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"content": "\u003cp>Several weeks after students returned to Canyon Charter Elementary School following the Los Angeles fires in January, a second grade student at the school cried as his teacher packed up an absent friend’s belongings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What are you doing with this stuff?” the student asked, his grief ongoing, and mounting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Katje Davis said it was difficult to explain that his friend was displaced by the Palisades fire and had to move to another school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This loss was hard,” Davis said. “But … we’re good teachers here. And we’ve figured out how to put the kids first.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second grader was one of hundreds who left the Los Angeles Unified School District, which lost two elementary schools to the fires, and the Pasadena Unified School District, which encompasses Altadena, and was the hardest hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as the academic year comes to an end, teachers, administrators and experts have stressed that schools in areas affected by fires have remained a key source of stability, despite campuswide adjustments to a new normal and the ongoing grief expressed by students, many of whom lost their homes, pets and communities. Five months after the fires, students were back on track, making progress academically and emotionally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Schools provide a sense of continuity and safety for children,” said Pedro Noguera, the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of USC’s Rossier School of Education. “And, that’s why it’s so important to be in school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Nothing like COVID’: Returning to normalcy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite losing some schools to the fire, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/los-angeles-schools-close-brace-for-more-fire-wind-and-ash/724794\">Los Angeles Unified and Pasadena Unified\u003c/a> were \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/the-day-i-lost-my-house-school-communities-reel-from-eaton-palisades-fires/725439\">relatively quick to bring students back\u003c/a> and resume classes at their new locations. Many students returned by the end of January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The schools that burned down were relocated to new campuses, so students could stay with the same campus community, classroom, classmates and teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents at Canyon Charter Elementary were concerned about environmental risks, according to Davis, and many kept their kids home until the district completed a \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.lausd.org/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/135/Canyon%20Charter%20ES%20Fire%20Impact%20Assessment%20Report%20R1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Soil and Indoor Air Dust Report (PDF)\u003c/a> in late March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the months following the Eaton and Palisades fires, students who lived in impacted communities dealt with different circumstances and missed varying amounts of instruction. Some initially seemed happy to be back with their teacher and classmates; others struggled emotionally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is nothing like Covid — because at Covid times, everybody was in the same boat,” Davis said. Her school was in a unique position — they were the closest to the burn zone but did not perish. They also didn’t have running water until mid-March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wendy Connor, a veteran first grade teacher at Marquez Charter Elementary School, which did burn down in Palisades, said the initial days and weeks after they resumed in January at Nora Sterry Elementary were geared toward students’ emotional well-being. [aside postID=\"news_12031140,news_12025436,news_12028438\" label=\"Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers started marking tardies in mid-February, she said, and she tried to cover only the essential parts of each lesson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re reading a story. We’re writing. We’re practicing spelling and writing sentences and things like that,” Connor said in an interview with EdSource in February. “But, we’re just not doing it for as long as we normally would. If there’s five questions for them to answer, maybe I’ll just have them do three.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the weeks rolled on and students started to settle into their new environments, Connor said she felt she had been able to steer her first graders back into a more normal school day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By May, most of the kids at Marquez Charter Elementary had settled down and were happy at their new location, Connor told EdSource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s been some stories of a few different students from different classrooms whose parents wanted them to go to a different school … and the kids just refused to go. They wanted to stay at Marquez.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The efforts at Pasadena Unified have yielded some surprising results, according to Julianne Reynoso, Pasadena Unified’s assistant superintendent of student wellness and support services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although 10,000 of the district’s 14,000 students were evacuated from the Eaton fire, the district’s diagnostic assessments show that the number of students performing at or above grade level in math and reading across elementary and middle school has increased between the August/September and March/April assessment periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Specifically, the number of elementary students who performed at mid- or above-grade level rose 15 percentage points in math and 14 percentage points in reading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among middle schoolers, math scores rose by 11 percentage points and 6 percentage points in reading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An LAUSD spokesperson said in an email to EdSource that they do not have any data measuring the impacts of the Palisades fire on students at Palisades Charter Elementary and Marquez Charter Elementary.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A changing landscape\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the final weeks of the spring semester, the school day looked similar to what it was before the fires, with one notable exception. Connor’s class is a lot smaller. Only 12 of her 20 students came back, and she made the most of the smaller class size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you have 20, you have to run around to like six different kids that need your help. When it’s only 12, it’s like two kids,” Connor said. “And then we end up with extra time in the afternoon, and we’re starting to do some more coding activities … [and] other enrichment-type activities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least 89 students left Los Angeles Unified due to the fires, according to a district spokesperson, while Pasadena Unified lost roughly 420 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did have families that left us,” Reynoso said. Other families maintained long-distance commutes to keep their kids in the same district school. “But what’s interesting about it is that they said, ‘We’ll be back. This is just temporary for us,’ I hope that’s true.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the fires, coupled with fears around immigration enforcement, also led to an uptick in the district’s rate of chronic absenteeism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, Reynoso said Los Angeles Unified unexpectedly gained 263 students. She speculates that this could be the result of a California executive order allowing students who were affected by the fires to attend schools in other districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But every fire is different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Noguera from USC, many communities in \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubbs_Fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Santa Rosa\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2018/paradise-high-seniors-lost-almost-everything-in-camp-fire-but-are-determined-to-salvage-their-final-year/606170\">Paradise\u003c/a> that suffered losses after fires returned and rebuilt. However, he cautioned that a large-scale return of families might be less likely in Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not everybody who was there will come back or can afford to come back,” he said. “It’s a process that’s going to take time, and we will only know, with time, how it all comes together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/students-return-fires-los-angeles/734370\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Several weeks after students returned to Canyon Charter Elementary School following the Los Angeles fires in January, a second grade student at the school cried as his teacher packed up an absent friend’s belongings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What are you doing with this stuff?” the student asked, his grief ongoing, and mounting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Katje Davis said it was difficult to explain that his friend was displaced by the Palisades fire and had to move to another school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This loss was hard,” Davis said. “But … we’re good teachers here. And we’ve figured out how to put the kids first.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second grader was one of hundreds who left the Los Angeles Unified School District, which lost two elementary schools to the fires, and the Pasadena Unified School District, which encompasses Altadena, and was the hardest hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as the academic year comes to an end, teachers, administrators and experts have stressed that schools in areas affected by fires have remained a key source of stability, despite campuswide adjustments to a new normal and the ongoing grief expressed by students, many of whom lost their homes, pets and communities. Five months after the fires, students were back on track, making progress academically and emotionally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Schools provide a sense of continuity and safety for children,” said Pedro Noguera, the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of USC’s Rossier School of Education. “And, that’s why it’s so important to be in school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Nothing like COVID’: Returning to normalcy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite losing some schools to the fire, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/los-angeles-schools-close-brace-for-more-fire-wind-and-ash/724794\">Los Angeles Unified and Pasadena Unified\u003c/a> were \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/the-day-i-lost-my-house-school-communities-reel-from-eaton-palisades-fires/725439\">relatively quick to bring students back\u003c/a> and resume classes at their new locations. Many students returned by the end of January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The schools that burned down were relocated to new campuses, so students could stay with the same campus community, classroom, classmates and teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents at Canyon Charter Elementary were concerned about environmental risks, according to Davis, and many kept their kids home until the district completed a \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.lausd.org/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/135/Canyon%20Charter%20ES%20Fire%20Impact%20Assessment%20Report%20R1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Soil and Indoor Air Dust Report (PDF)\u003c/a> in late March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the months following the Eaton and Palisades fires, students who lived in impacted communities dealt with different circumstances and missed varying amounts of instruction. Some initially seemed happy to be back with their teacher and classmates; others struggled emotionally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is nothing like Covid — because at Covid times, everybody was in the same boat,” Davis said. Her school was in a unique position — they were the closest to the burn zone but did not perish. They also didn’t have running water until mid-March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wendy Connor, a veteran first grade teacher at Marquez Charter Elementary School, which did burn down in Palisades, said the initial days and weeks after they resumed in January at Nora Sterry Elementary were geared toward students’ emotional well-being. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers started marking tardies in mid-February, she said, and she tried to cover only the essential parts of each lesson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re reading a story. We’re writing. We’re practicing spelling and writing sentences and things like that,” Connor said in an interview with EdSource in February. “But, we’re just not doing it for as long as we normally would. If there’s five questions for them to answer, maybe I’ll just have them do three.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the weeks rolled on and students started to settle into their new environments, Connor said she felt she had been able to steer her first graders back into a more normal school day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By May, most of the kids at Marquez Charter Elementary had settled down and were happy at their new location, Connor told EdSource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s been some stories of a few different students from different classrooms whose parents wanted them to go to a different school … and the kids just refused to go. They wanted to stay at Marquez.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The efforts at Pasadena Unified have yielded some surprising results, according to Julianne Reynoso, Pasadena Unified’s assistant superintendent of student wellness and support services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although 10,000 of the district’s 14,000 students were evacuated from the Eaton fire, the district’s diagnostic assessments show that the number of students performing at or above grade level in math and reading across elementary and middle school has increased between the August/September and March/April assessment periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Specifically, the number of elementary students who performed at mid- or above-grade level rose 15 percentage points in math and 14 percentage points in reading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among middle schoolers, math scores rose by 11 percentage points and 6 percentage points in reading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An LAUSD spokesperson said in an email to EdSource that they do not have any data measuring the impacts of the Palisades fire on students at Palisades Charter Elementary and Marquez Charter Elementary.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A changing landscape\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the final weeks of the spring semester, the school day looked similar to what it was before the fires, with one notable exception. Connor’s class is a lot smaller. Only 12 of her 20 students came back, and she made the most of the smaller class size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you have 20, you have to run around to like six different kids that need your help. When it’s only 12, it’s like two kids,” Connor said. “And then we end up with extra time in the afternoon, and we’re starting to do some more coding activities … [and] other enrichment-type activities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least 89 students left Los Angeles Unified due to the fires, according to a district spokesperson, while Pasadena Unified lost roughly 420 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did have families that left us,” Reynoso said. Other families maintained long-distance commutes to keep their kids in the same district school. “But what’s interesting about it is that they said, ‘We’ll be back. This is just temporary for us,’ I hope that’s true.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the fires, coupled with fears around immigration enforcement, also led to an uptick in the district’s rate of chronic absenteeism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, Reynoso said Los Angeles Unified unexpectedly gained 263 students. She speculates that this could be the result of a California executive order allowing students who were affected by the fires to attend schools in other districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But every fire is different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Noguera from USC, many communities in \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubbs_Fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Santa Rosa\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2018/paradise-high-seniors-lost-almost-everything-in-camp-fire-but-are-determined-to-salvage-their-final-year/606170\">Paradise\u003c/a> that suffered losses after fires returned and rebuilt. However, he cautioned that a large-scale return of families might be less likely in Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not everybody who was there will come back or can afford to come back,” he said. “It’s a process that’s going to take time, and we will only know, with time, how it all comes together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/students-return-fires-los-angeles/734370\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Trump Administration Slashes $400 Million in AmeriCorps Funding",
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"headTitle": "Trump Administration Slashes $400 Million in AmeriCorps Funding | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Twenty-three-year-old Valerie Caballero worked with seven third graders, guiding numerous activities on decoding words, on Thursday at Roche Elementary in Portersville. With a group of three students, teacher Shelly Noble focused on building reading comprehension. The rest of the class, also in small groups, read independently or completed literacy assignments online, until it was time for the groups to change stations — to go to Caballero or Noble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caballero is one of 85 community members trained as AmeriCorps volunteers to tutor and support over 2,000 students at 10 elementary schools in Porterville Unified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AmeriCorps program deployed her and others to third- to fifth-grade classrooms to provide students with additional time for reading and math intervention they wouldn’t get elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Families rely on programs like AmeriCorps to give their child one-on-one support and attention that they need,” Caballero said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fifth grader Jizelle Alvarado, who has benefited from the AmeriCorps program since her third grade year, said volunteer Stephanie Rector has helped her read at a better pace and multiply three-digit numbers. Without hesitation, the fifth grader said she and other students would still be struggling with reading and math if not for Rector’s daily support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last Friday, the program was one of\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/federal-cuts-throw-a-curveball-into-my-young-dodger-fans-tutoring-journey/731835\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> many whose survival became uncertain\u003c/a> because of the reduction of federal AmeriCorps grants by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, under the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.statecommissions.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=342:asc-statement-on-the-termination-of-americorps-grants&catid=23:news&Itemid=191\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nearly $400 million in AmeriCorps funding was cut\u003c/a>, jeopardizing more than 1,000 programs and the jobs of tens of thousands of employees, tutors, mentors and volunteers, the national volunteer service organization reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced this week that the state has “taken action to hold the Trump Administration and DOGE accountable to the law,” according to a statement. \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/updates/california-and-other-states-sue-trump-over-gutting-americorps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https://edsource.org/updates/california-and-other-states-sue-trump-over-gutting-americorps\">Two dozen states, including California, filed a lawsuit Tuesday\u003c/a> against the Trump administration for “dismantling AmeriCorps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unless the lawsuit prevails, the AmeriCorps funding cuts — estimated at $60 million for educational, economic, environmental, health and disaster response services in the state — will impact 87 programs and over 5,600 positions, according to Cassandra González-Kester, communications manager for \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.californiavolunteers.ca.gov/california-americorps-programs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Volunteers\u003c/a>, the state service organization that receives most AmeriCorps grant funding and disburses it to schools, nonprofit organizations and other entities to address critical community needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These cuts affect service members who responded to the LA fires, the tutors and mentors for our young students, as well as those who care for seniors,” she said. “School districts and nonprofit organizations throughout the state are already feeling these severe impacts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the nearly 14,000-student Porterville Unified has decided to use its own funds to continue the program until May 30, the last day of school — something not all schools and organizations can do, so many communities will be left without crucial services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cuts are hurting the most vulnerable: kids in need of reading and math intervention; students struggling with chronic absenteeism; families experiencing housing instability; and communities recovering from natural disasters. The end of services could exacerbate existing inequalities, especially since the fate of many programs remains uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thousands of students receiving support through AmeriCorps may have those services upended or interrupted — if they haven’t already — by the Trump administration’s sudden cancellation of the grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we aren’t able to continue this work (beyond this school year), it’s going to leave a huge void, and our students are definitely going to feel the effects of that,” said Tara Warren, director of \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.portervilleschools.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=234351&type=d&pREC_ID=1839936\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Porterville Unified’s AmeriCorps program\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>People supporting their community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>AmeriCorps, an independent agency of the U.S. government, supports \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://americorps.gov/serve\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">volunteer and service efforts in California and across the country \u003c/a>by providing opportunities for community members to meet local needs and address pressing issues, including academic support and intervention for students, youth mentoring as well as homelessness, food insecurity, health and other key areas in communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Due to the range of programs that AmeriCorps supports, thousands of families in California alone will lose services if they haven’t already.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We recognize the impact this has across all programs and staff, not just in our state, but nationwide,” said Monica Ramirez, the executive director of First 5 Madera Countty, which operates the \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://first5madera.org/family-resource-centers-frc/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Madera Family Resource Center\u003c/a> in the Central San Joaquin Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Madera Family Resource Center, a comprehensive hub for families with children aged 0 to 5, is partially funded by federal AmeriCorps money. The center provides weekly playgroups, preschool readiness programs, developmental screenings and resource referrals to support early childhood development. After getting notice of\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/local-news/americorps-program-first-5-madera/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> the AmeriCorps funding cuts\u003c/a>, which had helped make services possible, the resource center, which extends services to Chowchilla, Eastern Madera County, and the Madera Ranchos, closed its doors this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porterville Unified’s Building Communities, Changing Lives program is largely funded by AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps awarded the district more than $1.6 million in federal funds, and the district matched those funds with about $1.2 million this school year. [aside postID=\"mindshift_65092,mindshift_65465\" label=\"Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of that funding goes toward\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://americorps.gov/serve/faqs?page=5https://americorps.gov/serve/faqs?page=5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> living stipends for AmeriCorps members\u003c/a>, community members and college students who may be tutors, mentors or in other roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covering the operating costs for 85 AmeriCorps members who provide 35 hours of weekly student intervention and support is approximately $210,000 for May, an expense the district likely won’t be able to foot without the AmeriCorps funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t see another way to move forward without the AmeriCorps funding,” Warren said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State agencies, such as California Volunteers, are trying to fill the void for impacted groups, Fresno State College Corps Director Mellissa Jessen-Hiser said. The organization, she said, will fund the college corps members’ continued work at places such as the food bank, Poverello House, a homeless shelter in Fresno, and Fresno Unified schools for the rest of the semester.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government has provided more than half the funding for some of California’s AmeriCorps programming, with the agency’s members supporting 17,000 foster youth with education and employment, and tutoring or mentoring 73,833 students in 2023-24, according to California Volunteers.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Volunteers play a ‘vital role’ in student progress\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Of the more than 2,000 students to whom Porterville Unified AmeriCorps members provide one-on-one and small-group instruction, tutoring and intervention, 1,657 need academic support, based on this year’s district assessments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members work with at least 25 students a day over 10 months of the school year; they focus on reading and literacy, helping struggling students get to grade level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to create a larger learning gap if they’re not receiving this extra support,” said Caballero, the tutor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on midyear data from this school year, 44% of students served by AmeriCorps members have improved by at least one proficiency level on their reading assessment, demonstrating meaningful academic progress, Warren, the program director, reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with an extra person in the classroom working alongside them, teachers focus on the academic struggles of students who need it most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without AmeriCorps, “we will not see the growth in reading and writing that we see because the majority (of the work) will be put on myself,” said Noble, the third grade teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AmeriCorps members also build meaningful connections with students, extending their support beyond academics and making students feel valued, thereby creating an engaging and supportive learning environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re able to really see the effects of having those members work with those students and the impacts that they’re making,” Warren said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the 30-year-old Kern Community Mentoring program, three dozen AmeriCorps members have mentored over 700 high-needs students in the urban and rural communities of Kern County each year, according to Robert Meszaros, communications director with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools that administers the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By providing encouragement, guidance and support, they address the “whole child,” a philosophy evident in several AmeriCorps programs, specifically those focused on mentorship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each year, mentors help at least 20 students improve their academics, attendance, behavior and engagement, and \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://news.kern.org/2025/03/finding-purpose-through-service-americorps-mentors-making-an-impact/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">based on data from the program\u003c/a>, more than half of the students improve their attendance and reduce suspensions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the cuts to AmeriCorps, Meszaros said, it may mean the loss of the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Alternative funding, other options\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Programs impacted by the federal funding cuts are exploring options to continue serving the community. Some are seeking support from their state representatives, who can advocate on their behalf at the state and possibly national level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not sure what the next steps are,” Warren said that Porterville Unified is looking for alternative funding sources, such as state grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Kern County Office of Education is doing the same for its AmeriCorps mentoring program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, if that funding can’t be sourced from other resources,” Warren said, “then it goes away, and we’re left with a big void.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While it’s unclear whether the multimillion-dollar cuts will stand, the people working in AmeriCorps programs urged decision-makers to realize the people affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the words of Caballero, the Porterville Unified tutor: “Think about students’ needs.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Nearly $400 million in AmeriCorps funding was cut by the Trump administration, jeopardizing more than 1,000 programs and the jobs of tens of thousands of employees, tutors, mentors and volunteers. ",
