In summary
Highlighting all of CALmatters’ work over the past week
Recent Articles
California won’t judge schools on whether student test scores improve over time—not yet, anyway
By Laurel Rosenhall
Advocates for struggling students say measuring progress over time is key to closing the achievement gap.
Fleeing war-torn homes for crippling rents—California housing costs creating harsh reality for refugees
By Matt Levin
California’s skyrocketing housing costs have created a harsh new reality for refugees on the ground, many of whom are going to extraordinary lengths just to afford rent.
After years of tuition battles, UC and student leaders find common ground
By Felicia Mello
The tuition decrease University of California regents are set to vote on amounts to only $60 per year—about the cost of a used textbook. More significant, perhaps, is that student leaders learned about it on a conference call with university budget staff, a sign of new collaboration between UC officials and student leadership.
Food for the heart in a new California health program
By David Gorn
A pilot project uses diet to improve the health of people with congestive heart failure—and save the state millions of dollars. Taxpayers foot the health care bill for about a third of California’s residents. Part 2 of a CALmatters series on state efforts to fight chronic illness.
Don’t like your kid’s school district? Transferring could become easier—if they’re being bullied
By Elizabeth Castillo
A bill advancing in California’s Legislature would allow students to transfer to a school outside their own district, but only if they are foster children, migrants, previously or currently homeless, plus one other category with a broader scope: kids being bullied.
WhatMatters
Will Supreme Court heed Jerry Brown’s request?
By Dan Morain
Jerry Brown asked the California Supreme Court to act on an important pension case before he leaves office. The Supreme Court is short-handed because Brown has left a vacancy unfilled for nearly a year.
3 Californias initiative gets booted, at least for now
By Dan Morain
California Supreme Court kicked Timothy Draper’s CalExit initiative off the November ballot. Justices agreed to hear Draper’s arguments, leaving open the possibility the initiative could appear on a future ballot.
Disclosure at a snail’s pace; CCPOA’s clout
By Dan Morain
Candidates for superintendent of public instruction tangled over prison officers’ pay. Marshall Tuck said Tony Thurmond should not have voted to raise correctional officers’ pay by 5 percent, at a cost of more than $114 million.
Jerry Brown’s vision for online education
By Dan Morain
Gov. Jerry Brown, who began his career nearly 50 years ago by winning a Los Angeles community college seat, visited the Community College Board of Trustees Monday to describe his vision for the future of online education.
What $8.9 billion water bond would buy
By Dan Morain
California voters will have a chance to vote on an $8.9 billion water bond that would pay for environmental restoration, clean drinking water and help rebuild the Friant-Kern Canal, damaged by subsidence.
Commentary
Inventor’s tax fight with California flares up again
By Dan Walters
Inventor Gilbert Hyatt’s decades-long battle with California tax authorities is flaring up again. Hyatt sought refuge in Nevada, which has no income tax, while California tax collectors say he owes them money.
Democratic left wing wants to jettison Sen. Feinstein
By Dan Walters
Kevin de León, a state senator who wants to unseat U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, won the endorsement last weekend of the state Democratic Party executive committee, but she enjoys strong support from Democratic voters and is still likely to win re-election in November.
California’s school war will have new political players
By Dan Walters
California’s education establishment is fighting a running battle with school reformers and civil rights groups over accountability for helping “at-risk” kids, and the battle will resume after voters elect a new governor and a new state schools superintendent.
California vs. Trump over 2020 census
By Dan Walters
California has a big stake in results from the 2020 federal census and is battling with the Trump administration over the details, especially a new question about citizenship. California officials fear that the state’s population will be undercounted.
CALmatters Blogs
Three Californias proposition kicked off the November ballot
By Ben Christopher
The California Supreme Court ruled that a proposal to divide the state in three cannot be placed on the November ballot.
De León discloses campaign finances at a snail’s pace
By Dan Morain
In his race against U.
What an $8.9 billion water bond would buy
By Dan Morain
A 152-mile long canal that irrigates pistachios and other crops in the eastern San Joaquin Valley is sinking by an inch a month, the result of groundwater over-pumping by farmers.
Feinstein iced out by state Democratic Party leaders—they endorse progressive de León for U.S. Senate
By CALmatters
A rebuke, a snub, a progressive smackdown—these are the terms headlining coverage of the California Democratic Party executive council’s vote this weekend to back liberal state legislator Kevin de León in his longshot bid to unseat veteran U.S. Dianne Feinstein.