expenses.
CIVICS
Democracy runs on mathematics. Tallying votes, allocating legislative seats and drawing district maps all depend on mathematical choices that can produce dramatically different outcomes. Math provides a common language that shifts attention away from partisan ideology and toward cooperation, neutrality and shared facts. It sheds light on democracy’s structural problems and provides a way to create systems that are fairer and more resilient.
At a moment when educators are rethinking how to prepare students for an increasingly complex world, the mathematics of democracy offers a rare opportunity to teach intellectually rigorous, consequential topics that can build awareness and capacity. Decisions about which topics to prioritize teaching are often framed as zero-sum. If we teach art, then we cannot also teach personal finance. If we prioritize math, science and English language arts, then social studies and civics need to take the back seat. We believe it doesn’t have to be that way. Having to choose between teaching math and civics is a false dichotomy. Educators can and should teach concepts at the intersection of math and civics, such as voting methods, gerrymandering, the Electoral College, proportional representation and political data analysis. The only way to fully understand the key mechanisms of democracy is through learning their conceptual mathematical foundations.
LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES
Marin Independent Journal: Sausalito Marin City School District makes progress on sports fields
The Sausalito Marin City School District has reached milestones in the renovation of two athletic fields. The district plans to rededicate Konnie Knudsen Field this week during an event at Martin Luther King Jr. Academy in Sausalito.
The baseball field, which was removed in 2024 during campus upgrades, has been restored at a slightly different location with a new turf field. The field, which has been home to the Sausalito Marin City Little League since 1957, is named for the longtime league coach who died in 2014. “Those kids haven’t had a big field to run around in for two years,” said volunteer coach Steve Knudsen, 68, of Sausalito, who played for his father from ages 9 to 12. “I’m happy that he is being recognized and honored.” Also, the school district is nearing the first phase of a renovation project at Phillips Field in Marin City, which has been almost unusable for about a decade because of deterioration, mud and a lack of maintenance.
East Bay Times: South Bay voters supportive of school tax measures in early vote returns
Voters in the South Bay and on the Peninsula supported additional funding for schools and academic programs, according to early returns Nov. 3. Three measures posed to voters this November would fund everything from academic programs and teacher salaries to new classrooms and repairs to aging facilities within two K-12 school districts and one community college district.
The measures come as districts across the region face financial problems due to declining enrollment and rising costs, turning to cuts, layoffs or school closures to close budget deficits. Here’s how three school measures in Santa Clara County and San Mateo County were performing among Bay Area voters, according to early returns.
The Sacramento Bee: Davis teachers rally over pay, healthcare costs amid stalled contract talks
When members of the Davis school board arrived at district headquarters for their meeting Nov. 5, they were met by more than 50 demonstrators chanting and waving signs demanding a better contract for district teachers. Passing motorists honked their horns and cheered out of open car windows. Inside, Davis Joint Unified School District leaders and teachers union representatives continued efforts to resolve a monthslong contract negotiation impasse in a closed session.
The rally was organized by the Davis Teachers Association, an affiliate of the California Teachers Association. “Despite negotiating for nearly one year, the district has refused to agree to proposals that invest in students and end the educator recruitment and retention crisis,” Jackie Howard, a communications organizer for the California Teachers Association, said in a news release. Demonstrators are calling for a fair contract, higher pay for teachers and other district employees, and more affordable healthcare.
Los Angeles Daily News: LAUSD board advances 391-unit workforce housing project in Woodland Hills
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board on Nov. 3 selected a development team to pursue a proposed 391-unit workforce housing project on the former Collins Street Elementary School site in Woodland Hills, advancing a plan that district officials say could help employees struggling with the region’s high housing costs. The board selected Affirmed Housing Group/HA Builders for the project and authorized the district to enter into exclusive negotiations with the development team. The team was the highest-ranked proposer for the Collins site following an evaluation by an LAUSD employee selection panel, with advisory support from housing subject-matter experts, according to the district.
The Nov. 3 vote does not constitute final approval of the development. District officials said the exclusive negotiating period will allow for due diligence, additional community engagement, design work and negotiations before a proposed development agreement and ground lease return to the board, which officials said they hope to do by summer 2027. The district’s presentation lays out the two-step process, with Nov. 3’s selection followed by predevelopment and community outreach before another board vote on the development agreement and ground lease.