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"title": "Trump Administration Slashes $400 Million in AmeriCorps Funding | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Twenty-three-year-old Valerie Caballero worked with seven third graders, guiding numerous activities on decoding words, on Thursday at Roche Elementary in Portersville. With a group of three students, teacher Shelly Noble focused on building reading comprehension. The rest of the class, also in small groups, read independently or completed literacy assignments online, until it was time for the groups to change stations — to go to Caballero or Noble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caballero is one of 85 community members trained as AmeriCorps volunteers to tutor and support over 2,000 students at 10 elementary schools in Porterville Unified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AmeriCorps program deployed her and others to third- to fifth-grade classrooms to provide students with additional time for reading and math intervention they wouldn’t get elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Families rely on programs like AmeriCorps to give their child one-on-one support and attention that they need,” Caballero said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fifth grader Jizelle Alvarado, who has benefited from the AmeriCorps program since her third grade year, said volunteer Stephanie Rector has helped her read at a better pace and multiply three-digit numbers. Without hesitation, the fifth grader said she and other students would still be struggling with reading and math if not for Rector’s daily support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last Friday, the program was one of\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/federal-cuts-throw-a-curveball-into-my-young-dodger-fans-tutoring-journey/731835\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> many whose survival became uncertain\u003c/a> because of the reduction of federal AmeriCorps grants by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, under the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.statecommissions.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=342:asc-statement-on-the-termination-of-americorps-grants&catid=23:news&Itemid=191\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nearly $400 million in AmeriCorps funding was cut\u003c/a>, jeopardizing more than 1,000 programs and the jobs of tens of thousands of employees, tutors, mentors and volunteers, the national volunteer service organization reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced this week that the state has “taken action to hold the Trump Administration and DOGE accountable to the law,” according to a statement. \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/updates/california-and-other-states-sue-trump-over-gutting-americorps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https://edsource.org/updates/california-and-other-states-sue-trump-over-gutting-americorps\">Two dozen states, including California, filed a lawsuit Tuesday\u003c/a> against the Trump administration for “dismantling AmeriCorps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unless the lawsuit prevails, the AmeriCorps funding cuts — estimated at $60 million for educational, economic, environmental, health and disaster response services in the state — will impact 87 programs and over 5,600 positions, according to Cassandra González-Kester, communications manager for \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.californiavolunteers.ca.gov/california-americorps-programs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Volunteers\u003c/a>, the state service organization that receives most AmeriCorps grant funding and disburses it to schools, nonprofit organizations and other entities to address critical community needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These cuts affect service members who responded to the LA fires, the tutors and mentors for our young students, as well as those who care for seniors,” she said. “School districts and nonprofit organizations throughout the state are already feeling these severe impacts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the nearly 14,000-student Porterville Unified has decided to use its own funds to continue the program until May 30, the last day of school — something not all schools and organizations can do, so many communities will be left without crucial services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cuts are hurting the most vulnerable: kids in need of reading and math intervention; students struggling with chronic absenteeism; families experiencing housing instability; and communities recovering from natural disasters. The end of services could exacerbate existing inequalities, especially since the fate of many programs remains uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thousands of students receiving support through AmeriCorps may have those services upended or interrupted — if they haven’t already — by the Trump administration’s sudden cancellation of the grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we aren’t able to continue this work (beyond this school year), it’s going to leave a huge void, and our students are definitely going to feel the effects of that,” said Tara Warren, director of \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.portervilleschools.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=234351&type=d&pREC_ID=1839936\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Porterville Unified’s AmeriCorps program\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>People supporting their community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>AmeriCorps, an independent agency of the U.S. government, supports \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://americorps.gov/serve\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">volunteer and service efforts in California and across the country \u003c/a>by providing opportunities for community members to meet local needs and address pressing issues, including academic support and intervention for students, youth mentoring as well as homelessness, food insecurity, health and other key areas in communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Due to the range of programs that AmeriCorps supports, thousands of families in California alone will lose services if they haven’t already.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We recognize the impact this has across all programs and staff, not just in our state, but nationwide,” said Monica Ramirez, the executive director of First 5 Madera Countty, which operates the \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://first5madera.org/family-resource-centers-frc/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Madera Family Resource Center\u003c/a> in the Central San Joaquin Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Madera Family Resource Center, a comprehensive hub for families with children aged 0 to 5, is partially funded by federal AmeriCorps money. The center provides weekly playgroups, preschool readiness programs, developmental screenings and resource referrals to support early childhood development. After getting notice of\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/local-news/americorps-program-first-5-madera/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> the AmeriCorps funding cuts\u003c/a>, which had helped make services possible, the resource center, which extends services to Chowchilla, Eastern Madera County, and the Madera Ranchos, closed its doors this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porterville Unified’s Building Communities, Changing Lives program is largely funded by AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps awarded the district more than $1.6 million in federal funds, and the district matched those funds with about $1.2 million this school year. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of that funding goes toward\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://americorps.gov/serve/faqs?page=5https://americorps.gov/serve/faqs?page=5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> living stipends for AmeriCorps members\u003c/a>, community members and college students who may be tutors, mentors or in other roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covering the operating costs for 85 AmeriCorps members who provide 35 hours of weekly student intervention and support is approximately $210,000 for May, an expense the district likely won’t be able to foot without the AmeriCorps funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t see another way to move forward without the AmeriCorps funding,” Warren said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State agencies, such as California Volunteers, are trying to fill the void for impacted groups, Fresno State College Corps Director Mellissa Jessen-Hiser said. The organization, she said, will fund the college corps members’ continued work at places such as the food bank, Poverello House, a homeless shelter in Fresno, and Fresno Unified schools for the rest of the semester.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government has provided more than half the funding for some of California’s AmeriCorps programming, with the agency’s members supporting 17,000 foster youth with education and employment, and tutoring or mentoring 73,833 students in 2023-24, according to California Volunteers.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Volunteers play a ‘vital role’ in student progress\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Of the more than 2,000 students to whom Porterville Unified AmeriCorps members provide one-on-one and small-group instruction, tutoring and intervention, 1,657 need academic support, based on this year’s district assessments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members work with at least 25 students a day over 10 months of the school year; they focus on reading and literacy, helping struggling students get to grade level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to create a larger learning gap if they’re not receiving this extra support,” said Caballero, the tutor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on midyear data from this school year, 44% of students served by AmeriCorps members have improved by at least one proficiency level on their reading assessment, demonstrating meaningful academic progress, Warren, the program director, reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with an extra person in the classroom working alongside them, teachers focus on the academic struggles of students who need it most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without AmeriCorps, “we will not see the growth in reading and writing that we see because the majority (of the work) will be put on myself,” said Noble, the third grade teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AmeriCorps members also build meaningful connections with students, extending their support beyond academics and making students feel valued, thereby creating an engaging and supportive learning environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re able to really see the effects of having those members work with those students and the impacts that they’re making,” Warren said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the 30-year-old Kern Community Mentoring program, three dozen AmeriCorps members have mentored over 700 high-needs students in the urban and rural communities of Kern County each year, according to Robert Meszaros, communications director with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools that administers the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By providing encouragement, guidance and support, they address the “whole child,” a philosophy evident in several AmeriCorps programs, specifically those focused on mentorship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each year, mentors help at least 20 students improve their academics, attendance, behavior and engagement, and \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://news.kern.org/2025/03/finding-purpose-through-service-americorps-mentors-making-an-impact/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">based on data from the program\u003c/a>, more than half of the students improve their attendance and reduce suspensions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the cuts to AmeriCorps, Meszaros said, it may mean the loss of the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Alternative funding, other options\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Programs impacted by the federal funding cuts are exploring options to continue serving the community. Some are seeking support from their state representatives, who can advocate on their behalf at the state and possibly national level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not sure what the next steps are,” Warren said that Porterville Unified is looking for alternative funding sources, such as state grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Kern County Office of Education is doing the same for its AmeriCorps mentoring program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, if that funding can’t be sourced from other resources,” Warren said, “then it goes away, and we’re left with a big void.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While it’s unclear whether the multimillion-dollar cuts will stand, the people working in AmeriCorps programs urged decision-makers to realize the people affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the words of Caballero, the Porterville Unified tutor: “Think about students’ needs.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "james-milliken-chosen-as-next-university-of-california-president",
"title": "James Milliken Chosen as Next University of California President",
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"headTitle": "James Milliken Chosen as Next University of California President | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>James B. Milliken, the chancellor of the University of Texas system and a veteran administrator with a history of leading public college systems, was selected Friday as the next president of the University of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken will take over the 10-campus UC system at a tumultuous time as it faces Trump administration threats to pull funding that could diminish the university’s research capacity, medical care and student services. UC is also likely to receive a significant cut to its state funding this year, providing further complications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken, familiarly called JB, also previously headed the University of Nebraska and the City University of New York, an urban system that includes seven community colleges, 11 four-year campuses and seven professional, graduate or honors schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Janet Reilly, chair of the UC board of regents, said Milliken is someone “who understands the transformative power of a public university system and who can build on UC’s legacy as a global leader in research and academics and public service.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These times call for a president who is an effective advocate, a clear communicator and a collaborative partner to our many constituents, someone who can lead with vision and humility,” Reilly said, “and after an extensive national search. I am proud to say I think we have found that leader in JB Milliken.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken, who is 68, will start his new job on Aug. 1 after Michael V. Drake, the system’s current president, steps down. Drake has been UC’s president since 2020 and has had stints as president of Ohio State University and chancellor of UC Irvine.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12036380 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250307-BERKELEY-SCIENCE-PROTEST-MD-08_qed-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken, who attended the regents meeting in San Francisco on Friday in person, acknowledged this is a difficult time but struck an optimistic note. We know that higher education faces challenges and changes. What will not change is the University of California’s historic mission, teaching, research, health care and public service,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken, whose initial contract is for five years, will make a base salary of $1.475 million, up from Drake’s $1.3 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During past stints as a president and chancellor, Milliken is credited with expanding STEM programs, prioritizing affordability and supporting undocumented students. Under his leadership at UT, the system cut a number of jobs and programs after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law banning many diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken said Friday that U.S. colleges are “the greatest engines of social and economic mobility the world has ever seen,” but noted that confidence in the sector is at historic lows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yet I remain firmly convinced that higher education is more important than at any point in our history, at a time when knowledge is increasing at a faster rate than ever,” he said. “New technologies are providing previously unimagined capabilities, and our graduates are enjoying opportunities in fields that didn’t even exist a few years ago. It’s abundantly clear that we must continue to invest in the most successful higher education model in the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prior to his career in academia, which also included a period as senior vice president at the University of North Carolina, Milliken worked at a Wall Street law firm. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska and a law degree from New York University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038661\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1971px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038661\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1971\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed.jpg 1971w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed-800x541.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed-1020x690.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed-1536x1039.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed-1920x1299.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1971px) 100vw, 1971px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UC Berkeley students walk through Sather Gate on the UC Berkeley campus April 17, 2007 in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Milliken is the second UC president in recent history to enter the job after a stint as chancellor of the University of Texas system. Mark Yudof, UC’s president from 2008 to 2013, was UT’s system chancellor from 2002 to 2008. He will be the 22nd UC president since the university was founded in 1868.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken will be required as UC’s president to oversee 10 varied campuses, $8 billion a year of research money and six medical centers. His experience leading UT may make him well-positioned to do that. The UT system includes nine academic universities and five health institutions. The system enrolls about 256,000 students; UC has nearly 300,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UT has annual research expenditures of $4.3 billion, and the system ranks second in annual federal research spending among public universities — trailing only UC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC gets about $6 billion annually in federal funds for research and other program supports,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>not including additional large sums its hospitals receive through Medicare and Medicaid. Cuts to that funding would be felt across the immense system, which comprises nine undergraduate campuses and one graduate-only campus, UC San Francisco. All 10 campuses have R1 status from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the highest tier for research universities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC officials defended Milliken’s new salary, on top of which he will receive free housing. A memo to the regents outlining his compensation package said UC faces “a highly competitive national market” for presidents and chancellors to lead top-tier research universities. Market data shows “increasingly higher compensation levels” among suitable candidates, according to the memo.[aside postID=news_12034098 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250226-UC-STRIKE-MD-08-1020x680.jpg']In a statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a UC regent by virtue of his office, said Milliken “brings years of experience and the steady, strategic leadership needed to expand UC’s impact across the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Constance Penley, president of the Council of University of California Faculty Associations, said she was “cautiously optimistic” about the new UC president. “I liked very much what I’ve been able to discover about his commitment to access and equity in public higher education that he’s shown across four different universities and four different states.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, the Trump administration is investigating several UC campuses on a variety of allegations, including discriminatory admissions practices and complaints of antisemitism. Most recently, the Department of Education opened a probe into UC Berkeley, accusing the campus of “incomplete or inaccurate” disclosures of foreign funding sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration has also zeroed in on race-based programs. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education said colleges that use race in “admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life” violate federal law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038657\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 778px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038657\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-02-at-2.31.38%E2%80%AFPM-e1746314640796.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"778\" height=\"327\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-02-at-2.31.38 PM-e1746314640796.jpg 778w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-02-at-2.31.38 PM-e1746314640796-160x67.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 778px) 100vw, 778px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">University of California presidents since 2008. \u003ccite>(University of California)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>UC officials have since said that the order would not immediately impact its campuses and that maintaining their racially themed programs, such as graduation ceremonies and dormitory floors, is not illegal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Texas, lawmakers in 2023 passed Senate Bill 17, which prohibits colleges from having a DEI office, hiring employees to perform the duties of a DEI office or requiring anyone to provide a DEI statement or undergo DEI training, \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/28/texas-dei-ban-universities-funding/\">according to \u003cem>The Texas Tribune\u003c/em>.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, UT cut 300 staff positions and eliminated more than 600 programs related to DEI training, according to \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://apnews.com/article/diversity-ban-texas-colleges-dei-00cc7122d6a6f91eed0604d0a39e99f7\">The Associated Press.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You may not like the law, but it is the law,” Milliken said at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC in March announced it would no longer require diversity statements as part of its faculty hiring process, but has otherwise made no major changes to its DEI programming or policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On top of the federal uncertainties, UC also faces the likelihood of a substantial cut to its state funding this year, even as it is expected to continue increasing California resident enrollment and improve graduation rates. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s January budget proposal included an 8% cut, or $400 million, for UC. Milliken has previously had to contend with state funding cuts — or at least the threat of them. In 2016, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/nyregion/after-moving-to-cut-cuny-funding-cuomo-faces-loud-backlash.html\">planned to slash $485 million from CUNY’s budget\u003c/a>, though that funding was ultimately restored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/james-milliken-of-university-of-texas-selected-as-next-university-of-california-president/731775\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>James B. Milliken, the chancellor of the University of Texas system and a veteran administrator with a history of leading public college systems, was selected Friday as the next president of the University of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken will take over the 10-campus UC system at a tumultuous time as it faces Trump administration threats to pull funding that could diminish the university’s research capacity, medical care and student services. UC is also likely to receive a significant cut to its state funding this year, providing further complications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken, familiarly called JB, also previously headed the University of Nebraska and the City University of New York, an urban system that includes seven community colleges, 11 four-year campuses and seven professional, graduate or honors schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Janet Reilly, chair of the UC board of regents, said Milliken is someone “who understands the transformative power of a public university system and who can build on UC’s legacy as a global leader in research and academics and public service.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These times call for a president who is an effective advocate, a clear communicator and a collaborative partner to our many constituents, someone who can lead with vision and humility,” Reilly said, “and after an extensive national search. I am proud to say I think we have found that leader in JB Milliken.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken, who is 68, will start his new job on Aug. 1 after Michael V. Drake, the system’s current president, steps down. Drake has been UC’s president since 2020 and has had stints as president of Ohio State University and chancellor of UC Irvine.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken, who attended the regents meeting in San Francisco on Friday in person, acknowledged this is a difficult time but struck an optimistic note. We know that higher education faces challenges and changes. What will not change is the University of California’s historic mission, teaching, research, health care and public service,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken, whose initial contract is for five years, will make a base salary of $1.475 million, up from Drake’s $1.3 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During past stints as a president and chancellor, Milliken is credited with expanding STEM programs, prioritizing affordability and supporting undocumented students. Under his leadership at UT, the system cut a number of jobs and programs after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law banning many diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken said Friday that U.S. colleges are “the greatest engines of social and economic mobility the world has ever seen,” but noted that confidence in the sector is at historic lows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yet I remain firmly convinced that higher education is more important than at any point in our history, at a time when knowledge is increasing at a faster rate than ever,” he said. “New technologies are providing previously unimagined capabilities, and our graduates are enjoying opportunities in fields that didn’t even exist a few years ago. It’s abundantly clear that we must continue to invest in the most successful higher education model in the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prior to his career in academia, which also included a period as senior vice president at the University of North Carolina, Milliken worked at a Wall Street law firm. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska and a law degree from New York University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038661\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1971px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038661\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1971\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed.jpg 1971w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed-800x541.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed-1020x690.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed-1536x1039.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/73908800_qed-1920x1299.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1971px) 100vw, 1971px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UC Berkeley students walk through Sather Gate on the UC Berkeley campus April 17, 2007 in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Milliken is the second UC president in recent history to enter the job after a stint as chancellor of the University of Texas system. Mark Yudof, UC’s president from 2008 to 2013, was UT’s system chancellor from 2002 to 2008. He will be the 22nd UC president since the university was founded in 1868.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milliken will be required as UC’s president to oversee 10 varied campuses, $8 billion a year of research money and six medical centers. His experience leading UT may make him well-positioned to do that. The UT system includes nine academic universities and five health institutions. The system enrolls about 256,000 students; UC has nearly 300,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UT has annual research expenditures of $4.3 billion, and the system ranks second in annual federal research spending among public universities — trailing only UC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC gets about $6 billion annually in federal funds for research and other program supports,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>not including additional large sums its hospitals receive through Medicare and Medicaid. Cuts to that funding would be felt across the immense system, which comprises nine undergraduate campuses and one graduate-only campus, UC San Francisco. All 10 campuses have R1 status from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the highest tier for research universities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC officials defended Milliken’s new salary, on top of which he will receive free housing. A memo to the regents outlining his compensation package said UC faces “a highly competitive national market” for presidents and chancellors to lead top-tier research universities. Market data shows “increasingly higher compensation levels” among suitable candidates, according to the memo.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In a statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a UC regent by virtue of his office, said Milliken “brings years of experience and the steady, strategic leadership needed to expand UC’s impact across the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Constance Penley, president of the Council of University of California Faculty Associations, said she was “cautiously optimistic” about the new UC president. “I liked very much what I’ve been able to discover about his commitment to access and equity in public higher education that he’s shown across four different universities and four different states.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, the Trump administration is investigating several UC campuses on a variety of allegations, including discriminatory admissions practices and complaints of antisemitism. Most recently, the Department of Education opened a probe into UC Berkeley, accusing the campus of “incomplete or inaccurate” disclosures of foreign funding sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration has also zeroed in on race-based programs. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education said colleges that use race in “admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life” violate federal law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038657\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 778px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038657\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-02-at-2.31.38%E2%80%AFPM-e1746314640796.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"778\" height=\"327\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-02-at-2.31.38 PM-e1746314640796.jpg 778w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-02-at-2.31.38 PM-e1746314640796-160x67.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 778px) 100vw, 778px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">University of California presidents since 2008. \u003ccite>(University of California)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>UC officials have since said that the order would not immediately impact its campuses and that maintaining their racially themed programs, such as graduation ceremonies and dormitory floors, is not illegal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Texas, lawmakers in 2023 passed Senate Bill 17, which prohibits colleges from having a DEI office, hiring employees to perform the duties of a DEI office or requiring anyone to provide a DEI statement or undergo DEI training, \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/28/texas-dei-ban-universities-funding/\">according to \u003cem>The Texas Tribune\u003c/em>.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, UT cut 300 staff positions and eliminated more than 600 programs related to DEI training, according to \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://apnews.com/article/diversity-ban-texas-colleges-dei-00cc7122d6a6f91eed0604d0a39e99f7\">The Associated Press.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You may not like the law, but it is the law,” Milliken said at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC in March announced it would no longer require diversity statements as part of its faculty hiring process, but has otherwise made no major changes to its DEI programming or policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On top of the federal uncertainties, UC also faces the likelihood of a substantial cut to its state funding this year, even as it is expected to continue increasing California resident enrollment and improve graduation rates. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s January budget proposal included an 8% cut, or $400 million, for UC. Milliken has previously had to contend with state funding cuts — or at least the threat of them. In 2016, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/nyregion/after-moving-to-cut-cuny-funding-cuomo-faces-loud-backlash.html\">planned to slash $485 million from CUNY’s budget\u003c/a>, though that funding was ultimately restored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/james-milliken-of-university-of-texas-selected-as-next-university-of-california-president/731775\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Last April, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/bill-to-mandate-science-of-reading-in-california-classrooms-dies/709717\">Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas pulled a bill\u003c/a> on early literacy instruction and asked proponents and adversaries to reach a compromise on legislation for improving the reading skills of California students, which overall are dismal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That hasn’t happened. After several broad discussions yielding little, the three main opponents — the\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.cta.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> California Teachers Association\u003c/a>,\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://gocabe.org/?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the California Association for Bilingual Education\u003c/a> (CABE), and\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://californianstogether.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Californians Together\u003c/a> — released statements within the past month opposing the latest version of the legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both sides say they are willing to keep talking. However, the April 30 deadline for an initial hearing of bills is fast approaching, and with it, the rising level of frustration of the revised bill’s author, Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, D-Baldwin Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The kids don’t have unions. They only have us. We can’t keep kicking the can down the road. Our kids are not achieving, and not doing anything different is not working,” Rubio said. “We have a great opportunity right now so we don’t keep falling behind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like its\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2222\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> 2024 version\u003c/a>, Rubio’s \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1121\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Assembly Bill 1121\u003c/a> would require state-funded training of all K-5 teachers in reading instruction grounded in decades of evidence-based studies and brain research known as the science of reading. The bill would require the State Board of Education to approve a choice of textbooks and materials aligned to those practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The advocacy groups sponsoring AB 1121 —\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://decodingdyslexiaca.