ActVnet — a comprehensive response system funded and developed by Tulare County Office of Education to improve campus safety — connects law enforcement, fire departments, emergency medical services, school sites and families.
The May Revise contains welcome provisions that will benefit public schools, including a 4.31 percent COLA for LCFF and a $2.4 billion ongoing increase for special education. Unfortunately, the Governor’s proposal masks an underfunding of the Prop 98 school funding guarantee and relies on the prolific use of one-time money to inflate funding levels in the short term without providing the stability and predictability schools need to plan effectively for student support.
The State Board of Education’s (SBE) May 12-13 meeting included the long-awaited adoption of a California Portrait of a Learner, as well as changes to the 2026 California School Dashboard including the integration of student growth data for English language arts (ELA) and mathematics, and continued discussion around redesigning the state’s Differentiated Assistance and Direct Technical Assistance eligibility criteria to more effectively identify and prioritize LEAs with the greatest need.
The old adage, “students learn to read, then read to learn,” focuses on ensuring that students achieve literacy proficiency by third grade, at which point, the curriculum becomes more difficult and their reading skills are put to use to learn the material. However, since the pandemic, fewer students are proficient readers even into their middle and high school years, where teachers are not prepared to equip students with the basics. The Advanced Education Research & Development Fund (AERDF), a national nonprofit organization, recently released a report that provides research-backed recommendations for supporting older readers.
One day while driving her son to school, Julie Chau Diep heard the song “Colors of the Wind,” a classic from the Pocahontas film soundtrack, when one specific lyric moved her to the point of tears. “How high does the sycamore grow? If you cut it down, then you’ll never know.” Diep, a trustee of the Anaheim Elementary School District, is also president and executive director of the OC Autism Foundation where she oversees a speech therapy clinic, disability advocacy center and community integration program.
The Southwest Transportation Agency is a non-profit agency that provides busing services to 13 local educational agencies in Fresno County to ensure approximately 7,000 students make it to and from school safely every day.
Small school districts face unique challenges like limited resources and staff but still must deliver on large expectations. They also hold a powerful advantage: deep community connections and the ability to make a big impact fast. CSBA is recognizing the work of these small but […]
With local educational agencies facing growing challenges related to issues like chronic absenteeism and student mental health concerns to political tensions around curriculum, funding, staffing shortages and teacher burnout, a new report from ThoughtExchange explores the role of a positive school climate in alleviating the difficulties education systems are facing.
Local educators, school board members and students gathered at Washington Unified School District’s River City High School on May 5 and urged state leaders to reject efforts to shortchange education funding by $5.6 billion in the 2026–27 State Budget. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal would withhold over $900 per student from California’s public schools, forcing difficult cuts in classrooms and communities across the state, creating hardships for students and placing obstacles in the path of academic progress.
A local educational agency’s structures and processes are key components in effectively uplifting and scaling instructional changes in schools, according to Policy Analysis for California Education’s (PACE) practice brief “How Districts Scale Instructional Improvement That Lasts.”
