Education

Newsom proposed shifting oversight of the Department of Education from the superintendent to the State Board of Education. The move would concentrate more power over K-12 schools with the governor, who appoints the school board.

The move is intended to simplify California’s convoluted education governance, which policy analysts have said can be inefficient, redundant and sometimes at cross purposes.

Faculty representation at Cal State is lagging far behind the growing number of Latino students. That burdens the small circles of Latino faculty who take on more mentorship tasks, many times in non-tenure positions and for lower pay.

By basing funding on enrollment, not attendance numbers, schools would lose the incentive to get students to show up every day, a new report finds.

California is one of 32 states that doesn’t require 5-year-olds to attend school.

California schools are likely to face continuing threats of funding cuts and more uncertainty.

In their approach to higher education, Trump and Newsom shared one thing in common this year: reducing funding for colleges and universities. The federal government pulled back research funds while the state, facing a deficit, imposed austerity measures on the UC and Cal State University systems.

California State University last year launched a pilot program to attract more students to the university system and to steer some to campuses that have been struggling with enrollment declines.

The law creates an array of measures to educate school staff, beef up reporting requirements and stop teachers credibly accused of abuse from getting jobs at other districts.

Some community college districts in California say enrollment is up by more than 10%, though official numbers have yet to be released. Historically, college enrollment fluctuates depending on the strength of the economy.