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Decoding Dyslexia CA\u003c/a>,\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://edvoice.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> EdVoice\u003c/a>,\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.familiesinschools.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Families In Schools\u003c/a>, and\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://cahinaacp.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the California NAACP\u003c/a> — insist that failure to approve the bill would stall the piecemeal progress by the Newsom administration and the Legislature. It would leave big holes vital to establish a coherent statewide system of teaching reading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Teachers are doing their best with what they know and can’t figure out why their kids are not reading at grade level,” said Yolie Flores, president and CEO of Families in Schools, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that advocates for parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s approach of creating academic frameworks and letting districts implement them as they want is harming children, she said. “Guidance isn’t cutting it. This bill is about taking it to the next level and making sure that teachers get this training and have the right materials.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Wide disparities in proficiency\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, the 41 percentage point gap in proficiency between economically and non-economically disadvantaged students was among the widest in the nation — and growing. Only 8% of Black and 23% of Hispanic\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024220CA4.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> fourth graders in California\u003c/a> were proficient in reading, compared with 56% of white and 67% of Asian students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the 2024 results from California’s standardized tests, only 43% of all students were proficient in English language arts in third grade, a critical predictor of future academic success; a third of low-income students were proficient, compared with 63% of non-low income students. Of the third-grade English learners taking the initial English Language Proficiency Assessments for California, 14% were proficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The opposing groups say they share concern over low test scores but that AB 1121 is not the solution. Their disagreement appears deep-seated and perhaps unbridgeable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The opponents are centering their criticism on phonics, a contentious issue for 40 years. They assert the bill overemphasizes decoding skills of phonics and phonemic awareness at the expense of developing other foundational skills needed by all children, but especially English learners: oral fluency, vocabulary, background knowledge, and comprehension. Phonics refers to explicit instruction on how to connect letters to sounds. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to recognize elements of sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubio and the bill’s supporters say the opponents are mischaracterizing the intent of the bill and what it actually says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know anyone who advocates for just a phonics-based approach. That would be ridiculous,” said Leslie Zoroya, reading project director for the Los Angeles County of Education. “Why would you teach them just to decode and not work on vocabulary and background knowledge and fluency and all the other pieces that are included?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a $5 million state grant, more than 8,000 teachers have taken “\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://lacoe.edu/content/dam/lacoeedu/documents/curriculum-instruction/rla/GRR%20Flyer%20for%20Info%20Linked.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Getting Reading Right\u003c/a>,” a short course on the principles of the science of reading offered by Zoroya’s office; they include all K-2 teachers in Long Beach, the state’s fourth-largest district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not either-or. We do decoding work, vocabulary work, oral language, knowledge building, the whole kit and caboodle,” Zoroya said. “There’s been more of a heavier emphasis on phonics over the last couple of years in California because our teachers don’t understand it. They weren’t taught it in their teacher ed programs. I got a reading certificate from USC, and I didn’t get it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association union, stated that the union opposed the bill in its current form because “it negatively impacts locally made decisions to set priorities that meet the instructional needs of their students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding an unlikely precondition for supporting the bill, Goldberg insists that “any comprehensive, statewide approach to literacy must include fully funded and staffed schools with qualified educators and staff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians Together, an organization that advocates for the spread of bilingual education as well as the needs of English learners — who make up a fifth of California’s students — wrote in \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AB1121-CalTog-let-oppose-033125.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">its three-page opposition letter\u003c/a> that “without a clear emphasis on meeting the needs of multilingual learners, the bill’s professional development requirement is inadequate and misaligned with the needs of California’s diverse student population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_12034679,news_11982920\" label=\"Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter also criticizes the bill for taking “an overly narrow approach that prioritizes foundational reading skills at the expense of other critical components of literacy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An authority in English learner education who disagrees is Claude Goldenberg, a Professor of Education, emeritus, at Stanford University, \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"http://claudegoldenberg.substack.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">who wrote\u003c/a> that passage of the bill would be “an important, even if modest, step forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact is that the research that applies to kids who know English already applies to kids who are learning English, it’s just that they also need English language development,” he wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>State policy’s shift toward the science of reading\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Under Newsom, the state has implemented pieces of a coherent, evidence-based system of reading instruction that shifts from a “balanced” and “whole” language approach to reading instruction. Balanced language downplays phonics in favor of teaching words through looking at pictures and guessing based on a word’s context in a paragraph.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>Starting next fall, the state will require kindergarten through second grade teachers to test students for potential reading challenges like dyslexia with a multi-language screening tool.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The Legislature passed a law that requires teacher credentialing programs to teach science of reading instruction.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Using one-time money, Newsom appropriated $500 million to train reading coaches in lowest-income schools in the science of reading.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The Department of Education is creating guides and instruction modules for a\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/newsom-proposes-literacy-roadmap-but-will-remain-hands-off-on-how-districts-teach-reading/686621\"> “literacy road map.”\u003c/a> It emphasizes “explicit instruction in phonics, phonemic awareness, and other decoding skills” in the early grades.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>While the new guidance is helpful, Zoroya said, “we have not put the same amount of effort into wide-scale professional learning for teachers. And that’s a disservice to them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>‘It only makes sense, Rubio and allies argue, to take the next step and universally provide the same evidence-based instruction to all elementary school teachers and textbooks that support it. Otherwise, newly trained teachers face the confusing prospect of working in a “balanced language” district where instruction will contradict what they just learned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubio and the sponsors had assumed they answered opponents’ main concerns in writing AB 1121. They deleted the previous bill’s numerous references to the “science of reading,” a source of contention. Instead, they tied the bill’s wording to the existing, but unenforced, requirements for evidence-based reading instruction in the state’s English Language Arts and English Language Development instructional frameworks and in the California \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=44259.&lawCode=EDC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Education Code\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their opposition letters showed that the opponents were not at all mollified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sponsors said they have repeatedly asked CABE, Californians Together and CTA for further changes to AB 1121 but haven’t received any.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The author has been clear; the sponsors are clear. We are very open to improving the bill if there are improvements,” said Marshall Tuck, CEO of EdVoice, who has participated in the discussions with opponents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email responding to questions about her group’s opposition to the bill, Martha Hernandez, executive director of Californians Together, wrote, “We understand that amendments to AB 1121 may be forthcoming, and we remain committed to engaging in the process with a focus on ensuring that any policy advances equitable access to effective, research-based literacy instruction for English learners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubio was blunt. “I can’t guess what they’re thinking. That’s the whole point of a negotiation. They have to bring something to the table. I can’t negotiate against myself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubio said she expects the bill to get a hearing before April 30 and will ask Speaker Rivas for a way forward, regardless of the continued opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Assembly Education Chair Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, is discussing a compromise with individuals he wouldn’t name through\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1194\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> a separate bill\u003c/a> he is authoring. It would create incentives but not require school administrators to take similar early literacy training that teachers would receive under AB 1121. But, like CTA, he said he favors “local control of allowing local school districts to determine what works best for their kids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivas was noncommittal. Stating he was tracking negotiations, a statement from his office said, “The Speaker looks forward to legislation that reflects greater consensus on this issue, and one that supports all students, including multilingual learners.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Deadline Approaches for Bill Requiring Research-Based Literacy Strategies | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Last April, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/bill-to-mandate-science-of-reading-in-california-classrooms-dies/709717\">Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas pulled a bill\u003c/a> on early literacy instruction and asked proponents and adversaries to reach a compromise on legislation for improving the reading skills of California students, which overall are dismal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That hasn’t happened. After several broad discussions yielding little, the three main opponents — the\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.cta.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> California Teachers Association\u003c/a>,\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://gocabe.org/?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the California Association for Bilingual Education\u003c/a> (CABE), and\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://californianstogether.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Californians Together\u003c/a> — released statements within the past month opposing the latest version of the legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both sides say they are willing to keep talking. However, the April 30 deadline for an initial hearing of bills is fast approaching, and with it, the rising level of frustration of the revised bill’s author, Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, D-Baldwin Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The kids don’t have unions. They only have us. We can’t keep kicking the can down the road. Our kids are not achieving, and not doing anything different is not working,” Rubio said. “We have a great opportunity right now so we don’t keep falling behind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like its\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2222\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> 2024 version\u003c/a>, Rubio’s \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1121\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Assembly Bill 1121\u003c/a> would require state-funded training of all K-5 teachers in reading instruction grounded in decades of evidence-based studies and brain research known as the science of reading. The bill would require the State Board of Education to approve a choice of textbooks and materials aligned to those practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The advocacy groups sponsoring AB 1121 —\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://decodingdyslexiaca.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Decoding Dyslexia CA\u003c/a>,\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://edvoice.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> EdVoice\u003c/a>,\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.familiesinschools.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Families In Schools\u003c/a>, and\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://cahinaacp.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the California NAACP\u003c/a> — insist that failure to approve the bill would stall the piecemeal progress by the Newsom administration and the Legislature. It would leave big holes vital to establish a coherent statewide system of teaching reading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Teachers are doing their best with what they know and can’t figure out why their kids are not reading at grade level,” said Yolie Flores, president and CEO of Families in Schools, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that advocates for parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s approach of creating academic frameworks and letting districts implement them as they want is harming children, she said. “Guidance isn’t cutting it. This bill is about taking it to the next level and making sure that teachers get this training and have the right materials.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Wide disparities in proficiency\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, the 41 percentage point gap in proficiency between economically and non-economically disadvantaged students was among the widest in the nation — and growing. Only 8% of Black and 23% of Hispanic\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024220CA4.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> fourth graders in California\u003c/a> were proficient in reading, compared with 56% of white and 67% of Asian students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the 2024 results from California’s standardized tests, only 43% of all students were proficient in English language arts in third grade, a critical predictor of future academic success; a third of low-income students were proficient, compared with 63% of non-low income students. Of the third-grade English learners taking the initial English Language Proficiency Assessments for California, 14% were proficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The opposing groups say they share concern over low test scores but that AB 1121 is not the solution. Their disagreement appears deep-seated and perhaps unbridgeable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The opponents are centering their criticism on phonics, a contentious issue for 40 years. They assert the bill overemphasizes decoding skills of phonics and phonemic awareness at the expense of developing other foundational skills needed by all children, but especially English learners: oral fluency, vocabulary, background knowledge, and comprehension. Phonics refers to explicit instruction on how to connect letters to sounds. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to recognize elements of sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubio and the bill’s supporters say the opponents are mischaracterizing the intent of the bill and what it actually says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know anyone who advocates for just a phonics-based approach. That would be ridiculous,” said Leslie Zoroya, reading project director for the Los Angeles County of Education. “Why would you teach them just to decode and not work on vocabulary and background knowledge and fluency and all the other pieces that are included?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a $5 million state grant, more than 8,000 teachers have taken “\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://lacoe.edu/content/dam/lacoeedu/documents/curriculum-instruction/rla/GRR%20Flyer%20for%20Info%20Linked.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Getting Reading Right\u003c/a>,” a short course on the principles of the science of reading offered by Zoroya’s office; they include all K-2 teachers in Long Beach, the state’s fourth-largest district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not either-or. We do decoding work, vocabulary work, oral language, knowledge building, the whole kit and caboodle,” Zoroya said. “There’s been more of a heavier emphasis on phonics over the last couple of years in California because our teachers don’t understand it. They weren’t taught it in their teacher ed programs. I got a reading certificate from USC, and I didn’t get it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association union, stated that the union opposed the bill in its current form because “it negatively impacts locally made decisions to set priorities that meet the instructional needs of their students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding an unlikely precondition for supporting the bill, Goldberg insists that “any comprehensive, statewide approach to literacy must include fully funded and staffed schools with qualified educators and staff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians Together, an organization that advocates for the spread of bilingual education as well as the needs of English learners — who make up a fifth of California’s students — wrote in \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AB1121-CalTog-let-oppose-033125.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">its three-page opposition letter\u003c/a> that “without a clear emphasis on meeting the needs of multilingual learners, the bill’s professional development requirement is inadequate and misaligned with the needs of California’s diverse student population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter also criticizes the bill for taking “an overly narrow approach that prioritizes foundational reading skills at the expense of other critical components of literacy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An authority in English learner education who disagrees is Claude Goldenberg, a Professor of Education, emeritus, at Stanford University, \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"http://claudegoldenberg.substack.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">who wrote\u003c/a> that passage of the bill would be “an important, even if modest, step forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact is that the research that applies to kids who know English already applies to kids who are learning English, it’s just that they also need English language development,” he wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>State policy’s shift toward the science of reading\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Under Newsom, the state has implemented pieces of a coherent, evidence-based system of reading instruction that shifts from a “balanced” and “whole” language approach to reading instruction. Balanced language downplays phonics in favor of teaching words through looking at pictures and guessing based on a word’s context in a paragraph.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>Starting next fall, the state will require kindergarten through second grade teachers to test students for potential reading challenges like dyslexia with a multi-language screening tool.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The Legislature passed a law that requires teacher credentialing programs to teach science of reading instruction.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Using one-time money, Newsom appropriated $500 million to train reading coaches in lowest-income schools in the science of reading.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The Department of Education is creating guides and instruction modules for a\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/newsom-proposes-literacy-roadmap-but-will-remain-hands-off-on-how-districts-teach-reading/686621\"> “literacy road map.”\u003c/a> It emphasizes “explicit instruction in phonics, phonemic awareness, and other decoding skills” in the early grades.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>While the new guidance is helpful, Zoroya said, “we have not put the same amount of effort into wide-scale professional learning for teachers. And that’s a disservice to them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>‘It only makes sense, Rubio and allies argue, to take the next step and universally provide the same evidence-based instruction to all elementary school teachers and textbooks that support it. Otherwise, newly trained teachers face the confusing prospect of working in a “balanced language” district where instruction will contradict what they just learned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubio and the sponsors had assumed they answered opponents’ main concerns in writing AB 1121. They deleted the previous bill’s numerous references to the “science of reading,” a source of contention. Instead, they tied the bill’s wording to the existing, but unenforced, requirements for evidence-based reading instruction in the state’s English Language Arts and English Language Development instructional frameworks and in the California \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=44259.&lawCode=EDC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Education Code\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their opposition letters showed that the opponents were not at all mollified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sponsors said they have repeatedly asked CABE, Californians Together and CTA for further changes to AB 1121 but haven’t received any.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The author has been clear; the sponsors are clear. We are very open to improving the bill if there are improvements,” said Marshall Tuck, CEO of EdVoice, who has participated in the discussions with opponents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email responding to questions about her group’s opposition to the bill, Martha Hernandez, executive director of Californians Together, wrote, “We understand that amendments to AB 1121 may be forthcoming, and we remain committed to engaging in the process with a focus on ensuring that any policy advances equitable access to effective, research-based literacy instruction for English learners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubio was blunt. “I can’t guess what they’re thinking. That’s the whole point of a negotiation. They have to bring something to the table. I can’t negotiate against myself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubio said she expects the bill to get a hearing before April 30 and will ask Speaker Rivas for a way forward, regardless of the continued opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Assembly Education Chair Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, is discussing a compromise with individuals he wouldn’t name through\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1194\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> a separate bill\u003c/a> he is authoring. It would create incentives but not require school administrators to take similar early literacy training that teachers would receive under AB 1121. But, like CTA, he said he favors “local control of allowing local school districts to determine what works best for their kids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivas was noncommittal. Stating he was tracking negotiations, a statement from his office said, “The Speaker looks forward to legislation that reflects greater consensus on this issue, and one that supports all students, including multilingual learners.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed how students and teachers spend their time in the classroom. Now, instead of writing with paper and pencil, students use computers for most assignments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers lecture less and spend more time on individualized instruction, social-emotional learning and relationship building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/covids-long-shadow-in-california-chronic-absences-student-depression-and-the-limits-of-money/728640\">The last five years\u003c/a> have not been easy. Students returned to campuses in the spring of 2021, after spending more than a year learning alone from home on computers. They had knowledge gaps, and many felt isolated and unsure, often resulting in chronic absenteeism and bad behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/covid-challenges-bad-student-behavior-push-teachers-to-the-limit-and-out-the-door/673124\">Thousands of California teachers\u003c/a>, discouraged by disciplinary problems, quit the profession.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But others doubled down on individualized instruction and social-emotional support, spending a good portion of class time reacquainting their students with how to behave in the classroom and encouraging them to socialize with their peers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, five years after COVID closed schools, student scores on the state’s standardized \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/state-test-scores-inch-up-but-still-lag-pre-covid-numbers/720392\">Smarter Balanced\u003c/a> tests have improved slightly, although achievement is still not back to pre-COVID levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California teachers interviewed by EdSource are optimistic, reporting that interventions are working and that student discipline is improving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They don’t miss their houses,” said Erika Cedeno, who teaches Spanish at Golden Valley High School in Santa Clarita. “They don’t miss anything related to COVID. They want to be at school, and they are enjoying sports. They are playing tennis and swimming. It’s very different. I think we are probably getting to the point that we were before COVID.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">More personalized learning\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Teachers report placing a greater emphasis on small-group instruction and personalized learning to accommodate students who returned from school closures with diverse learning needs, according to “\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.brookings.edu/articles/rewiring-the-classroom-how-the-covid-19-pandemic-transformed-k-12-education/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rewiring the classroom\u003c/a>: How the COVID-19 pandemic transformed K–12 education,” released in August by the Brookings Institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12028948 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20250206_OUSDChromebooks_GC-33-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spring 2023 survey of 1,000 K–12 teachers and administrators across the country revealed that students now spend less time in lectures and more time working on educational software tailored to their needs. The increased use of technology by students, teachers and parents is the biggest change in the classroom since COVID-19 closures, said Brian Jacob, who co-authored the Brookings report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After months of working on educational software during pandemic school closures, teachers are now more likely to incorporate it into their classrooms, according to the report. In early 2023, 70% of all students and 80% of all middle and high school students in the United States had a personal computing device.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I use technology more freely in the classroom now, and it’s an expected part of the day,” Todd Shadbourne, a sixth grade teacher at Foulks Ranch Elementary School in Elk Grove, told EdSource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We used to do a research project and everybody had to go to the library and get a book, and hope they could get a book,” Shadbourne said. “And we couldn’t study biographies when my neighboring class was doing biographies because there’s only so many books. … Now you have other resources because you have a computer in front of you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Too much technology isn’t good\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There are some drawbacks to the increased use of technology in schools, however. \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/default+domain/ZWGEZIZQHS3RHNPCJDVD/full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Research shows\u003c/a> that reading comprehension is better when students read printed texts instead of online materials, Jacob said. Students also struggle with writing and spelling because all their school work is done on computers equipped with programs that correct spelling and grammar, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“School officials and researchers really need to look at that carefully and determine how much time students are spending on devices, and how is that going?” Jacob said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some California teachers try to limit their students’ screen time and require them to spend more time reading text, writing with pencil and paper and collaborating with their classmates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Diego special education teacher Carly Bresee says the use of technology by students outside the classroom has also increased, prompting her to use less technology in class than before the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know that general ed teachers are kind of facing that question,” Bresee said. “How much computer use is healthy and positive for the students? They are having difficulty with that balance, knowing what the best formula is for learning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Back to classroom carts at some schools\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>School officials at James Lick Middle School have decided to go back to classroom computer carts because the school, in financially strapped San Francisco Unified, could no longer afford to maintain and replace student computers that are broken, lost or outdated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kids have broken them on purpose,” said Keith Carames, who teaches theater arts and English at the school. “Kids have lost them. Kids have dropped them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That move away from technology is a big disappointment to Carames, who became a convert after spending three months learning how to use Zoom, Google Classroom and other online education programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I saw the light,” Carames said. “I can edit stuff online with them (the students). I can post videos. I have resources that are accessible. If they are absent, they can get work. There are letters that you can send to the family and newsletters and interactive things. It changed my practice as an educator. ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carames calls the transition back to paper and pen “a nightmare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are some kids who don’t even know how to spell their own first name,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Changing views on school attendance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The biggest change for Elk Grove’s Shadbourne since COVID is the perception among some students and parents that attending school is optional. Students go on vacation during the school year or decide to work from home on a given day because they think they can get assignments on Google Classroom and email them to the teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And the social benefits of school, and the problem-solving that we do as a group, and the common culture we hope to create, it’s hard to do that when people are gone,” Shadbourne said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The impact of absences is amplified in special education, where a student might make progress one day, miss a day of school, and lose that progress, Bresee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Students need social-emotional support\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Since schools reopened in 2020, California teachers have been spending more time greeting their students at the door, sending them notes and planning activities that encourage communication and help build relationships. Making these connections helps students develop social-emotional skills and encourages them to come to school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In special education, we saw a huge increase in maladaptive behaviors, and that was really difficult both for the students, the support staff and for teachers,” said Bresee, a TK–1 special education teacher at Perkins K-8 School. “… It was hard to maintain a regular routine because it felt like we were more frequently in crisis mode.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students, especially younger ones, had to learn how to play and communicate effectively with others. That meant more time was set aside for adult-facilitated playtime than before the pandemic, Bresee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It became, in my eyes, an even more important part of the day, right up there with our literacy and math lessons,” Breese said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort seems to be paying off. This year, student behavior has improved, and the class routine is back on track, according to Bresee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Social-emotional support and building connections between students and their teachers and classmates are equally important for older students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cedeno greets her Spanish students at the door every day and then spends roughly seven minutes at the beginning of each class asking questions to draw students into conversations meant to help them connect with her and their classmates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cuál es tu color favorito (What is your favorite color)?” she asks one day. “Cuál es tu dulce favorito (What is your favorite candy)?” she asks on another day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cedeno also invites students to have lunch in her classroom if they need a safe space to relax and a microwave to heat their food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are trying to rebuild this step by step,” Cedeno said. “We are not there yet. But I think we are going to get there if we put in a lot of effort, a lot of compassion and empathy, because these kids, they need this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/how-covid-changed-teaching-fewer-pencils-more-technology/729158\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed how students and teachers spend their time in the classroom. Now, instead of writing with paper and pencil, students use computers for most assignments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers lecture less and spend more time on individualized instruction, social-emotional learning and relationship building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/covids-long-shadow-in-california-chronic-absences-student-depression-and-the-limits-of-money/728640\">The last five years\u003c/a> have not been easy. Students returned to campuses in the spring of 2021, after spending more than a year learning alone from home on computers. They had knowledge gaps, and many felt isolated and unsure, often resulting in chronic absenteeism and bad behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/covid-challenges-bad-student-behavior-push-teachers-to-the-limit-and-out-the-door/673124\">Thousands of California teachers\u003c/a>, discouraged by disciplinary problems, quit the profession.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But others doubled down on individualized instruction and social-emotional support, spending a good portion of class time reacquainting their students with how to behave in the classroom and encouraging them to socialize with their peers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, five years after COVID closed schools, student scores on the state’s standardized \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/state-test-scores-inch-up-but-still-lag-pre-covid-numbers/720392\">Smarter Balanced\u003c/a> tests have improved slightly, although achievement is still not back to pre-COVID levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California teachers interviewed by EdSource are optimistic, reporting that interventions are working and that student discipline is improving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They don’t miss their houses,” said Erika Cedeno, who teaches Spanish at Golden Valley High School in Santa Clarita. “They don’t miss anything related to COVID. They want to be at school, and they are enjoying sports. They are playing tennis and swimming. It’s very different. I think we are probably getting to the point that we were before COVID.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">More personalized learning\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Teachers report placing a greater emphasis on small-group instruction and personalized learning to accommodate students who returned from school closures with diverse learning needs, according to “\u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.brookings.edu/articles/rewiring-the-classroom-how-the-covid-19-pandemic-transformed-k-12-education/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rewiring the classroom\u003c/a>: How the COVID-19 pandemic transformed K–12 education,” released in August by the Brookings Institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spring 2023 survey of 1,000 K–12 teachers and administrators across the country revealed that students now spend less time in lectures and more time working on educational software tailored to their needs. The increased use of technology by students, teachers and parents is the biggest change in the classroom since COVID-19 closures, said Brian Jacob, who co-authored the Brookings report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After months of working on educational software during pandemic school closures, teachers are now more likely to incorporate it into their classrooms, according to the report. In early 2023, 70% of all students and 80% of all middle and high school students in the United States had a personal computing device.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I use technology more freely in the classroom now, and it’s an expected part of the day,” Todd Shadbourne, a sixth grade teacher at Foulks Ranch Elementary School in Elk Grove, told EdSource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We used to do a research project and everybody had to go to the library and get a book, and hope they could get a book,” Shadbourne said. “And we couldn’t study biographies when my neighboring class was doing biographies because there’s only so many books. … Now you have other resources because you have a computer in front of you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Too much technology isn’t good\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There are some drawbacks to the increased use of technology in schools, however. \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/default+domain/ZWGEZIZQHS3RHNPCJDVD/full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Research shows\u003c/a> that reading comprehension is better when students read printed texts instead of online materials, Jacob said. Students also struggle with writing and spelling because all their school work is done on computers equipped with programs that correct spelling and grammar, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“School officials and researchers really need to look at that carefully and determine how much time students are spending on devices, and how is that going?” Jacob said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some California teachers try to limit their students’ screen time and require them to spend more time reading text, writing with pencil and paper and collaborating with their classmates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Diego special education teacher Carly Bresee says the use of technology by students outside the classroom has also increased, prompting her to use less technology in class than before the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know that general ed teachers are kind of facing that question,” Bresee said. “How much computer use is healthy and positive for the students? They are having difficulty with that balance, knowing what the best formula is for learning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Back to classroom carts at some schools\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>School officials at James Lick Middle School have decided to go back to classroom computer carts because the school, in financially strapped San Francisco Unified, could no longer afford to maintain and replace student computers that are broken, lost or outdated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kids have broken them on purpose,” said Keith Carames, who teaches theater arts and English at the school. “Kids have lost them. Kids have dropped them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That move away from technology is a big disappointment to Carames, who became a convert after spending three months learning how to use Zoom, Google Classroom and other online education programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I saw the light,” Carames said. “I can edit stuff online with them (the students). I can post videos. I have resources that are accessible. If they are absent, they can get work. There are letters that you can send to the family and newsletters and interactive things. It changed my practice as an educator. ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carames calls the transition back to paper and pen “a nightmare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are some kids who don’t even know how to spell their own first name,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Changing views on school attendance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The biggest change for Elk Grove’s Shadbourne since COVID is the perception among some students and parents that attending school is optional. Students go on vacation during the school year or decide to work from home on a given day because they think they can get assignments on Google Classroom and email them to the teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And the social benefits of school, and the problem-solving that we do as a group, and the common culture we hope to create, it’s hard to do that when people are gone,” Shadbourne said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The impact of absences is amplified in special education, where a student might make progress one day, miss a day of school, and lose that progress, Bresee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Students need social-emotional support\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Since schools reopened in 2020, California teachers have been spending more time greeting their students at the door, sending them notes and planning activities that encourage communication and help build relationships. Making these connections helps students develop social-emotional skills and encourages them to come to school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In special education, we saw a huge increase in maladaptive behaviors, and that was really difficult both for the students, the support staff and for teachers,” said Bresee, a TK–1 special education teacher at Perkins K-8 School. “… It was hard to maintain a regular routine because it felt like we were more frequently in crisis mode.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students, especially younger ones, had to learn how to play and communicate effectively with others. That meant more time was set aside for adult-facilitated playtime than before the pandemic, Bresee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It became, in my eyes, an even more important part of the day, right up there with our literacy and math lessons,” Breese said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort seems to be paying off. This year, student behavior has improved, and the class routine is back on track, according to Bresee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Social-emotional support and building connections between students and their teachers and classmates are equally important for older students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cedeno greets her Spanish students at the door every day and then spends roughly seven minutes at the beginning of each class asking questions to draw students into conversations meant to help them connect with her and their classmates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cuál es tu color favorito (What is your favorite color)?” she asks one day. “Cuál es tu dulce favorito (What is your favorite candy)?” she asks on another day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cedeno also invites students to have lunch in her classroom if they need a safe space to relax and a microwave to heat their food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are trying to rebuild this step by step,” Cedeno said. “We are not there yet. But I think we are going to get there if we put in a lot of effort, a lot of compassion and empathy, because these kids, they need this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/how-covid-changed-teaching-fewer-pencils-more-technology/729158\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Since Open AI’s release of ChatGPT in \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2023/05/19/a-short-history-of-chatgpt-how-we-got-to-where-we-are-today/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2022\u003c/a>, artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and models have found their way into the California college systems. These AI tools include language models and image generators that provide responses and images based on user prompts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many college professors have spoken out against AI’s use in college coursework, citing concerns of cheating, inaccurate responses, student overreliance on the tool, and, as a consequence, diminished critical thinking. Universities across the U.S. have implemented AI-detecting software like Turnitin to prevent cheating through the use of AI tools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, some professors have embraced the use of generative AI and envision its integration into curricula and research in various disciplines. To these professors, students learning how to use AI is critical to their future careers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://download.ssrn.com/2024/10/3/4975641.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjELz%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJGMEQCIHLuqU0DaQLRK6M1yiufsr%2F1Z5wAMUKEjgjmvTx7iiHvAiALhEtG9jfPo4wMuZ59kEDc7Jlb9PvBxDf77xud9kzIHyq%2BBQg1EAQaDDMwODQ3NTMwMTI1NyIMCc0%2B3BMQmaWNpRuRKpsFGH%2BdsoeYDZ%2BPuW8%2F44BhO5S1XA%2FRvuE5yBpxzjdfg%2FANfFCWooqO2sin1fsAQDnBhCRXH1ke3YwUPgb1tqIX5zqHYX8jcyrMWND1Tsy2Uf2E%2FPcOETSQ1d68BMD2z%2BFAXVeqMGJevA8S3QGBDV4sI25C%2FGQKgEYztawZJttF%2F7l5IsiqG6SQw4ax396C6hZ%2FfddItLxK0wV0lRVmpK8Tm0JmeoXBE79glrT1rvB%2Bu%2BLaEU1GluAK9kgxElBEEhi9rFjdVzt2zYvCh%2Fx663ZzuwYvYL4X5luknfgmWcyM3JvBqt1SyYh5bLDUyiLviAB9BJ7vsJKdrj6Y4FqaOjNoVx4hBUxfJnbpNkSXg4Ci8cSwBG217uCz3loqCtFirS1DA3m5YC293uEEk1EOGaDmJd92FuLyNhjfWaREtK4oYKRdwlkrT6MyvcqvP%2FTUekqxE4jkbJ6r9B4WvXhZM%2B2gDHWI91qvThqrueSWDM%2FLs9Ed5yGZXLtlKTpqgXmcstlVukxBIZ05fZnmv1UkqdGnmkS4iAREuEUXJMf3B5oJ7g7c%2FecV8zAB%2F6S2T5kKBdqPL78rCV5pZuIpaw7XaGLaErwMMMHFGK4KRAD5iYdVhn8yVYZwW5s4Z88WqmOIjrTAQAkHP3R3riK1XcUyHh5HgWXRrIxNd57WAywPLGpVWYyUzlh7BTQskKQzJsiRM2xdXFZh1Y9rzDOzLv%2BdtIQZLGQ9FAO%2B1OpM4uCddGIFeFv2FUzI1e1aFCfP32Cxo4AsANw%2FaCGCqbA6MujSRK8aYOjUawIePW3c8zZt%2Bt1EH%2FtHkhqaUvE3%2FVQrSzXy1142rbWbeJKQIoWuy63c1oYzs2MqHiZG6VKXLZcyA67H1RaBQOKwZjETClHq2jDwpfq4BjqyAa2LhxG78J%2FEelsAHSF2S8%2F8G3CsuRwNk7lfYJkgYYuUzq0mznwEC2YGvA2VY695TXGwRe%2Bv%2FAaoRR6JmjWp0E%2FdPoYYYj8l7vU0nt0scV4XGOhcNPA4eJQ7sgqhpbb8cJeZsiR8k6InUTlkCP6dAS2UWAo3J4ggJ4MwmPxsyAOypaoYD3YuKxak94h2vuyskCY1zXgybj6c4G56NnRgehfqXsSXy2Rl9%2BP5cvaaDzjQ5sE%3D&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20241027T200507Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAUPUUPRWE2N5VVOEM%2F20241027%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=26c4d42e6232c9bb5b2bc6e9e1347b44fbbfe34fd748b8b68eda4648958bf75c&abstractId=4975641\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">October 2024 report\u003c/a> from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business found that 38% of the school’s faculty use AI in their classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramandeep Randhawa, professor of business administration and data science at USC, was one of the report’s 26 co-authors and organized the effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As companies increasingly integrate AI into their workflows, it is critical to prepare students for this AI-first environment by enabling them to use this technology meaningfully and ethically,” Randhawa said. “Universities, as bastions of knowledge, must lead the way by incorporating AI into their curricula.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">All in on AI\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At California State University, Long Beach, gerontology lecturer Casey Goeller has incorporated AI into his course assignments since fall 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students enter Goeller’s Perspectives on Gerontology course with various levels of experience with AI. By asking students for a show of hands, Goeller estimates the class is usually evenly split, with some students having no experience, others having dabbled with it and some who have used it extensively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goeller aims to help students understand how AI can be beneficial to them academically, whether it be assisting with brainstorming, organizing, or acting as a 24/7 on-call tutor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To achieve this, Goeller’s assignments include students using an AI tool of their choice to address his feedback on their essays based on criteria such as content, flow and plagiarism concerns. Another assignment, worth 15% of their grade, emphasizes the importance of prompt engineering by having students use AI-generated questions to interview an older person in their life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Goeller gets a lot of questions from fellow faculty members about how AI works and how to implement it, he also hears plenty of hesitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of faculty who’s still riding a horse to work, I call it,” Goeller said. “One of them said, ‘I am never going to use AI. It’s just not going to happen.’ I said, ‘What you should do if you think you can get away with that is tomorrow morning, get up really early and stop the sun from coming up, because that’s how inevitable AI is.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goeller heeds the difficulties in establishing a conclusive way to incorporate AI into curricula due to different academic disciplines and styles of learning, but he does recognize the growing presence of AI in the workforce. Today, AI is filling various roles across industries, from analyzing trends in newsrooms and grocery stores, to generating entertainment, a point of contention for SAG-AFTRA members during 2023’s Hollywood strikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t help our students understand AI before they escape this place, they’re going to get into the workforce where it’s there,” Goeller said. “If they don’t know anything about it or are uncomfortable with it, they’re at a disadvantage compared to a student with the same degree and knowledge of AI.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California State University, Northridge, journalism lecturer Marta Valier has students use ChatGPT to write headlines, interview questions and video captions in her Multimedia Storytelling and Multi-platform Storytelling classes due to the inevitability of AI in the workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal of the implementation is to teach students how AI algorithms operate and how journalists can use AI to assist their work. Not using it, she said, “would be like not using ink.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I absolutely want students to experiment with AI because, in newsrooms, it is used. In offices, it is used,” Valier said. “It’s just a matter of understanding which tools are useful, for what and where human creativity is still the best and where AI can help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AI tools such as ChatGPT and Copilot are frequently \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">updated\u003c/a>, so Valier emphasizes flexibility when teaching about these technological topics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I basically change my curriculum every day,” Valier said. “I think it reminds me as a professional that you need to constantly adapt to new technology because it’s going to change very fast. It’s very important to be open, to be curious about what technology can bring us and how it can help us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Valier acknowledges the issues of AI in terms of data privacy and providing factual responses. She reminds students that it is their responsibility to make sure the information ChatGPT provides is accurate by doing their own research or rechecking results, and to avoid reliance on the platform. [aside postID=\"news_12031237,mindshift_64575,mindshift_65296\" label=\"Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Be very careful with personal information,” Valier said. “Especially if you have sources, or people that you want to protect, be very careful putting names and information that is sensitive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valier sees a clear difference in the quality of work produced by students who combine AI with their own skills, versus those who rely entirely on artificial intelligence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can tell when the person uses ChatGPT and stays on top of it, and when GPT takes over,” Valier said. “What I am really interested in is the point of view of the student, so when GPT takes over, there is no point of view. Even if [a student] doesn’t have the best writing, the ideas are still there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Balancing AI use in the classroom\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many AI-friendly instructors seek to strike a balance between AI-enriched assignments and AI-free assignments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At USC, professors are encouraged to develop AI policies for each of their classes. Professors can choose between two approaches, as laid out in the school’s \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://academicsenate.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/02/CIS-Generative-AI-Guidelines-20230214.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">instructor guidelines for AI use\u003c/a>: “Embrace and Enhance” or “Discourage and Detect.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bobby Carnes, an associate professor of clinical accounting at USC, has adopted a balance between both approaches while teaching Introduction to Financial Accounting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I use it all the time, so it doesn’t make sense to tell (students) they can’t use it,” Carnes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12031558\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12031558\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1.jpeg\" alt=\"A white man wearing a red vest sits on a desk chair in front of a desk with three computer monitors.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1.jpeg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1-2048x1366.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1-1920x1280.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An avid user of AI tools like ChatGPT, USC associate professor of clinical accounting Bobby Carnes encourages AI experimentation for some assignments, but prohibits students from using it on exams. \u003ccite>(Christina Chkarboul/EdSource)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"has-text-align-left\">Carnes uses AI to refine his grammar in personal and professional work and to develop questions for tests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I give ChatGPT the information that I taught in the class, and then I can ask, ‘What topics haven’t I covered with these exam questions?’ It can help provide a more rich or robust exam,” Carnes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He doesn’t allow students to use AI in exams that test for practical accounting skills, though.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You need that baseline, but we’re trying to get students to be at that next level, to see the big picture,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carnes said he wants his students to take advantage of AI tools that are already changing the field, while mastering the foundational skills they’ll need to become financial managers and leaders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The nice thing about accounting is that the jobs just become more interesting (with AI), where there’s not as much remedial tasks,” Carnes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Preserving foundational learning\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Olivia Obeso, professor of education and literacy at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, believes establishing foundational knowledge and critical thinking skills through AI-free teaching is non-negotiable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Obeso enforces her own no ChatGPT/AI usage policy in her Foundations of K-8 Literacy Teaching class to prepare her students for challenges in their post-collegiate life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“AI takes out the opportunity to engage in that productive struggle,” Obeso said. “That means my students won’t necessarily understand the topics as deeply or develop the skills they need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Obeso is also concerned about ChatGPT’s environmental impact: For an in-class activity at the start of the fall 2024 semester, she asked students to research the software’s energy and water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The energy required to power ChatGPT emits 8.4 tons of carbon dioxide per year, according to \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"http://earth.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Earth.Org\u003c/a>. The average passenger vehicle produces 5 tons per year. Asking ChatGPT 20-50 questions uses \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"http://earth.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">500 millliters (16.9) ounces of water\u003c/a>, the size of a standard plastic water bottle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the exercise, Obeso said her students became “experts” on ethical considerations concerning AI, sharing their findings with the class through a discussion on what they read, how they felt and whether they had new concerns about using AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You are a student and you are learning how to operate in this world, hold yourselves accountable,” Obeso said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jessica Odden, a senior majoring in child development, said Obeso’s class helped them understand AI use in the classroom as an aspiring teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For people that are using (AI) in the wrong ways, it makes people reassess how people might be using it, especially in classes like this where we are training to become teachers,” Odden said. “What are you going to do when you actually have to lesson-plan yourself?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Odden makes sure she sticks to learning the fundamentals of teaching herself so that she will be prepared for her first job.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>AI in curricula\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At the University of California, San Diego, some faculty members have echoed a concern for AI’s infringement upon independent learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Academic coordinator Eberly Barnes is interested in finding a middle ground that incorporates AI into curricula where it complements students’ critical thinking, rather than replaces it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barnes oversees the analytical writing program, Making of the Modern World (MMW), where her responsibilities include revising the course’s policy of AI use in student work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current policy enables students to use AI to stimulate their thinking, reading and writing for their assignments. However, it explicitly prohibits the use of the software to replace any of the aforementioned skills or the elaboration of the written piece itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the encouraged use of AI, Barnes expressed her own hesitancy about the role of AI in the field of social sciences and the research and writing skills needed to work within it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the goals in MMW is to teach critical thinking and also to teach academic writing. And the writing is embedded in the curriculum. You’re not going to learn to write if you’re just going to machine,” Barnes said. “The policy is inspired by the fact that we don’t think there’s any way to stop generative AI use.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Barnes designs the writing prompts for the second and third series in the MMW program, she collaborates with teaching assistants to make assignment prompts incompatible with AI analysis and reduce the likelihood that students will seek out AI’s help for passing grades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Students feel absolutely obsessed with grades and are very pressured to compete,” Barnes said. “That’s been around. I mean it is definitely worse here at UCSD than it was at other colleges and universities that I’ve been at.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A tool, not a cheat code\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Celeste Pilegard is a professor of cognitive science and educational psychology at UCSD. She has been teaching introductory research methods since 2019, focusing on foundational topics that will prepare students for higher-level topics in the field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Educators like Pilegard have been struggling to adapt after the widespread adoption of AI tools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For me and a lot of professors, there’s fear,” Pilegard said. “We’re holding onto the last vestiges, hoping this isn’t going to become the thing everyone is using.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pilegard is concerned that students rely on AI tools to easily pass their intro-level courses, leaving them without a firm understanding of the content and an inability to properly assess AI’s accuracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard to notice what is real and what is fake, what is helpful and what is misguided,” Pilegard said. “When you have enough expertise in an area, it’s possible to use ChatGPT as a thinking tool because you can detect its shortcomings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Pilegard does believe AI can assist in learning. She likens the current situation with AI to the advent of statistical analysis software back in the 1970s, which eliminated the need to do calculations by hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that time, many professors argued for the importance of students doing work manually to comprehend the foundations. However, these tools are now regularly used in the classroom with the acceptance and guidance of educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>”I don’t want to be the stick in the mud in terms of artificial intelligence,” Pilegard said. “Maybe there are some things that aren’t important for students to be doing themselves. But when the thing you’re offloading onto the computer is building the connections that help you build expertise, you’re really missing an opportunity to be learning deeply.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article featured reporting from the California Student Journalism Corps, EdSource’s journalism mentoring and support initiative.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Since Open AI’s release of ChatGPT in \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2023/05/19/a-short-history-of-chatgpt-how-we-got-to-where-we-are-today/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2022\u003c/a>, artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and models have found their way into the California college systems. These AI tools include language models and image generators that provide responses and images based on user prompts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many college professors have spoken out against AI’s use in college coursework, citing concerns of cheating, inaccurate responses, student overreliance on the tool, and, as a consequence, diminished critical thinking. Universities across the U.S. have implemented AI-detecting software like Turnitin to prevent cheating through the use of AI tools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, some professors have embraced the use of generative AI and envision its integration into curricula and research in various disciplines. To these professors, students learning how to use AI is critical to their future careers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://download.ssrn.com/2024/10/3/4975641.