County spotlight: Supporting students and communities through traumatic moments

The Orange County Department of Education’s (OCDE) Crisis Response Network (CSN) has proven critical in recent months in providing students with real-time support during some of the most challenging moments in their lives. A winner of CSBA’s 2023 Golden Bell Award honoring excellence in education […]

State Board of Education takes a deep dive into Dashboard indicators, adopts revised State Literacy Plan

The California State Board of Education’s (SBE) May 7 meeting agenda consisted largely of informational items related to topics including the California School Dashboard and the development and curation of high-quality instructional materials, as well as action on the revised Comprehensive State Literacy Plan. The […]

CSBA webinar: Legal experts offer considerations for AI implementation in schools

Representatives from CSBA partner law firms offered members insights on how to prepare for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) on campuses and protect students and staff from its potential pitfalls during the April 30 webinar, “Legal Considerations: Using AI tools in educational settings.”

Legislative update: Agreement reached on literacy instruction reforms

Last week, a compromise emerged in the two-year saga to reform literacy instruction in California. Assembly Bill 1454 was approved by the Assembly Education Committee with support from the backers of two competing bills. While the negotiations continue on some outstanding issues, the current provisions in the bill provide more implementation flexibility for local educational agencies as compared to similar legislation proposed last session and again this year.

Information, insight and influence: Coast2Coast delivers for governance teams

Assertive advocacy, practical policy and bipartisan spirit were on display as more than 300 California school trustees and superintendents converged on the nation’s capital for the fourth annual CSBA‑ACSA Coast2Coast Federal Advocacy Trip. As part of the largest delegation in Coast2Cost history, participants sharpened their advocacy skills, absorbed timely policy insight and delivered an unequivocal message to Congress: strong public schools are America’s best investment, and California’s 5.8 million students can’t wait for political gridlock to clear before their needs are met.

Santa Cruz COE encourages environmental stewardship through federal parks pass

Thousands of fourth graders in Santa Cruz County have received free, all-access annual passes to more than 2,000 sites including national parks and other federally managed land thanks to a partnership between the Santa Cruz County Office of Education and the Bureau of Land Management California Central Coast Field Office.