Education

Education

Follow the money: Are changes coming for California’s school funding law?

A critical state audit has made oversight of spending on disadvantaged students a first order of business for California lawmakers. 

By Ricardo Cano • January 8, 2020

WhatMatters

Loss for Obamacare nationally. Health care gains in California

Obamacare grows in California but suffers a defeat nationally. Kaiser mental health workers go on strike to protest lack of resources.

By Dan Morain • December 19, 2019

Economy

For small, rural, crumbling — and closing — classrooms, a possible solution: new school bond rules

Small rural schools have long had a hard time competing for state school bond money. But that may change with the state bond on the ballot in March.

By Ricardo Cano • December 17, 2019

Higher Education

If the University of California drops the SAT, what would take its place?

From within and without, the University of California is under pressure to stop requiring the high stakes test in admissions. Here's what could happen next.

By Felicia Mello • December 10, 2019

Capitol

Will fires, outages land California students in ‘disaster relief’ summer school?

Some 800,000 kids have lost as much as three weeks of class time this autumn. Public schools cherish local control in California, but they're asking the state to step in.

By Ricardo Cano • December 5, 2019

WhatMatters

PG&E has a come-to-Newsom moment + how schools spend their bills + a mental health care initiative, perhaps

Newsom meets with PG&E chief to discuss utility's future. Audit finds problems in school funding. Certain groups miss out on food stamps.

By Dan Morain • November 6, 2019

Education

As California spends billions on high-needs students, calls grow for more oversight

Seven years into California's school funding overhaul, the state can't tell whether billions are going to the high-need students they're supposed to help.

By Ricardo Cano • November 5, 2019

K-12 Education

California just pushed back school start times — you weren’t dreaming. Now what?

California just became the first state in the nation to push back the start of the school day, the better to let adolescents get the sleep they need at that age. But just how that new law will work is open to question. For one thing, it won’t start right away in most schools. It doesn’t appear to ban early morning ‘zero periods’ when many schools schedule important electives. It exempts rural schools without defining the term ‘rural.’ And it doesn’t necessarily mean school will end later, which means those extra minutes of snoozing will have to come out of some other part of the school day, such as lunch.

By Ricardo Cano • October 28, 2019

K-12 Education

California kids’ test scores again rise by inches as achievement gap yawns

Five years into the state's new, more rigorous standardized testing system, scores are moving in the right direction. The bad news? Progress remains glacially slow.

By Ricardo Cano • October 9, 2019

K-12 Education

This week’s wildfires and blackouts have now kept nearly a quarter-million CA kids out of school

A student population roughly the size of Santa Clara was kept home by the PG&E blackout. Then the Saddleridge Fire hit at the other end of California.

By Ricardo Cano • October 8, 2019