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjELz%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJGMEQCIHLuqU0DaQLRK6M1yiufsr%2F1Z5wAMUKEjgjmvTx7iiHvAiALhEtG9jfPo4wMuZ59kEDc7Jlb9PvBxDf77xud9kzIHyq%2BBQg1EAQaDDMwODQ3NTMwMTI1NyIMCc0%2B3BMQmaWNpRuRKpsFGH%2BdsoeYDZ%2BPuW8%2F44BhO5S1XA%2FRvuE5yBpxzjdfg%2FANfFCWooqO2sin1fsAQDnBhCRXH1ke3YwUPgb1tqIX5zqHYX8jcyrMWND1Tsy2Uf2E%2FPcOETSQ1d68BMD2z%2BFAXVeqMGJevA8S3QGBDV4sI25C%2FGQKgEYztawZJttF%2F7l5IsiqG6SQw4ax396C6hZ%2FfddItLxK0wV0lRVmpK8Tm0JmeoXBE79glrT1rvB%2Bu%2BLaEU1GluAK9kgxElBEEhi9rFjdVzt2zYvCh%2Fx663ZzuwYvYL4X5luknfgmWcyM3JvBqt1SyYh5bLDUyiLviAB9BJ7vsJKdrj6Y4FqaOjNoVx4hBUxfJnbpNkSXg4Ci8cSwBG217uCz3loqCtFirS1DA3m5YC293uEEk1EOGaDmJd92FuLyNhjfWaREtK4oYKRdwlkrT6MyvcqvP%2FTUekqxE4jkbJ6r9B4WvXhZM%2B2gDHWI91qvThqrueSWDM%2FLs9Ed5yGZXLtlKTpqgXmcstlVukxBIZ05fZnmv1UkqdGnmkS4iAREuEUXJMf3B5oJ7g7c%2FecV8zAB%2F6S2T5kKBdqPL78rCV5pZuIpaw7XaGLaErwMMMHFGK4KRAD5iYdVhn8yVYZwW5s4Z88WqmOIjrTAQAkHP3R3riK1XcUyHh5HgWXRrIxNd57WAywPLGpVWYyUzlh7BTQskKQzJsiRM2xdXFZh1Y9rzDOzLv%2BdtIQZLGQ9FAO%2B1OpM4uCddGIFeFv2FUzI1e1aFCfP32Cxo4AsANw%2FaCGCqbA6MujSRK8aYOjUawIePW3c8zZt%2Bt1EH%2FtHkhqaUvE3%2FVQrSzXy1142rbWbeJKQIoWuy63c1oYzs2MqHiZG6VKXLZcyA67H1RaBQOKwZjETClHq2jDwpfq4BjqyAa2LhxG78J%2FEelsAHSF2S8%2F8G3CsuRwNk7lfYJkgYYuUzq0mznwEC2YGvA2VY695TXGwRe%2Bv%2FAaoRR6JmjWp0E%2FdPoYYYj8l7vU0nt0scV4XGOhcNPA4eJQ7sgqhpbb8cJeZsiR8k6InUTlkCP6dAS2UWAo3J4ggJ4MwmPxsyAOypaoYD3YuKxak94h2vuyskCY1zXgybj6c4G56NnRgehfqXsSXy2Rl9%2BP5cvaaDzjQ5sE%3D&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20241027T200507Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAUPUUPRWE2N5VVOEM%2F20241027%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=26c4d42e6232c9bb5b2bc6e9e1347b44fbbfe34fd748b8b68eda4648958bf75c&abstractId=4975641\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">October 2024 report\u003c/a> from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business found that 38% of the school’s faculty use AI in their classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramandeep Randhawa, professor of business administration and data science at USC, was one of the report’s 26 co-authors and organized the effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As companies increasingly integrate AI into their workflows, it is critical to prepare students for this AI-first environment by enabling them to use this technology meaningfully and ethically,” Randhawa said. “Universities, as bastions of knowledge, must lead the way by incorporating AI into their curricula.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">All in on AI\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At California State University, Long Beach, gerontology lecturer Casey Goeller has incorporated AI into his course assignments since fall 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students enter Goeller’s Perspectives on Gerontology course with various levels of experience with AI. By asking students for a show of hands, Goeller estimates the class is usually evenly split, with some students having no experience, others having dabbled with it and some who have used it extensively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goeller aims to help students understand how AI can be beneficial to them academically, whether it be assisting with brainstorming, organizing, or acting as a 24/7 on-call tutor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To achieve this, Goeller’s assignments include students using an AI tool of their choice to address his feedback on their essays based on criteria such as content, flow and plagiarism concerns. Another assignment, worth 15% of their grade, emphasizes the importance of prompt engineering by having students use AI-generated questions to interview an older person in their life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Goeller gets a lot of questions from fellow faculty members about how AI works and how to implement it, he also hears plenty of hesitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of faculty who’s still riding a horse to work, I call it,” Goeller said. “One of them said, ‘I am never going to use AI. It’s just not going to happen.’ I said, ‘What you should do if you think you can get away with that is tomorrow morning, get up really early and stop the sun from coming up, because that’s how inevitable AI is.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goeller heeds the difficulties in establishing a conclusive way to incorporate AI into curricula due to different academic disciplines and styles of learning, but he does recognize the growing presence of AI in the workforce. Today, AI is filling various roles across industries, from analyzing trends in newsrooms and grocery stores, to generating entertainment, a point of contention for SAG-AFTRA members during 2023’s Hollywood strikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t help our students understand AI before they escape this place, they’re going to get into the workforce where it’s there,” Goeller said. “If they don’t know anything about it or are uncomfortable with it, they’re at a disadvantage compared to a student with the same degree and knowledge of AI.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California State University, Northridge, journalism lecturer Marta Valier has students use ChatGPT to write headlines, interview questions and video captions in her Multimedia Storytelling and Multi-platform Storytelling classes due to the inevitability of AI in the workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal of the implementation is to teach students how AI algorithms operate and how journalists can use AI to assist their work. Not using it, she said, “would be like not using ink.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I absolutely want students to experiment with AI because, in newsrooms, it is used. In offices, it is used,” Valier said. “It’s just a matter of understanding which tools are useful, for what and where human creativity is still the best and where AI can help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AI tools such as ChatGPT and Copilot are frequently \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">updated\u003c/a>, so Valier emphasizes flexibility when teaching about these technological topics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I basically change my curriculum every day,” Valier said. “I think it reminds me as a professional that you need to constantly adapt to new technology because it’s going to change very fast. It’s very important to be open, to be curious about what technology can bring us and how it can help us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Valier acknowledges the issues of AI in terms of data privacy and providing factual responses. She reminds students that it is their responsibility to make sure the information ChatGPT provides is accurate by doing their own research or rechecking results, and to avoid reliance on the platform. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Be very careful with personal information,” Valier said. “Especially if you have sources, or people that you want to protect, be very careful putting names and information that is sensitive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valier sees a clear difference in the quality of work produced by students who combine AI with their own skills, versus those who rely entirely on artificial intelligence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can tell when the person uses ChatGPT and stays on top of it, and when GPT takes over,” Valier said. “What I am really interested in is the point of view of the student, so when GPT takes over, there is no point of view. Even if [a student] doesn’t have the best writing, the ideas are still there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Balancing AI use in the classroom\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many AI-friendly instructors seek to strike a balance between AI-enriched assignments and AI-free assignments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At USC, professors are encouraged to develop AI policies for each of their classes. Professors can choose between two approaches, as laid out in the school’s \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://academicsenate.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/02/CIS-Generative-AI-Guidelines-20230214.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">instructor guidelines for AI use\u003c/a>: “Embrace and Enhance” or “Discourage and Detect.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bobby Carnes, an associate professor of clinical accounting at USC, has adopted a balance between both approaches while teaching Introduction to Financial Accounting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I use it all the time, so it doesn’t make sense to tell (students) they can’t use it,” Carnes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12031558\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12031558\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1.jpeg\" alt=\"A white man wearing a red vest sits on a desk chair in front of a desk with three computer monitors.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1.jpeg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1-2048x1366.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/6-Bobby-Carnes-@-USC-scaled-1-1920x1280.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An avid user of AI tools like ChatGPT, USC associate professor of clinical accounting Bobby Carnes encourages AI experimentation for some assignments, but prohibits students from using it on exams. \u003ccite>(Christina Chkarboul/EdSource)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"has-text-align-left\">Carnes uses AI to refine his grammar in personal and professional work and to develop questions for tests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I give ChatGPT the information that I taught in the class, and then I can ask, ‘What topics haven’t I covered with these exam questions?’ It can help provide a more rich or robust exam,” Carnes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He doesn’t allow students to use AI in exams that test for practical accounting skills, though.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You need that baseline, but we’re trying to get students to be at that next level, to see the big picture,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carnes said he wants his students to take advantage of AI tools that are already changing the field, while mastering the foundational skills they’ll need to become financial managers and leaders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The nice thing about accounting is that the jobs just become more interesting (with AI), where there’s not as much remedial tasks,” Carnes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Preserving foundational learning\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Olivia Obeso, professor of education and literacy at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, believes establishing foundational knowledge and critical thinking skills through AI-free teaching is non-negotiable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Obeso enforces her own no ChatGPT/AI usage policy in her Foundations of K-8 Literacy Teaching class to prepare her students for challenges in their post-collegiate life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“AI takes out the opportunity to engage in that productive struggle,” Obeso said. “That means my students won’t necessarily understand the topics as deeply or develop the skills they need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Obeso is also concerned about ChatGPT’s environmental impact: For an in-class activity at the start of the fall 2024 semester, she asked students to research the software’s energy and water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The energy required to power ChatGPT emits 8.4 tons of carbon dioxide per year, according to \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"http://earth.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Earth.Org\u003c/a>. The average passenger vehicle produces 5 tons per year. Asking ChatGPT 20-50 questions uses \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"http://earth.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">500 millliters (16.9) ounces of water\u003c/a>, the size of a standard plastic water bottle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the exercise, Obeso said her students became “experts” on ethical considerations concerning AI, sharing their findings with the class through a discussion on what they read, how they felt and whether they had new concerns about using AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You are a student and you are learning how to operate in this world, hold yourselves accountable,” Obeso said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jessica Odden, a senior majoring in child development, said Obeso’s class helped them understand AI use in the classroom as an aspiring teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For people that are using (AI) in the wrong ways, it makes people reassess how people might be using it, especially in classes like this where we are training to become teachers,” Odden said. “What are you going to do when you actually have to lesson-plan yourself?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Odden makes sure she sticks to learning the fundamentals of teaching herself so that she will be prepared for her first job.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>AI in curricula\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At the University of California, San Diego, some faculty members have echoed a concern for AI’s infringement upon independent learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Academic coordinator Eberly Barnes is interested in finding a middle ground that incorporates AI into curricula where it complements students’ critical thinking, rather than replaces it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barnes oversees the analytical writing program, Making of the Modern World (MMW), where her responsibilities include revising the course’s policy of AI use in student work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current policy enables students to use AI to stimulate their thinking, reading and writing for their assignments. However, it explicitly prohibits the use of the software to replace any of the aforementioned skills or the elaboration of the written piece itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the encouraged use of AI, Barnes expressed her own hesitancy about the role of AI in the field of social sciences and the research and writing skills needed to work within it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the goals in MMW is to teach critical thinking and also to teach academic writing. And the writing is embedded in the curriculum. You’re not going to learn to write if you’re just going to machine,” Barnes said. “The policy is inspired by the fact that we don’t think there’s any way to stop generative AI use.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Barnes designs the writing prompts for the second and third series in the MMW program, she collaborates with teaching assistants to make assignment prompts incompatible with AI analysis and reduce the likelihood that students will seek out AI’s help for passing grades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Students feel absolutely obsessed with grades and are very pressured to compete,” Barnes said. “That’s been around. I mean it is definitely worse here at UCSD than it was at other colleges and universities that I’ve been at.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A tool, not a cheat code\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Celeste Pilegard is a professor of cognitive science and educational psychology at UCSD. She has been teaching introductory research methods since 2019, focusing on foundational topics that will prepare students for higher-level topics in the field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Educators like Pilegard have been struggling to adapt after the widespread adoption of AI tools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For me and a lot of professors, there’s fear,” Pilegard said. “We’re holding onto the last vestiges, hoping this isn’t going to become the thing everyone is using.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pilegard is concerned that students rely on AI tools to easily pass their intro-level courses, leaving them without a firm understanding of the content and an inability to properly assess AI’s accuracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard to notice what is real and what is fake, what is helpful and what is misguided,” Pilegard said. “When you have enough expertise in an area, it’s possible to use ChatGPT as a thinking tool because you can detect its shortcomings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Pilegard does believe AI can assist in learning. She likens the current situation with AI to the advent of statistical analysis software back in the 1970s, which eliminated the need to do calculations by hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that time, many professors argued for the importance of students doing work manually to comprehend the foundations. However, these tools are now regularly used in the classroom with the acceptance and guidance of educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>”I don’t want to be the stick in the mud in terms of artificial intelligence,” Pilegard said. “Maybe there are some things that aren’t important for students to be doing themselves. But when the thing you’re offloading onto the computer is building the connections that help you build expertise, you’re really missing an opportunity to be learning deeply.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article featured reporting from the California Student Journalism Corps, EdSource’s journalism mentoring and support initiative.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "west-contra-costa-compromises-on-eliminating-staff-but-student-services-could-face-cuts",
"title": "West Contra Costa Compromises on Eliminating Staff, but Student Services Could Face Cuts",
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"headTitle": "West Contra Costa Compromises on Eliminating Staff, but Student Services Could Face Cuts | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>In a move consistent with dozens of California school districts, West Contra Costa Unified board members have had to choose between eliminating staff and services for students or exploding its budget deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the start of the debate at Wednesday night’s school board meeting, the district had proposed cutting about 177 staffing positions and, after nearly three hours of debate, the board voted 3–1 to cut all but eight. But saving those eight positions jeopardizes funding for services for at-risk students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, with these decisions, our students will suffer the most without the staff that is needed to provide them with an excellent education that they deserve and which is necessary to decrease the longstanding education gaps for the district’s Black and brown students,” said Sheryl Lane, executive director of \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.fierceadvocates.org/mission-vision\">Fierce Advocates\u003c/a>, a Richmond organization focused on working with parents of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out of the positions that are being eliminated, 122 are already vacant, according to district officials. And so far, the district has also received 27 resignations and 47 retirement notices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear if there will be layoffs, but \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/west-contra-costa-community-rallies-around-educators-protesting-staffing-cuts/726845\">on Feb. \u003c/a>6, interim Superintendent Kim Moses said that because of vacancy levels, the district administrators “expect that there will be a certificated job available for all current WCCUSD (West Contra Costa Unified School District) educators for the 2025–26 school year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout this month, educators, parents, students and community members showed up in large numbers to speak, as they have in all board meetings since the budget talks started, urging the board to reconsider cutting staff positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw today the dysfunction,” United Teachers of Richmond President Francisco Ortiz said during the meeting. “We need collaboration. Every single cabinet member has my direct phone number. Every board member has my phone number. We have been excluded from the decision-making process and in the collaboration since the new administration took over. This situation has been imposed on us, but we’re ready to fight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A split board\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It took nine amended resolutions for a vote to pass on Wednesday night. Trustee Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy attempted to save high school teachers, school counselors, social workers, psychologists, speech therapists, and career technical education educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the board was split.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board President Leslie Reckler and trustee Guadalupe Enllana voted down the motions while Gonzalez-Hoy and trustee Cinthia Hernandez were determined to save some staffing positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The successful resolution saved one part-time psychologist position, one part-time and seven full-time high school teachers. Reckler voted down the resolution and trustee Jamela Smith-Folds was absent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email to EdSource, Reckler argued the board had already approved the fiscal solvency plan and if the cuts weren’t passed, “it shows the board to be an unreliable steward of public funds, and I will not be lumped into that category.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My prime responsibility is to ensure the long-term fiscal solvency of the school district and ensure continued local control in decision-making,” Reckler said. “Last night’s vote will make it more difficult for the school district.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The top priority for Gonzalez-Hoy was to save the high school teacher positions because cutting them would have caused some schools to go from a seven-period day to six, he said. English learners, students with disabilities and students who need more academic support would be most affected because they often need to take on extra courses and benefit from having more class periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I could not in good conscience make those reductions, knowing the unintended impact they would have,” he said. “Even though it was a very difficult conversation and decision, I did vote to cut the majority of the positions, in part due to our ability to possibly retain some of those positions through grants, but also due to our financial situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement, Enllana said the board and district can no longer continue to be “driven by individual interests but must prioritize the needs of all students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a clear distinction between needs and wants. Our first responsibility is to secure what our students need, and then work towards fulfilling the wants under our current budget.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California schools are in a budget crisis\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This week, other Bay Area school boards also made the difficult decision to lay off employees for the coming school year. Oakland’s school board voted to cut 100 positions, \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oakland-school-board-tiptoes-back-fiscal-cliff-20187724.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> reported\u003c/a>. \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028317/sf-schools-brace-hundreds-layoffs-including-teachers-librarians-counselors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">According to KQED\u003c/a>, San Francisco Unified will also send pink slips to more than 500 employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West Contra Costa Unified has to balance between the need for fiscal solvency and keeping the schools adequately staffed with teachers, social workers, psychologists and other support staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These decisions by the school board are tough ones and speak to the structural changes needed at the state level to change the revenue it receives that can go towards funding local school districts, like WCCUSD,” Lane said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has been under financial stress since last year and could risk insolvency if its fiscal plan isn’t followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When districts can’t get out of deficits, they risk being taken over by the state and losing local control over budget decisions. Twenty-six years ago, West Contra Costa became the first district in the state to go insolvent and received a $29 million bailout loan, which took 21 years to pay off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To stay out of a deficit, West Contra Costa has to cut $32.7 million in costs between 2024 and 2027. District officials have said about 84% of the budget is used to pay salaries and benefits — the reason staffing cuts would be unavoidable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district needs to put forth a fiscal solvency plan approved by the Contra Costa County Office of Education to avoid going insolvent and risking a takeover, Moses said. The staffing cuts are tied to the plan and must happen for the district to stay on track. The board \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/west-contra-costa-school-board-slashes-staffing-to-avoid-deficit/726423\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">approved the plan\u003c/a> earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be multiple millions of dollars of impact to the general fund if we don’t take action,” Moses said during the meeting. “The response to the county, if that is the case, I think we would be sending a strong message that we are not addressing our fiscal stability, and that would not be advisable as they are oversight agents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The price of compromise\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Saving the high school teacher and psychologist positions will add $1.5 million to $1.75 million to the deficit, Moses said. The district doesn’t have a choice but to use funds that are meant for student services and will likely have to dip into the $4 million set aside for math curriculum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We value all staff and their dedication to our community; however, the fiscal health of our district has to be prioritized as the foundation for our ability to continue normal district operations,” Moses said in a news release Thursday. “I am concerned about the added fiscal uncertainty we face after last night’s board meeting.”[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='west-contra-costa-unified-school-district']Cutting the money for teacher and math support is a step backward for the district, which makes it more difficult for educators to help students improve, said Natalie Walchuk, vice president of local impact at \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://gopublicschoolswcc.org/our-organization/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GO Public Schools\u003c/a>, an organization advocating for equitable public education.\u003cem> \u003c/em>In West Contra Costa, only \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://bit.ly/kidscan24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1 in 4 students are performing at grade level in math\u003c/a> and just 6.1% of seniors are ready for college-level math.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Teachers need the right tools and resources to support their students, yet the district has lagged for years in adopting a new math curriculum,” Walchuk said. “While we recognize the difficult financial decisions the board had to make, it is critical that the district prioritizes student learning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The positions on the chopping block came from two pots of money — the general fund, which accounts for 40 positions, and grants, which cover 137 positions. Money for grant-funded positions is either expiring or has been used faster than projected, said Camille Johnson, associate superintendent of human resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trying to save the grant-funded positions would add to the deficit, Moses said. Although the district staff is working to secure more grants, the funds districts receive from the federal government are uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were not in a position to consult the (teachers) union because we do not have money to pay for these positions,” Moses said during the meeting. “Negotiations in terms of what stays and what goes was not possible in this scenario because it’s strictly driven by money that is expiring or money we aren’t responsible for assigning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district doesn’t have a choice but to eliminate some positions because they are dependent on school sites approving the positions in their budgets, Moses said. If approved, about 78 positions could be reinstated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deadline to give layoff notices is March 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/we-are-ready-to-fight-union-says-after-west-contra-costa-votes-to-cut-nearly-200-positions/727577\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Facing a big budget deficit, West Contra Costa Unified board members have had to choose between eliminating staff and services for students. The deadline to give layoff notices is March 15.",
