Tony Thurmond

Today’s the deadline for bills to pass their first house in the California Legislature. The vast majority made it. A few failed. And a handful of intriguing bills that didn’t pass may resurface because their authors aren’t giving up.  Police dogs: On Wednesday, a bill that would curb the use of police dogs failed to […]

The results — the most thorough look yet at the pandemic's toll on learning — left education officials and experts neither surprised nor hopeless.

State education officials — who initially seemed to be delaying the release of student scores until after the election — instead shared them in a way guaranteed to hinder coverage of what's expected to be a steep pandemic-driven decline.

Parent advocate? Culture warrior? In a nearly hour-long interview with CalMatters, Lance Christensen, the challenger for California schools superintendent, vows to put students first and give parents a bigger voice.

Several statewide officials’ policies are coming under scrutiny as California’s Nov. 8 general election inches closer, heightening the possible political implications. First up: Attorney General Rob Bonta was dealt a major blow Monday, when the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 8-3 that California must exclude private immigration detention centers from its 2019 law […]

Tony Thurmond faces little opposition for a second term as California schools superintendent, but critics question how much he has accomplished. He points to task forces that are influencing education policy and says he wants to help public schools rebound from the pandemic.

Youth mental health is taking on more urgency for California policymakers as the pandemic enters its third year

A case in San Bernardino opens a new avenue to compel California school districts to improve the educations of students at risk of failure.

California’s public schools lost more than 160,000 students amid the pandemic, the largest enrollment drop in two decades and a likely harbinger of serious educational and financial challenges. The sharp 2.6% decline, announced Thursday by the California Department of Education, doesn’t capture the full effects of the pandemic. The enrollment tally comes from a one-day […]

A CalMatters analysis shows the state has a broken system to collect unpaid penalties for late campaign reports.