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"title": "West Contra Costa Compromises on Eliminating Staff, but Student Services Could Face Cuts | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In a move consistent with dozens of California school districts, West Contra Costa Unified board members have had to choose between eliminating staff and services for students or exploding its budget deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the start of the debate at Wednesday night’s school board meeting, the district had proposed cutting about 177 staffing positions and, after nearly three hours of debate, the board voted 3–1 to cut all but eight. But saving those eight positions jeopardizes funding for services for at-risk students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, with these decisions, our students will suffer the most without the staff that is needed to provide them with an excellent education that they deserve and which is necessary to decrease the longstanding education gaps for the district’s Black and brown students,” said Sheryl Lane, executive director of \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.fierceadvocates.org/mission-vision\">Fierce Advocates\u003c/a>, a Richmond organization focused on working with parents of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out of the positions that are being eliminated, 122 are already vacant, according to district officials. And so far, the district has also received 27 resignations and 47 retirement notices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear if there will be layoffs, but \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/west-contra-costa-community-rallies-around-educators-protesting-staffing-cuts/726845\">on Feb. \u003c/a>6, interim Superintendent Kim Moses said that because of vacancy levels, the district administrators “expect that there will be a certificated job available for all current WCCUSD (West Contra Costa Unified School District) educators for the 2025–26 school year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout this month, educators, parents, students and community members showed up in large numbers to speak, as they have in all board meetings since the budget talks started, urging the board to reconsider cutting staff positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw today the dysfunction,” United Teachers of Richmond President Francisco Ortiz said during the meeting. “We need collaboration. Every single cabinet member has my direct phone number. Every board member has my phone number. We have been excluded from the decision-making process and in the collaboration since the new administration took over. This situation has been imposed on us, but we’re ready to fight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A split board\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It took nine amended resolutions for a vote to pass on Wednesday night. Trustee Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy attempted to save high school teachers, school counselors, social workers, psychologists, speech therapists, and career technical education educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the board was split.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board President Leslie Reckler and trustee Guadalupe Enllana voted down the motions while Gonzalez-Hoy and trustee Cinthia Hernandez were determined to save some staffing positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The successful resolution saved one part-time psychologist position, one part-time and seven full-time high school teachers. Reckler voted down the resolution and trustee Jamela Smith-Folds was absent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email to EdSource, Reckler argued the board had already approved the fiscal solvency plan and if the cuts weren’t passed, “it shows the board to be an unreliable steward of public funds, and I will not be lumped into that category.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My prime responsibility is to ensure the long-term fiscal solvency of the school district and ensure continued local control in decision-making,” Reckler said. “Last night’s vote will make it more difficult for the school district.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The top priority for Gonzalez-Hoy was to save the high school teacher positions because cutting them would have caused some schools to go from a seven-period day to six, he said. English learners, students with disabilities and students who need more academic support would be most affected because they often need to take on extra courses and benefit from having more class periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I could not in good conscience make those reductions, knowing the unintended impact they would have,” he said. “Even though it was a very difficult conversation and decision, I did vote to cut the majority of the positions, in part due to our ability to possibly retain some of those positions through grants, but also due to our financial situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement, Enllana said the board and district can no longer continue to be “driven by individual interests but must prioritize the needs of all students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a clear distinction between needs and wants. Our first responsibility is to secure what our students need, and then work towards fulfilling the wants under our current budget.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California schools are in a budget crisis\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This week, other Bay Area school boards also made the difficult decision to lay off employees for the coming school year. Oakland’s school board voted to cut 100 positions, \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oakland-school-board-tiptoes-back-fiscal-cliff-20187724.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> reported\u003c/a>. \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028317/sf-schools-brace-hundreds-layoffs-including-teachers-librarians-counselors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">According to KQED\u003c/a>, San Francisco Unified will also send pink slips to more than 500 employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West Contra Costa Unified has to balance between the need for fiscal solvency and keeping the schools adequately staffed with teachers, social workers, psychologists and other support staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These decisions by the school board are tough ones and speak to the structural changes needed at the state level to change the revenue it receives that can go towards funding local school districts, like WCCUSD,” Lane said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has been under financial stress since last year and could risk insolvency if its fiscal plan isn’t followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When districts can’t get out of deficits, they risk being taken over by the state and losing local control over budget decisions. Twenty-six years ago, West Contra Costa became the first district in the state to go insolvent and received a $29 million bailout loan, which took 21 years to pay off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To stay out of a deficit, West Contra Costa has to cut $32.7 million in costs between 2024 and 2027. District officials have said about 84% of the budget is used to pay salaries and benefits — the reason staffing cuts would be unavoidable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district needs to put forth a fiscal solvency plan approved by the Contra Costa County Office of Education to avoid going insolvent and risking a takeover, Moses said. The staffing cuts are tied to the plan and must happen for the district to stay on track. The board \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/west-contra-costa-school-board-slashes-staffing-to-avoid-deficit/726423\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">approved the plan\u003c/a> earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be multiple millions of dollars of impact to the general fund if we don’t take action,” Moses said during the meeting. “The response to the county, if that is the case, I think we would be sending a strong message that we are not addressing our fiscal stability, and that would not be advisable as they are oversight agents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The price of compromise\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Saving the high school teacher and psychologist positions will add $1.5 million to $1.75 million to the deficit, Moses said. The district doesn’t have a choice but to use funds that are meant for student services and will likely have to dip into the $4 million set aside for math curriculum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We value all staff and their dedication to our community; however, the fiscal health of our district has to be prioritized as the foundation for our ability to continue normal district operations,” Moses said in a news release Thursday. “I am concerned about the added fiscal uncertainty we face after last night’s board meeting.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Cutting the money for teacher and math support is a step backward for the district, which makes it more difficult for educators to help students improve, said Natalie Walchuk, vice president of local impact at \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://gopublicschoolswcc.org/our-organization/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GO Public Schools\u003c/a>, an organization advocating for equitable public education.\u003cem> \u003c/em>In West Contra Costa, only \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://bit.ly/kidscan24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1 in 4 students are performing at grade level in math\u003c/a> and just 6.1% of seniors are ready for college-level math.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Teachers need the right tools and resources to support their students, yet the district has lagged for years in adopting a new math curriculum,” Walchuk said. “While we recognize the difficult financial decisions the board had to make, it is critical that the district prioritizes student learning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The positions on the chopping block came from two pots of money — the general fund, which accounts for 40 positions, and grants, which cover 137 positions. Money for grant-funded positions is either expiring or has been used faster than projected, said Camille Johnson, associate superintendent of human resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trying to save the grant-funded positions would add to the deficit, Moses said. Although the district staff is working to secure more grants, the funds districts receive from the federal government are uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were not in a position to consult the (teachers) union because we do not have money to pay for these positions,” Moses said during the meeting. “Negotiations in terms of what stays and what goes was not possible in this scenario because it’s strictly driven by money that is expiring or money we aren’t responsible for assigning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district doesn’t have a choice but to eliminate some positions because they are dependent on school sites approving the positions in their budgets, Moses said. If approved, about 78 positions could be reinstated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deadline to give layoff notices is March 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/we-are-ready-to-fight-union-says-after-west-contra-costa-votes-to-cut-nearly-200-positions/727577\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "standstill-for-community-college-bachelors-degrees-amid-cal-state-dispute",
"title": "Standstill for Community College Bachelor's Degrees Amid Cal State Dispute",
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"content": "\u003cp>Rudy Garcia was excited when he learned that his local community college, Moorpark in Ventura County, planned to offer a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity and network operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A father of four and the only source of income for his family, Garcia believed getting the degree would help him advance in his career in IT support. He had come to realize that more senior jobs typically required a bachelor’s degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting that degree at nearby Moorpark was appealing, especially because he had already finished an associate degree in cybersecurity at the college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being able to add that to my resume, it would help me get a better job, better benefits and everything,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the two years since Moorpark first proposed the degree, the college has still not received final approval. It’s one of seven degrees across California that received provisional approval from the state community college chancellor’s office in 2023 but remain in limbo because California State University has flagged them as duplicative of its own programs. The two sides have yet to come to a compromise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2021 law \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/what-to-know-about-bachelors-degrees-at-california-community-colleges-quick-guide/694808\">allows the state’s community college system to approve up to 30 new bachelor’s degrees annually,\u003c/a> so long as the degrees support a local labor need and don’t duplicate what any of CSU’s 23 campuses or the University of California’s nine undergraduate campuses offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the passage of that law, many community colleges have successfully launched new degrees: Thirty-two new degrees are now fully approved across the state, joining 15 that already existed as part of a pilot. Some of the most recently-approved degrees include drone and autonomous systems at Fullerton College, emergency services administration at Mission College in Santa Clara and water resource management at San Bernardino Community College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But due to disagreements over what constitutes duplication, some degree proposals have stalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Resolution, however, could be coming soon. The seven degrees delayed since 2023 are currently being reviewed by WestEd, a nonprofit research organization that was selected to serve as a neutral, third-party evaluator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some local community colleges have been under the impression that WestEd would render final decisions on the programs, but that is not the case, a spokesperson clarified. Instead, WestEd will evaluate the programs and share an analysis with the community college system’s board of governors that will “help inform the review process,” the spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spokesperson shared the additional details about WestEd’s role on Tuesday morning. WestEd had previously declined an interview request prior to publication of this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Colleges have been told to expect the reviews from WestEd as early as this month, though it could take longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials with the systemwide chancellor’s offices for both the community colleges and CSU also declined interview requests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the community colleges, getting a verdict will be welcomed as they have grown increasingly annoyed that their degrees are being delayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My frustration is on behalf of the students that are missing out on this opportunity,” said Jeannie Kim, president of Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, which got preliminary approval for a degree in digital infrastructure and location services. “We talk a really loud game about student success and being student centered. But right now, preventing these kinds of degrees from going forward is not student centered.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although officials from CSU campuses declined to be interviewed, memos obtained by EdSource through a Public Records Act request show that those campuses cited a number of reasons for objecting to proposed degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases, CSU campuses objected only to a few courses where they believed there was overlap. For example, CSU San Bernardino’s objection to San Diego Mesa’s proposed physical therapy assistant degree came down to three upper-division courses focused on biomechanics, nutrition and exercise physiology that would be part of the Mesa program. San Bernardino staff argued those courses duplicate classes that they offer as part of a bachelor’s degree program in kinesiology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Diego Mesa officials believe they may have been able to find common ground if they had more time to negotiate. Their only live interaction with San Bernardino staff was a 30-minute Zoom meeting last year, according to Cassandra Storey, dean for health sciences at Mesa. “We never really had the discussion on those three courses,” Storey said. “I would like to think that we could have a conversation and negotiate this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other proposals faced stronger objections. Moorpark faces duplication claims from seven CSU campuses over its proposed cybersecurity program. One campus, CSU San Marcos in San Diego County, wrote in a memo that the proposal “substantially overlaps” with its own cybersecurity degree. “Almost all cybersecurity issues are directly or indirectly related to network operation. The proposed program description is a typical cybersecurity degree,” San Marcos staff wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the view of Moorpark officials, however, there are fundamental differences between its degree and what San Marcos offers. Whereas degrees like the one offered at San Marcos prepare students for engineering and computer science careers, Moorpark would train students to be technicians and work in cybersecurity support, said John Forbes, the college’s vice president of academic affairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand we need more engineers in this world across every type of engineering, and we need good computer scientists that understand coding,” Forbes said. “But our labor force also needs the people that aren’t authoring and designing and engineering. They need the technicians that are using this stuff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moorpark’s program would not be a calculus-based STEM degree, he added. The San Marcos degree does require a calculus course and other math classes as prerequisites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That itself is a positive for students like Garcia. If he were to attempt a CSU bachelor’s degree, he would essentially have to start over and take several lower-division courses to be eligible to transfer to a CSU campus and potentially pay more in tuition. At Moorpark, he would need only upper-division credits to get his bachelor’s degree and have to pay $130 per credit. On average, community college bachelor’s degrees in California cost $10,560 in tuition and fees over all four years, much less than attending a CSU or UC campus. Much of Garcia’s tuition would also get covered by financial aid, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So that’s a big plus for me,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other major selling point for Garcia is that the Moorpark campus is just a short drive from his house. He’s hoping it will get approved soon and he can start taking classes in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The college is like four exits from my house,” he said. “I would totally jump on that.” [aside postID=\"news_12012688,news_12015727,news_12006322\" label=\"Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students are place bound and can’t attend colleges outside their hometown, the community colleges emphasize. But the law does not mention location, allowing CSU campuses to bring objections even if they aren’t located in the same region as the college proposing the degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moorpark, for example, has faced objections from CSU campuses other than San Marcos, including Sacramento State and three San Francisco Bay Area campuses: Cal State East Bay, Sonoma State and San Jose State.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those campuses may be worried about losing potential students to community colleges. Sonoma State in particular \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/enrollment-rises-at-some-cal-state-campuses-falls-at-others/723526\">has seen its enrollment\u003c/a> plummet in recent years. Staff at San Jose State, where enrollment has flattened, wrote in a memo that they are concerned the Moorpark program would “draw from the same pool of students” as their bachelor’s degree in engineering technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forbes said he understands those worries but believes they may be misguided. “We are big fans of the CSU system, and we want our students to be successful there, and we’re doing everything we can to help them on the transfer end. But for this program, these are not students who would be going to CSU,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forbes and other community college officials around the state are eager for WestEd’s decisions. “We’re hopeful, with the smart people we have in California, that rational minds can come to the table and figure out a better path forward,” Forbes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jan. 24: This story has been corrected to include further detail and clarification about WestEd’s role in the review process.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "An associate degree in cybersecurity is one of seven degrees across California that remain in limbo because California State University has flagged them as duplicative of its own programs. ",
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"title": "Standstill for Community College Bachelor's Degrees Amid Cal State Dispute | KQED",
"description": "An associate degree in cybersecurity is one of seven degrees across California that remain in limbo because California State University has flagged them as duplicative of its own programs. ",
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"nprByline": "\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/author/mburke\">Michael Burke,\u003c/a> EdSource",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Rudy Garcia was excited when he learned that his local community college, Moorpark in Ventura County, planned to offer a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity and network operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A father of four and the only source of income for his family, Garcia believed getting the degree would help him advance in his career in IT support. He had come to realize that more senior jobs typically required a bachelor’s degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting that degree at nearby Moorpark was appealing, especially because he had already finished an associate degree in cybersecurity at the college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being able to add that to my resume, it would help me get a better job, better benefits and everything,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the two years since Moorpark first proposed the degree, the college has still not received final approval. It’s one of seven degrees across California that received provisional approval from the state community college chancellor’s office in 2023 but remain in limbo because California State University has flagged them as duplicative of its own programs. The two sides have yet to come to a compromise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2021 law \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/what-to-know-about-bachelors-degrees-at-california-community-colleges-quick-guide/694808\">allows the state’s community college system to approve up to 30 new bachelor’s degrees annually,\u003c/a> so long as the degrees support a local labor need and don’t duplicate what any of CSU’s 23 campuses or the University of California’s nine undergraduate campuses offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the passage of that law, many community colleges have successfully launched new degrees: Thirty-two new degrees are now fully approved across the state, joining 15 that already existed as part of a pilot. Some of the most recently-approved degrees include drone and autonomous systems at Fullerton College, emergency services administration at Mission College in Santa Clara and water resource management at San Bernardino Community College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But due to disagreements over what constitutes duplication, some degree proposals have stalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Resolution, however, could be coming soon. The seven degrees delayed since 2023 are currently being reviewed by WestEd, a nonprofit research organization that was selected to serve as a neutral, third-party evaluator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some local community colleges have been under the impression that WestEd would render final decisions on the programs, but that is not the case, a spokesperson clarified. Instead, WestEd will evaluate the programs and share an analysis with the community college system’s board of governors that will “help inform the review process,” the spokesperson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spokesperson shared the additional details about WestEd’s role on Tuesday morning. WestEd had previously declined an interview request prior to publication of this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Colleges have been told to expect the reviews from WestEd as early as this month, though it could take longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials with the systemwide chancellor’s offices for both the community colleges and CSU also declined interview requests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the community colleges, getting a verdict will be welcomed as they have grown increasingly annoyed that their degrees are being delayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My frustration is on behalf of the students that are missing out on this opportunity,” said Jeannie Kim, president of Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, which got preliminary approval for a degree in digital infrastructure and location services. “We talk a really loud game about student success and being student centered. But right now, preventing these kinds of degrees from going forward is not student centered.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although officials from CSU campuses declined to be interviewed, memos obtained by EdSource through a Public Records Act request show that those campuses cited a number of reasons for objecting to proposed degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases, CSU campuses objected only to a few courses where they believed there was overlap. For example, CSU San Bernardino’s objection to San Diego Mesa’s proposed physical therapy assistant degree came down to three upper-division courses focused on biomechanics, nutrition and exercise physiology that would be part of the Mesa program. San Bernardino staff argued those courses duplicate classes that they offer as part of a bachelor’s degree program in kinesiology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Diego Mesa officials believe they may have been able to find common ground if they had more time to negotiate. Their only live interaction with San Bernardino staff was a 30-minute Zoom meeting last year, according to Cassandra Storey, dean for health sciences at Mesa. “We never really had the discussion on those three courses,” Storey said. “I would like to think that we could have a conversation and negotiate this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other proposals faced stronger objections. Moorpark faces duplication claims from seven CSU campuses over its proposed cybersecurity program. One campus, CSU San Marcos in San Diego County, wrote in a memo that the proposal “substantially overlaps” with its own cybersecurity degree. “Almost all cybersecurity issues are directly or indirectly related to network operation. The proposed program description is a typical cybersecurity degree,” San Marcos staff wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the view of Moorpark officials, however, there are fundamental differences between its degree and what San Marcos offers. Whereas degrees like the one offered at San Marcos prepare students for engineering and computer science careers, Moorpark would train students to be technicians and work in cybersecurity support, said John Forbes, the college’s vice president of academic affairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand we need more engineers in this world across every type of engineering, and we need good computer scientists that understand coding,” Forbes said. “But our labor force also needs the people that aren’t authoring and designing and engineering. They need the technicians that are using this stuff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moorpark’s program would not be a calculus-based STEM degree, he added. The San Marcos degree does require a calculus course and other math classes as prerequisites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That itself is a positive for students like Garcia. If he were to attempt a CSU bachelor’s degree, he would essentially have to start over and take several lower-division courses to be eligible to transfer to a CSU campus and potentially pay more in tuition. At Moorpark, he would need only upper-division credits to get his bachelor’s degree and have to pay $130 per credit. On average, community college bachelor’s degrees in California cost $10,560 in tuition and fees over all four years, much less than attending a CSU or UC campus. Much of Garcia’s tuition would also get covered by financial aid, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So that’s a big plus for me,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other major selling point for Garcia is that the Moorpark campus is just a short drive from his house. He’s hoping it will get approved soon and he can start taking classes in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The college is like four exits from my house,” he said. “I would totally jump on that.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students are place bound and can’t attend colleges outside their hometown, the community colleges emphasize. But the law does not mention location, allowing CSU campuses to bring objections even if they aren’t located in the same region as the college proposing the degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moorpark, for example, has faced objections from CSU campuses other than San Marcos, including Sacramento State and three San Francisco Bay Area campuses: Cal State East Bay, Sonoma State and San Jose State.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those campuses may be worried about losing potential students to community colleges. Sonoma State in particular \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/enrollment-rises-at-some-cal-state-campuses-falls-at-others/723526\">has seen its enrollment\u003c/a> plummet in recent years. Staff at San Jose State, where enrollment has flattened, wrote in a memo that they are concerned the Moorpark program would “draw from the same pool of students” as their bachelor’s degree in engineering technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forbes said he understands those worries but believes they may be misguided. “We are big fans of the CSU system, and we want our students to be successful there, and we’re doing everything we can to help them on the transfer end. But for this program, these are not students who would be going to CSU,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forbes and other community college officials around the state are eager for WestEd’s decisions. “We’re hopeful, with the smart people we have in California, that rational minds can come to the table and figure out a better path forward,” Forbes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jan. 24: This story has been corrected to include further detail and clarification about WestEd’s role in the review process.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "west-contra-costa-unified-struggles-to-stay-solvent-and-avoid-state-takeover",
"title": "West Contra Costa Unified Struggles to Stay Solvent Amid Looming Threat of State Takeover",
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"headTitle": "West Contra Costa Unified Struggles to Stay Solvent Amid Looming Threat of State Takeover | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>West Contra Costa Unified School District is on the cusp of a new and uncertain era following the retirement of its superintendent, Chris Hurst, who \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12007378/west-contra-costa-school-district-to-appoint-interim-leader-after-superintendent-announces-retirement\">stepped down in December\u003c/a> after just over three years on the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whoever is chosen to permanently replace him will face a daunting set of concerns, including ensuring that the district is not placed under state control. For now, that job is in the hands of interim Superintendent Kim Moses, who, until December, was the district’s associate superintendent for business services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With an enrollment of just under 30,000 students, more than half from lower-income families, the district comprises 54 schools in El Cerrito, Richmond and other East Bay communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chief among the issues the district faces are declining enrollment, persistent budget deficits, a sluggish improvement in post-COVID test scores, teacher shortages, and meeting the multiple needs of a diverse and largely lower-income student body, along with a sometimes-contentious school board not always in alignment with its superintendent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To a greater or lesser extent, these are problems facing many urban districts across California, including some larger neighbors around the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Unified also got a new superintendent last month and is grappling with \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/san-francisco-schools-must-avoid-state-takeover-at-all-costs-education-veteran-warns/720851\">severe budget deficits\u003c/a> and intense pressure to close schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Oakland Unified’s superintendent, Kyla Johnson-Trammell, is still in her job after seven years, surviving a teacher strike, the pandemic, and other travails, the district is dealing with similar \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://abc7news.com/post/ousd-budget-deficit-oakland-unified-schools/15438418/\">profound challenges\u003c/a>. Both San Francisco and Oakland also face the prospect \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/12/12/oakland-school-board-mergers-vote-budget/\">of a state takeover\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last Wednesday, at West Contra Costa’s first board meeting of 2025, Moses issued a blunt warning about the need to make further budget cuts to avoid insolvency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After making $19 million in cuts during the current year, the district still has a “significant structural deficit,” she said, and warned that under current scenarios, its budget reserves “will be exhausted within three years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without further reductions in the next two school years, the district would be “placed under (state) receivership, which means we’ll no longer be in charge of making financial decisions for our district,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1991, the district had the unfortunate distinction of being the \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/west-contra-costa-school-district-pays-off-debt-3603036.php\">first in the state\u003c/a> to go insolvent. To rescue it, the district received a $29 million bailout loan, which took 21 years to pay off. Now, it is trying to head off a similar fate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, the West Contra Costa school board passed a budget that members said met the standard to receive a “positive certification,” which, under state regulations, means it would not spend its entire reserve over the next three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the county office of education has refused to approve that certification without the district providing a multiyear deficit-reduction plan. That is what Moses \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/ViewMeeting.aspx?S=36030499&MID=35548&Tab=Agenda&enIID=RHWWplusB2gtQOQVppslshZ6fPAw%3D%3D\">presented to the board \u003c/a>on Wednesday night, involving cuts of $7 million next year and an additional $6 million the following year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Declining enrollment — by 8% over the past four years alone — is perhaps West Contra Costa’s primary concern, according to Michael Fine, CEO of California’s \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.fcmat.org/\">Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team\u003c/a>, an agency created by the state to help districts resolve financial and management problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fine largely attributes the decline — which is mirrored in many other districts and the \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.the74million.org/article/california-lost-420k-public-school-kids-in-4-years-may-drop-1m-more-by-2031/\">state as a whole\u003c/a> — to lower birth rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a long-term problem” for schools, he said. “Right now, schools are feeling it most in kindergarten and elementary school. In 10 years, it will be middle school, then high school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem translates directly into money. In California, schools have a variety of sources of funds, but they are primarily based on “average daily attendance,” that is, the number of kids in the classroom each day. In 2022-23, the district received \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://ed-data.org/ShareData/Html/120187\">nearly $24,000\u003c/a> per student from various sources, most of it from the state based on actual attendance, according to Ed-Data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As enrollment declines — either through lower birth rates or families leaving the expensive Bay Area — so, too, does the district’s revenues. Another factor reducing income is the end of the federal government’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund, designed to help with COVID-19 recovery. The fund brought the district some $53 million by 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of which has had an effect on West Contra Costa Unified’s budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One approach the district is examining to reduce its deficit is so-called “purpose-based budgeting.” The method, designed to more tightly control expenses, is to evaluate how well specific funds match the district’s priorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that may not be enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Look, I understand. No one joins a school board to lay off people,” Fine said. “But your revenue is going away, and they’re overstaffed compared to their enrollment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Francisco Ortiz, president of United Teachers of Richmond, the union representing teachers, said there are already too many unfilled positions in West Contra Costa, and the district cannot afford to save more by further reducing staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In secondary schools alone, we have 27 vacant FTEs — full-time equivalent (positions),” he said. “And in elementary, it’s 30.8 vacancies and 22 in special ed. The majority of these folks are teachers, some counselors, in elementary, but the majority are classroom teachers.” Most schools, he said, have to use substitutes on a daily basis.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_12007378,news_11996607,news_11806638\"]At the board meeting this week, interim Superintendent Moses argued that increasing student attendance and enrollment is the only realistic way to reduce the district’s deficits without making further cuts. For every 1% increase in attendance, the district would generate $2.75 million in additional state funding. To that end, the district is launching what it calls its “Why We Show Up” campaign. “It’s really cut and dried,” Moses said. “We only get revenue based upon the number of children we have in a seat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At last week’s board meeting, many parents and teachers expressed concerns that there would be cuts in district offerings like its International Baccalaureate and bilingual and dual immersion programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Moses tried to reassure the school community that no programs would be cut. A big chunk of reductions she is proposing would come from central office reductions, moving teachers out of classrooms with small numbers of students, and so on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the problem, union leader Ortiz said, is that the district has done a poor job of budgeting for how many teachers it will need each year. As for covering the district’s deficit — to pay for more teachers — he said the district should draw further on its reserve. “The reserve is for a rainy day, and right now, it’s flooding. Our most vulnerable students are the ones receiving the blunt end of this. Cutting classroom teachers is not the answer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, FCMAT’s Fine argues that it has to be part of the equation. “Lots of school boards say cut as far away from the classroom as you can, but when you have declining enrollment, you cut at the classroom level. But it’s really tough. It’s difficult as heck. It is horrendous.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fine argues that the issue of teacher vacancies is a nuanced one and that there may be possible solutions. There may, for example, may be too many English teachers and not enough math teachers or too many PE teachers and not enough special education teachers. He suggests that districts consider offering programs to re-credential teachers, even though this is not a short-term strategy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The solution doesn’t work for everyone, but why don’t we pay, say, English teachers, to get credentialed to teach the sixth grade? Or invest in someone to get a special ed credential?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before his departure, outgoing superintendent Hurst outlined several of the district’s recent accomplishments in his \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.wccusd.net/cms/lib/CA01001466/Centricity/Domain/77/State%20of%20Our%20District_Presentation_9_30.pdf\">State of Our District (PDF)\u003c/a> report — a reminder that putting all the attention on finances can obscure progress in other areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among those is the return to 100% in-person learning in the district after the pandemic. Another is “improved staff recruitment, development and retention,” with teacher vacancies declining from 143 two years ago to 64 in the current school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Test scores have also improved somewhat in the district, according to \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://caaspp.edsource.org/sbac/west-contra-costa-unified-07617960000000\">results of the Smarter Balanced assessments\u003c/a> students took last spring, though they still lag statewide averages and, like almost all districts in the state, are not yet up to pre-pandemic levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board recently hired David Hart as chief business manager, at least through the remainder of the school year. He’s the highly regarded former chief financial officer of the massive Los Angeles Unified, a district 20 times the size of West Contra Costa. Fine is hopeful Hart’s experience with a vastly more complex district will accelerate the district’s path to recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are hiring a very skilled interim CBO,” he said. “I hope they listen to him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Louis Freedberg contributed to this report, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/west-contra-costa-unified-struggles-to-stay-solvent-avoid-state-takeover/725039\">which originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "West Contra Costa Unified Struggles to Stay Solvent Amid Looming Threat of State Takeover | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>West Contra Costa Unified School District is on the cusp of a new and uncertain era following the retirement of its superintendent, Chris Hurst, who \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12007378/west-contra-costa-school-district-to-appoint-interim-leader-after-superintendent-announces-retirement\">stepped down in December\u003c/a> after just over three years on the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whoever is chosen to permanently replace him will face a daunting set of concerns, including ensuring that the district is not placed under state control. For now, that job is in the hands of interim Superintendent Kim Moses, who, until December, was the district’s associate superintendent for business services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With an enrollment of just under 30,000 students, more than half from lower-income families, the district comprises 54 schools in El Cerrito, Richmond and other East Bay communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chief among the issues the district faces are declining enrollment, persistent budget deficits, a sluggish improvement in post-COVID test scores, teacher shortages, and meeting the multiple needs of a diverse and largely lower-income student body, along with a sometimes-contentious school board not always in alignment with its superintendent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To a greater or lesser extent, these are problems facing many urban districts across California, including some larger neighbors around the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Unified also got a new superintendent last month and is grappling with \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/san-francisco-schools-must-avoid-state-takeover-at-all-costs-education-veteran-warns/720851\">severe budget deficits\u003c/a> and intense pressure to close schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Oakland Unified’s superintendent, Kyla Johnson-Trammell, is still in her job after seven years, surviving a teacher strike, the pandemic, and other travails, the district is dealing with similar \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://abc7news.com/post/ousd-budget-deficit-oakland-unified-schools/15438418/\">profound challenges\u003c/a>. Both San Francisco and Oakland also face the prospect \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/12/12/oakland-school-board-mergers-vote-budget/\">of a state takeover\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last Wednesday, at West Contra Costa’s first board meeting of 2025, Moses issued a blunt warning about the need to make further budget cuts to avoid insolvency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After making $19 million in cuts during the current year, the district still has a “significant structural deficit,” she said, and warned that under current scenarios, its budget reserves “will be exhausted within three years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without further reductions in the next two school years, the district would be “placed under (state) receivership, which means we’ll no longer be in charge of making financial decisions for our district,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1991, the district had the unfortunate distinction of being the \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/west-contra-costa-school-district-pays-off-debt-3603036.php\">first in the state\u003c/a> to go insolvent. To rescue it, the district received a $29 million bailout loan, which took 21 years to pay off. Now, it is trying to head off a similar fate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, the West Contra Costa school board passed a budget that members said met the standard to receive a “positive certification,” which, under state regulations, means it would not spend its entire reserve over the next three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the county office of education has refused to approve that certification without the district providing a multiyear deficit-reduction plan. That is what Moses \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/ViewMeeting.aspx?S=36030499&MID=35548&Tab=Agenda&enIID=RHWWplusB2gtQOQVppslshZ6fPAw%3D%3D\">presented to the board \u003c/a>on Wednesday night, involving cuts of $7 million next year and an additional $6 million the following year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Declining enrollment — by 8% over the past four years alone — is perhaps West Contra Costa’s primary concern, according to Michael Fine, CEO of California’s \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.fcmat.org/\">Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team\u003c/a>, an agency created by the state to help districts resolve financial and management problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fine largely attributes the decline — which is mirrored in many other districts and the \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.the74million.org/article/california-lost-420k-public-school-kids-in-4-years-may-drop-1m-more-by-2031/\">state as a whole\u003c/a> — to lower birth rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a long-term problem” for schools, he said. “Right now, schools are feeling it most in kindergarten and elementary school. In 10 years, it will be middle school, then high school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem translates directly into money. In California, schools have a variety of sources of funds, but they are primarily based on “average daily attendance,” that is, the number of kids in the classroom each day. In 2022-23, the district received \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://ed-data.org/ShareData/Html/120187\">nearly $24,000\u003c/a> per student from various sources, most of it from the state based on actual attendance, according to Ed-Data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As enrollment declines — either through lower birth rates or families leaving the expensive Bay Area — so, too, does the district’s revenues. Another factor reducing income is the end of the federal government’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund, designed to help with COVID-19 recovery. The fund brought the district some $53 million by 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of which has had an effect on West Contra Costa Unified’s budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One approach the district is examining to reduce its deficit is so-called “purpose-based budgeting.” The method, designed to more tightly control expenses, is to evaluate how well specific funds match the district’s priorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that may not be enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Look, I understand. No one joins a school board to lay off people,” Fine said. “But your revenue is going away, and they’re overstaffed compared to their enrollment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Francisco Ortiz, president of United Teachers of Richmond, the union representing teachers, said there are already too many unfilled positions in West Contra Costa, and the district cannot afford to save more by further reducing staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In secondary schools alone, we have 27 vacant FTEs — full-time equivalent (positions),” he said. “And in elementary, it’s 30.8 vacancies and 22 in special ed. The majority of these folks are teachers, some counselors, in elementary, but the majority are classroom teachers.” Most schools, he said, have to use substitutes on a daily basis.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>At the board meeting this week, interim Superintendent Moses argued that increasing student attendance and enrollment is the only realistic way to reduce the district’s deficits without making further cuts. For every 1% increase in attendance, the district would generate $2.75 million in additional state funding. To that end, the district is launching what it calls its “Why We Show Up” campaign. “It’s really cut and dried,” Moses said. “We only get revenue based upon the number of children we have in a seat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At last week’s board meeting, many parents and teachers expressed concerns that there would be cuts in district offerings like its International Baccalaureate and bilingual and dual immersion programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Moses tried to reassure the school community that no programs would be cut. A big chunk of reductions she is proposing would come from central office reductions, moving teachers out of classrooms with small numbers of students, and so on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the problem, union leader Ortiz said, is that the district has done a poor job of budgeting for how many teachers it will need each year. As for covering the district’s deficit — to pay for more teachers — he said the district should draw further on its reserve. “The reserve is for a rainy day, and right now, it’s flooding. Our most vulnerable students are the ones receiving the blunt end of this. Cutting classroom teachers is not the answer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, FCMAT’s Fine argues that it has to be part of the equation. “Lots of school boards say cut as far away from the classroom as you can, but when you have declining enrollment, you cut at the classroom level. But it’s really tough. It’s difficult as heck. It is horrendous.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fine argues that the issue of teacher vacancies is a nuanced one and that there may be possible solutions. There may, for example, may be too many English teachers and not enough math teachers or too many PE teachers and not enough special education teachers. He suggests that districts consider offering programs to re-credential teachers, even though this is not a short-term strategy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The solution doesn’t work for everyone, but why don’t we pay, say, English teachers, to get credentialed to teach the sixth grade? Or invest in someone to get a special ed credential?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before his departure, outgoing superintendent Hurst outlined several of the district’s recent accomplishments in his \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.wccusd.net/cms/lib/CA01001466/Centricity/Domain/77/State%20of%20Our%20District_Presentation_9_30.pdf\">State of Our District (PDF)\u003c/a> report — a reminder that putting all the attention on finances can obscure progress in other areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among those is the return to 100% in-person learning in the district after the pandemic. Another is “improved staff recruitment, development and retention,” with teacher vacancies declining from 143 two years ago to 64 in the current school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Test scores have also improved somewhat in the district, according to \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://caaspp.edsource.org/sbac/west-contra-costa-unified-07617960000000\">results of the Smarter Balanced assessments\u003c/a> students took last spring, though they still lag statewide averages and, like almost all districts in the state, are not yet up to pre-pandemic levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board recently hired David Hart as chief business manager, at least through the remainder of the school year. He’s the highly regarded former chief financial officer of the massive Los Angeles Unified, a district 20 times the size of West Contra Costa. Fine is hopeful Hart’s experience with a vastly more complex district will accelerate the district’s path to recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are hiring a very skilled interim CBO,” he said. “I hope they listen to him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Louis Freedberg contributed to this report, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/west-contra-costa-unified-struggles-to-stay-solvent-avoid-state-takeover/725039\">which originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "guide-what-rights-do-undocumented-students-and-families-have-at-california-schools",
"title": "Guide: What Are the Rights of Undocumented Students in California Schools?",
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"headTitle": "Guide: What Are the Rights of Undocumented Students in California Schools? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the first months of the first Trump administration in 2017, a father in Los Angeles was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after dropping his 12-year-old daughter off at school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ripple effect was immediate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right away there was a drop in attendance in L.A. schools because parents were thinking, ‘Oh, if I drop off my kids, ICE is going to pick me up,’” said Ana Mendoza, senior staff attorney at ACLU of Southern California and director of the organization’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.myschoolmyrights.com/\">Education Equity Project\u003c/a>. “The need for safety and sanctuary policies became really salient because students weren’t going to schools or families were tentative about their participation in schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the wake of this year’s presidential election, there is again widespread uncertainty among immigrant families in California about what is to come, given President-elect Donald Trump’s promises of mass deportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Attorney General Rob Bonta recently released updated guidelines and model policies about what K-12 schools, colleges and universities can and cannot do under state and federal law, regarding keeping immigrant students and families’ data private, when to allow an immigration enforcement officer on campus, how to respond to the detention or deportation of a student’s family member, and how to respond to bullying or harassment of a student based on immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The original guidelines and policies were released in 2018 by then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra, after California passed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB699\">Assembly Bill 699\u003c/a>, requiring schools to pass policies that limited collaboration with immigration enforcement. Bonta is now asking schools to update their policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“School districts should be examining what their board policies are and to make sure they’re updated and take any measures to make sure that families feel safe,” Mendoza said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.nccp.org/immigration/?state=CA\">1 in 10\u003c/a>, or 1 million, children in California have at least one undocumented parent. And about \u003ca href=\"https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/unauthorized-immigrant-population/state/CA\">133,000\u003c/a> children in California public schools are undocumented themselves, according to the Migration Policy Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California’s colleges and universities, an estimated 86,800 students are undocumented, and about 6,800 employees in TK-12 schools, colleges and universities have temporary work permits and protection from deportation under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.higheredimmigrationportal.org/state/california/\">Higher Ed Immigration Portal\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Undocumented students and faculty and staff are afraid for their safety, and this will impact their retention and enrollment in higher education if they’re not feeling safe or they’re feeling targeted,” said Luz Bertadillo, director of campus engagement for the Presidents’ Alliance for Higher Education and Immigration, a national organization of college and university leaders. “For campuses to have a strong stance on what they’re doing to support undocumented students is important, or at least letting their students know they’re thinking about them and they’re taking action. Even though they cannot guarantee their safety, at least they’re taking those initiatives to safeguard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What rights do immigrant students and family members have at school and college, regardless of their immigration status?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The right to attend public school\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>All children present in the United States, regardless of immigration status, have a right to attend public school. In 1982, the Supreme Court ruled in the case Plyler v. Doe that states cannot deny students a free, public education based on their immigration status or their parents or guardians’ immigration status. Some states — including California in 1994 with Proposition 187 — and school districts have since attempted to pass laws that would either deny enrollment to students who did not have valid immigration status or report their status to authorities, but all these laws have been struck down by courts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California schools are not allowed to request or collect information about Social Security numbers, immigration status or U.S. citizenship when enrolling students. Students and parents do not have to answer questions from schools about their immigration status, citizenship or whether they have a Social Security number.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This often comes up in requests for student documents,” Mendoza said. “I had an intake once where a parent gave a passport during enrollment, and the front office person was asking the parent for a visa. No. The school has no right to ask for documents about your citizenship or immigration status.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schools can ask for some information like a student’s place of birth, when they first came to the U.S. or attended school in the U.S., in order to determine whether a student is eligible for special federal or state programs for recently arrived immigrant students or English learners. However, parents are not required to give schools this information, and schools cannot use this information to prevent children from enrolling in school. The Office of the Attorney General suggests that schools should collect this information separately from enrolling students.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Privacy of school records\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, restricts schools from sharing students’ personal information in most cases with other agencies or organizations, including federal immigration authorities. The law requires that schools get a parent or guardian’s consent before releasing any student information to another agency or organization, or if the student is 18 or older, schools must get consent from the student.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, in some cases, schools may be required to provide information without consent in response to a court order or judicial subpoena.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Colleges are also restricted from sharing information except in certain cases. Bertadillo said her organization recommends that college leaders have conversations with all the different departments that might manage information about students’ or families’ immigration status, such as information technology, admissions, registrar, and financial aid, to review their practices for storing or sharing the data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We hear some campuses have citizenship status on their transcripts and those transcripts get sent to graduate schools, to jobs, and that’s essentially outing students,” Bertadillo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said it’s important for colleges and schools to pass or revisit procedures about what to do if immigration officials ask for data or attempt to enter a campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of institutions created them back in Trump 1.0. We’re recommending they reaffirm or revisit them, so that the campus knows that this is in place,” Bertadillo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Safe haven at school\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Department of Homeland Security has designated schools and colleges \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/guidelines-enforcement-actions-or-near-protected-areas\">as protected areas\u003c/a> where immigration enforcement should be avoided as much as possible. President-elect Trump has said he may rescind this policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the event that ICE officers do enter schools or ask to question students, the attorney general’s guidelines say school staff should ask officers for a judicial warrant. Without a judicial warrant, school staff are not required to give an ICE officer permission to enter the school or conduct a search, or to provide information or records about a student or family, the guidelines say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB48\">bill introduced\u003c/a> by state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond would establish a “safe zone” of 1 mile around schools and prohibit schools from allowing ICE to enter a campus or share information without a judicial warrant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under California law, schools must notify parents or guardians if they release a student to a law-enforcement officer, except in cases of suspected child abuse or neglect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California law does not require schools to notify parents or guardians before law enforcement officers question a child at school, but it does not prohibit schools from notifying them either. California’s attorney general suggests that school districts and charter schools should create policies that require notification of parents or guardians before a law enforcement officer questions or removes a student, unless that officer has a judicial warrant or court order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, the attorney general says if a police officer or immigration agent tries to enter a school or talk to a student for purposes of immigration enforcement, the superintendent or principal should e-mail the Bureau of Children’s Justice in the California Department of Justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Schools should retrain their staff on their visitor management policies, to make sure everyone who comes onto campus, including law enforcement, is questioned about what their purpose is, and that school staff is trained on what to do if law enforcement asks to see information about students or staff,” said Mendoza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Support from school if a family member is detained or deported\u003cbr>\nIf a student reports that their parents or guardians were detained or deported, California law requires that the school must follow parents’ instructions about whom to contact in an emergency. The attorney general’s guidance says “schools should not contact Child Protective Services unless the school is unsuccessful in arranging for the care of the child through the emergency contact information.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The guidance also suggests that schools should help students and family members contact legal assistance, their consulate, and help them locate their detained family members through \u003ca href=\"https://locator.ice.gov/odls/#/search\">ICE’s detainee locator system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mendoza said it is important to note that if a student’s parents are detained or deported, and as a result they have to go live with another family member, at that point, they are eligible for support for homeless students under the federal McKinney-Vento Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Protection from discrimination and harassment\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Federal law prohibits discrimination and harassment based on race, national origin, color, sex, age, disability and religion. California’s law AB 699 also made immigration status a protected characteristic, meaning that schools are required to have policies that prohibit discrimination, harassment and bullying based on immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mendoza said it’s important for families and students who experience bullying or harassment to know they can submit complaints through their schools or to different agencies in California. “There are advocates out there willing to support them if their schools do not act in accordance with best practices or with the law,” Mendoza said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Free lunch, subsidized child care and special education\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In California, all students have a right to a free school lunch, since the 2022-23 school year. In addition, some students whose families are considered low-income qualify for subsidized child care, either all day for infants and preschoolers, or after school for school-age children. Students with disabilities have a right to special education to meet their needs, under federal law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immigrant families are often afraid to apply for public services because they are worried this will count against them when applying for permanent residency. This is largely due to the “public charge” test, which immigration officers use to determine whether green-card applicants are likely to depend on public benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, immigration officers can only consider whether applicants have used cash assistance for income, like SSI or CalWORKs, or long-term institutionalized care paid for by public insurance, such as Medi-Cal. They do not consider school lunch, child care or food stamps. And officers are not allowed to look at whether applicants’ family members, like U.S. citizen children, use public benefits. During the first Trump administration, the president changed this policy to include family members and some other benefits. It is unclear whether he may attempt to change this again in the future. However, even under the changes during his first term, school lunch and child care were not included.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>In-state tuition and scholarships for college\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Under the \u003ca href=\"https://dream.csac.ca.gov/\">California Dream Act\u003c/a>, undocumented students qualify for in-state tuition and state financial aid at California colleges and universities if they attended high school for three or more years or attained credits at community college or adult school and graduated from high school or attained an associate degree or finished minimum transfer requirements at a California community college. The number of students applying for the California Dream Act has \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/study-finds-drop-in-csu-uc-enrollment-of-low-income-undocumented-students/719344\">plummeted\u003c/a> in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/what-rights-do-immigrant-students-and-families-have-in-california-schools-and-colleges-quick-guide/724175\">\u003cem>This story was originally published by EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "In the wake of this year’s presidential election, there is again widespread uncertainty among undocumented families in California about what’s to come, given President-elect Donald Trump’s promises of mass deportation. Here are some of the rights guaranteed to students, regardless of immigration status.",
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"title": "Guide: What Are the Rights of Undocumented Students in California Schools? | KQED",
"description": "In the wake of this year’s presidential election, there is again widespread uncertainty among undocumented families in California about what’s to come, given President-elect Donald Trump’s promises of mass deportation. Here are some of the rights guaranteed to students, regardless of immigration status.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the first months of the first Trump administration in 2017, a father in Los Angeles was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after dropping his 12-year-old daughter off at school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ripple effect was immediate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right away there was a drop in attendance in L.A. schools because parents were thinking, ‘Oh, if I drop off my kids, ICE is going to pick me up,’” said Ana Mendoza, senior staff attorney at ACLU of Southern California and director of the organization’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.myschoolmyrights.com/\">Education Equity Project\u003c/a>. “The need for safety and sanctuary policies became really salient because students weren’t going to schools or families were tentative about their participation in schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the wake of this year’s presidential election, there is again widespread uncertainty among immigrant families in California about what is to come, given President-elect Donald Trump’s promises of mass deportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Attorney General Rob Bonta recently released updated guidelines and model policies about what K-12 schools, colleges and universities can and cannot do under state and federal law, regarding keeping immigrant students and families’ data private, when to allow an immigration enforcement officer on campus, how to respond to the detention or deportation of a student’s family member, and how to respond to bullying or harassment of a student based on immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The original guidelines and policies were released in 2018 by then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra, after California passed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB699\">Assembly Bill 699\u003c/a>, requiring schools to pass policies that limited collaboration with immigration enforcement. Bonta is now asking schools to update their policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“School districts should be examining what their board policies are and to make sure they’re updated and take any measures to make sure that families feel safe,” Mendoza said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.nccp.org/immigration/?state=CA\">1 in 10\u003c/a>, or 1 million, children in California have at least one undocumented parent. And about \u003ca href=\"https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/unauthorized-immigrant-population/state/CA\">133,000\u003c/a> children in California public schools are undocumented themselves, according to the Migration Policy Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California’s colleges and universities, an estimated 86,800 students are undocumented, and about 6,800 employees in TK-12 schools, colleges and universities have temporary work permits and protection from deportation under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.higheredimmigrationportal.org/state/california/\">Higher Ed Immigration Portal\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Undocumented students and faculty and staff are afraid for their safety, and this will impact their retention and enrollment in higher education if they’re not feeling safe or they’re feeling targeted,” said Luz Bertadillo, director of campus engagement for the Presidents’ Alliance for Higher Education and Immigration, a national organization of college and university leaders. “For campuses to have a strong stance on what they’re doing to support undocumented students is important, or at least letting their students know they’re thinking about them and they’re taking action. Even though they cannot guarantee their safety, at least they’re taking those initiatives to safeguard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What rights do immigrant students and family members have at school and college, regardless of their immigration status?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The right to attend public school\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>All children present in the United States, regardless of immigration status, have a right to attend public school. In 1982, the Supreme Court ruled in the case Plyler v. Doe that states cannot deny students a free, public education based on their immigration status or their parents or guardians’ immigration status. Some states — including California in 1994 with Proposition 187 — and school districts have since attempted to pass laws that would either deny enrollment to students who did not have valid immigration status or report their status to authorities, but all these laws have been struck down by courts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California schools are not allowed to request or collect information about Social Security numbers, immigration status or U.S. citizenship when enrolling students. Students and parents do not have to answer questions from schools about their immigration status, citizenship or whether they have a Social Security number.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This often comes up in requests for student documents,” Mendoza said. “I had an intake once where a parent gave a passport during enrollment, and the front office person was asking the parent for a visa. No. The school has no right to ask for documents about your citizenship or immigration status.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schools can ask for some information like a student’s place of birth, when they first came to the U.S. or attended school in the U.S., in order to determine whether a student is eligible for special federal or state programs for recently arrived immigrant students or English learners. However, parents are not required to give schools this information, and schools cannot use this information to prevent children from enrolling in school. The Office of the Attorney General suggests that schools should collect this information separately from enrolling students.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Privacy of school records\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, restricts schools from sharing students’ personal information in most cases with other agencies or organizations, including federal immigration authorities. The law requires that schools get a parent or guardian’s consent before releasing any student information to another agency or organization, or if the student is 18 or older, schools must get consent from the student.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, in some cases, schools may be required to provide information without consent in response to a court order or judicial subpoena.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Colleges are also restricted from sharing information except in certain cases. Bertadillo said her organization recommends that college leaders have conversations with all the different departments that might manage information about students’ or families’ immigration status, such as information technology, admissions, registrar, and financial aid, to review their practices for storing or sharing the data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We hear some campuses have citizenship status on their transcripts and those transcripts get sent to graduate schools, to jobs, and that’s essentially outing students,” Bertadillo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said it’s important for colleges and schools to pass or revisit procedures about what to do if immigration officials ask for data or attempt to enter a campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of institutions created them back in Trump 1.0. We’re recommending they reaffirm or revisit them, so that the campus knows that this is in place,” Bertadillo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Safe haven at school\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Department of Homeland Security has designated schools and colleges \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/guidelines-enforcement-actions-or-near-protected-areas\">as protected areas\u003c/a> where immigration enforcement should be avoided as much as possible. President-elect Trump has said he may rescind this policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the event that ICE officers do enter schools or ask to question students, the attorney general’s guidelines say school staff should ask officers for a judicial warrant. Without a judicial warrant, school staff are not required to give an ICE officer permission to enter the school or conduct a search, or to provide information or records about a student or family, the guidelines say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB48\">bill introduced\u003c/a> by state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond would establish a “safe zone” of 1 mile around schools and prohibit schools from allowing ICE to enter a campus or share information without a judicial warrant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under California law, schools must notify parents or guardians if they release a student to a law-enforcement officer, except in cases of suspected child abuse or neglect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California law does not require schools to notify parents or guardians before law enforcement officers question a child at school, but it does not prohibit schools from notifying them either. California’s attorney general suggests that school districts and charter schools should create policies that require notification of parents or guardians before a law enforcement officer questions or removes a student, unless that officer has a judicial warrant or court order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, the attorney general says if a police officer or immigration agent tries to enter a school or talk to a student for purposes of immigration enforcement, the superintendent or principal should e-mail the Bureau of Children’s Justice in the California Department of Justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Schools should retrain their staff on their visitor management policies, to make sure everyone who comes onto campus, including law enforcement, is questioned about what their purpose is, and that school staff is trained on what to do if law enforcement asks to see information about students or staff,” said Mendoza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Support from school if a family member is detained or deported\u003cbr>\nIf a student reports that their parents or guardians were detained or deported, California law requires that the school must follow parents’ instructions about whom to contact in an emergency. The attorney general’s guidance says “schools should not contact Child Protective Services unless the school is unsuccessful in arranging for the care of the child through the emergency contact information.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The guidance also suggests that schools should help students and family members contact legal assistance, their consulate, and help them locate their detained family members through \u003ca href=\"https://locator.ice.gov/odls/#/search\">ICE’s detainee locator system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mendoza said it is important to note that if a student’s parents are detained or deported, and as a result they have to go live with another family member, at that point, they are eligible for support for homeless students under the federal McKinney-Vento Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Protection from discrimination and harassment\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Federal law prohibits discrimination and harassment based on race, national origin, color, sex, age, disability and religion. California’s law AB 699 also made immigration status a protected characteristic, meaning that schools are required to have policies that prohibit discrimination, harassment and bullying based on immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mendoza said it’s important for families and students who experience bullying or harassment to know they can submit complaints through their schools or to different agencies in California. “There are advocates out there willing to support them if their schools do not act in accordance with best practices or with the law,” Mendoza said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Free lunch, subsidized child care and special education\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In California, all students have a right to a free school lunch, since the 2022-23 school year. In addition, some students whose families are considered low-income qualify for subsidized child care, either all day for infants and preschoolers, or after school for school-age children. Students with disabilities have a right to special education to meet their needs, under federal law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immigrant families are often afraid to apply for public services because they are worried this will count against them when applying for permanent residency. This is largely due to the “public charge” test, which immigration officers use to determine whether green-card applicants are likely to depend on public benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, immigration officers can only consider whether applicants have used cash assistance for income, like SSI or CalWORKs, or long-term institutionalized care paid for by public insurance, such as Medi-Cal. They do not consider school lunch, child care or food stamps. And officers are not allowed to look at whether applicants’ family members, like U.S. citizen children, use public benefits. During the first Trump administration, the president changed this policy to include family members and some other benefits. It is unclear whether he may attempt to change this again in the future. However, even under the changes during his first term, school lunch and child care were not included.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>In-state tuition and scholarships for college\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Under the \u003ca href=\"https://dream.csac.ca.gov/\">California Dream Act\u003c/a>, undocumented students qualify for in-state tuition and state financial aid at California colleges and universities if they attended high school for three or more years or attained credits at community college or adult school and graduated from high school or attained an associate degree or finished minimum transfer requirements at a California community college. The number of students applying for the California Dream Act has \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/study-finds-drop-in-csu-uc-enrollment-of-low-income-undocumented-students/719344\">plummeted\u003c/a> in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Community Colleges Ease STEM Math Placement Rules, Addressing Critics",
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"content": "\u003cp>California math educators this fall have been locked in a vigorous debate: Will the implementation of \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1705\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a new law\u003c/a> help more community college STEM students by skipping prerequisites and placing them directly into calculus, or will it set up the state’s least-prepared students for failure?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, critics scored something of a victory. In a move that already faces legal scrutiny, the chancellor’s office for the state’s community colleges \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Academic-Affairs-24-69-AB-1705-STEM-Preparatory-Course-Validations-Final-1-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">issued a memo\u003c/a> making clear that, when the law takes effect next fall, students in science, technology, engineering and math majors who haven’t passed courses like trigonometry in high school will still have the option to start college math with up to two semesters of courses that are considered preparation for calculus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Previous guidance instructed colleges to enroll those students directly into calculus — sometimes with a simultaneous 1- or 2-unit support class — or place them in new semester-long preparatory classes offered on a trial basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The changes were made after some math faculty across the state criticized the original guidance, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/broadcasts/a-new-law-aims-to-boost-equity-in-stem-what-troubles-some-educators\">including during an EdSource roundtable on the topic hosted last month\u003c/a>. They worried that students without a solid math foundation would struggle if forced to start right away in calculus and said the original guidance went beyond what is required by the law, Assembly Bill 1705.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other math faculty joined advocacy groups in defending the initial rollout plan, citing research that students perform better when they can go straight into calculus regardless of their high school math preparation. Critics, though, say some of that research is flawed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chancellor’s office issued the memo after gathering feedback from faculty, administrators and students about whether the state’s least experienced math students, such as those who didn’t take a class higher than geometry in high school, would be ready for calculus without taking prerequisites, said Melissa Villarin, a spokesperson for the office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been listening to folks, examining the evidence that colleges are bringing to us, and we got to the point that we needed to make a decision,” added John Hetts, the college system’s executive vice chancellor for the Office of Innovation, Data, Evidence and Analytics. “If we didn’t make a decision now, it would not leave colleges enough time to prepare for fall 2025.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calculus is often a required course for many science, technology and engineering majors. In the past, research has shown that some students never get to calculus because they fail to complete necessary prerequisite courses like trigonometry or precalculus, effectively blocking those students from pursuing their degrees. [aside postID=\"news_12014835,mindshift_63058\" label=\"Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AB 1705, signed into law in 2022, requires the college system to evaluate the impact of enrolling students in prerequisites to calculus and, if they can’t prove students benefit from those classes, to stop requiring or even recommending them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some backers of the law interpret it as mandating a shift as much as possible to enrolling all STEM students directly into calculus. They cite a section that states students “shall be directly placed into” the transfer-level class that satisfies the requirement for their degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chancellor’s office officials, however, maintain that the latest guidance is consistent with the law. “The guidance is fully within the parameters of AB 1705,” Paul Feist, a spokesperson for the system, said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the new guidance, students who didn’t pass Algebra II or its equivalent in high school will be allowed to take two semesters worth of calculus prerequisites, which could include some combination of college algebra, trigonometry or precalculus. Students who did pass that course but not trigonometry or precalculus will be allowed to enroll in a one-semester prerequisite course, typically precalculus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new guidance is a compromise, said Pamela Burdman, executive director of Just Equations, a nonprofit organization focused on the role of math in education equity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the chancellor’s office is trying to strike a balance here,” she added. “I do think there has been a tendency to place students in more prerequisites than they may need, but we don’t know enough from the research exactly what the optimal placement system is and how to identify which students need which levels of support.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The guidance won’t be the final word on the issue. It could face a future legal challenge. Jetaun Stevens, an attorney with the civil rights law firm Public Advocates, said the chancellor’s new directive urges colleges “to violate the law.” Stevens said the firm is still “assessing what we can do” and did not rule out a lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This guidance gives colleges permission to completely ignore students’ rights to be placed in calculus. It creates exceptions in the law that don’t exist,” Stevens said. “This is illegal and beyond the chancellor’s office’s authority. They don’t get to pick what part of the law they want to enforce.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Faculty, meanwhile, still plan to pursue legislation next year that would permanently clarify that colleges can offer “standalone foundational pre-transfer courses,” according to a memo being circulated by the Faculty Association for California Community Colleges, a faculty advocacy organization. Wendy Brill-Wynkoop, president of the association, said the draft is being “shared widely with system partners and legislators.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, starting next year, the chancellor’s office plans to collect data from each college and examine how students are accessing calculus. Colleges will have to prove that students are at least as likely to get to and complete calculus when they start in prerequisites as when they start right away in calculus. If the prerequisite path shows worse results, guidance says those prerequisites will need to be eliminated for STEM majors by 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The updated guidance is “simple and based in common sense,” said Tina Akers-Porter, a math professor at Modesto Junior College and one of the leading critics of the original guidance. “If you’ve taken the preparatory courses, then go into calculus. But if you haven’t, then still offer the preparatory courses. That’s what we wanted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tammi Marshall, dean of math, science and engineering at Cuyamaca College, was disappointed in the chancellor’s office’s new direction. She said the chancellor’s office has previously “done a great job of holding the colleges accountable” to evidence suggesting students perform better when placed directly into calculus with a companion support course than in longer sequences of preparatory courses. Her college has been highlighted as an early adopter of AB 1705 and has reported improved calculus completion rates across racial groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt like they were pressured into making a decision that isn’t completely based on the data,” she said of the new guidance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some math faculty said the new guidance leaves departments little time to adapt and may sap energy from attempts to reimagine math courses ahead of next fall. Many departments have designed new classes to prepare students for calculus in anticipation of AB 1705, but it’s unclear whether colleges will choose to offer those courses next fall, as they initially planned, or fall back on older courses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just don’t know where to focus our energy right now,” said Rena Weiss, a math professor at Moorpark College, adding that she’s glad the chancellor’s office listened to faculty members’ concerns and is grateful for the option to place STEM students into courses like trigonometry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other faculty are hoping for more information about exactly which students they can now place into precalculus courses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasts of what the guidance means for access to STEM education varied. Marshall predicted greater inequity at colleges that opt to continue calculus prerequisite sequences with high attrition rates, which she said have a “disproportionate impact on our Black and brown STEM students.”\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other side, Southwestern College math professor Kimberly Eclar said this week’s guidance gives more options to students whose high schools do not offer higher math classes. James Sullivan, a math professor at Sierra College, said the updated rules will benefit students who transition into a STEM career later in life but haven’t yet learned the concepts they’ll need for calculus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hetts, the executive vice chancellor, said the current evidence is simply “not strong enough” to prohibit colleges from offering prerequisites next year. The chancellor’s office, in consultation with the RP Group, a nonprofit that conducts research on behalf of the college system, plans to conduct additional research starting in 2025 “to more thoroughly understand” how students access calculus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The RP Group is also deciding whether to conduct a follow-up study that would compare the longer-term outcomes of students who enroll directly in calculus to those who do not, according to Alyssa T. Nguyen, the organization’s senior director of research and evaluation. Such a study could examine how often each group of students completes associate degrees or transfers. Nguyen wrote in an email that RP Group will continue to draw from student records in its analysis and may also survey, interview or conduct focus groups with students.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California math educators this fall have been locked in a vigorous debate: Will the implementation of \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1705\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a new law\u003c/a> help more community college STEM students by skipping prerequisites and placing them directly into calculus, or will it set up the state’s least-prepared students for failure?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, critics scored something of a victory. In a move that already faces legal scrutiny, the chancellor’s office for the state’s community colleges \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Academic-Affairs-24-69-AB-1705-STEM-Preparatory-Course-Validations-Final-1-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">issued a memo\u003c/a> making clear that, when the law takes effect next fall, students in science, technology, engineering and math majors who haven’t passed courses like trigonometry in high school will still have the option to start college math with up to two semesters of courses that are considered preparation for calculus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Previous guidance instructed colleges to enroll those students directly into calculus — sometimes with a simultaneous 1- or 2-unit support class — or place them in new semester-long preparatory classes offered on a trial basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The changes were made after some math faculty across the state criticized the original guidance, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/broadcasts/a-new-law-aims-to-boost-equity-in-stem-what-troubles-some-educators\">including during an EdSource roundtable on the topic hosted last month\u003c/a>. They worried that students without a solid math foundation would struggle if forced to start right away in calculus and said the original guidance went beyond what is required by the law, Assembly Bill 1705.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other math faculty joined advocacy groups in defending the initial rollout plan, citing research that students perform better when they can go straight into calculus regardless of their high school math preparation. Critics, though, say some of that research is flawed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chancellor’s office issued the memo after gathering feedback from faculty, administrators and students about whether the state’s least experienced math students, such as those who didn’t take a class higher than geometry in high school, would be ready for calculus without taking prerequisites, said Melissa Villarin, a spokesperson for the office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been listening to folks, examining the evidence that colleges are bringing to us, and we got to the point that we needed to make a decision,” added John Hetts, the college system’s executive vice chancellor for the Office of Innovation, Data, Evidence and Analytics. “If we didn’t make a decision now, it would not leave colleges enough time to prepare for fall 2025.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calculus is often a required course for many science, technology and engineering majors. In the past, research has shown that some students never get to calculus because they fail to complete necessary prerequisite courses like trigonometry or precalculus, effectively blocking those students from pursuing their degrees. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AB 1705, signed into law in 2022, requires the college system to evaluate the impact of enrolling students in prerequisites to calculus and, if they can’t prove students benefit from those classes, to stop requiring or even recommending them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some backers of the law interpret it as mandating a shift as much as possible to enrolling all STEM students directly into calculus. They cite a section that states students “shall be directly placed into” the transfer-level class that satisfies the requirement for their degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chancellor’s office officials, however, maintain that the latest guidance is consistent with the law. “The guidance is fully within the parameters of AB 1705,” Paul Feist, a spokesperson for the system, said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the new guidance, students who didn’t pass Algebra II or its equivalent in high school will be allowed to take two semesters worth of calculus prerequisites, which could include some combination of college algebra, trigonometry or precalculus. Students who did pass that course but not trigonometry or precalculus will be allowed to enroll in a one-semester prerequisite course, typically precalculus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new guidance is a compromise, said Pamela Burdman, executive director of Just Equations, a nonprofit organization focused on the role of math in education equity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the chancellor’s office is trying to strike a balance here,” she added. “I do think there has been a tendency to place students in more prerequisites than they may need, but we don’t know enough from the research exactly what the optimal placement system is and how to identify which students need which levels of support.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The guidance won’t be the final word on the issue. It could face a future legal challenge. Jetaun Stevens, an attorney with the civil rights law firm Public Advocates, said the chancellor’s new directive urges colleges “to violate the law.” Stevens said the firm is still “assessing what we can do” and did not rule out a lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This guidance gives colleges permission to completely ignore students’ rights to be placed in calculus. It creates exceptions in the law that don’t exist,” Stevens said. “This is illegal and beyond the chancellor’s office’s authority. They don’t get to pick what part of the law they want to enforce.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Faculty, meanwhile, still plan to pursue legislation next year that would permanently clarify that colleges can offer “standalone foundational pre-transfer courses,” according to a memo being circulated by the Faculty Association for California Community Colleges, a faculty advocacy organization. Wendy Brill-Wynkoop, president of the association, said the draft is being “shared widely with system partners and legislators.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, starting next year, the chancellor’s office plans to collect data from each college and examine how students are accessing calculus. Colleges will have to prove that students are at least as likely to get to and complete calculus when they start in prerequisites as when they start right away in calculus. If the prerequisite path shows worse results, guidance says those prerequisites will need to be eliminated for STEM majors by 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The updated guidance is “simple and based in common sense,” said Tina Akers-Porter, a math professor at Modesto Junior College and one of the leading critics of the original guidance. “If you’ve taken the preparatory courses, then go into calculus. But if you haven’t, then still offer the preparatory courses. That’s what we wanted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tammi Marshall, dean of math, science and engineering at Cuyamaca College, was disappointed in the chancellor’s office’s new direction. She said the chancellor’s office has previously “done a great job of holding the colleges accountable” to evidence suggesting students perform better when placed directly into calculus with a companion support course than in longer sequences of preparatory courses. Her college has been highlighted as an early adopter of AB 1705 and has reported improved calculus completion rates across racial groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt like they were pressured into making a decision that isn’t completely based on the data,” she said of the new guidance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some math faculty said the new guidance leaves departments little time to adapt and may sap energy from attempts to reimagine math courses ahead of next fall. Many departments have designed new classes to prepare students for calculus in anticipation of AB 1705, but it’s unclear whether colleges will choose to offer those courses next fall, as they initially planned, or fall back on older courses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just don’t know where to focus our energy right now,” said Rena Weiss, a math professor at Moorpark College, adding that she’s glad the chancellor’s office listened to faculty members’ concerns and is grateful for the option to place STEM students into courses like trigonometry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other faculty are hoping for more information about exactly which students they can now place into precalculus courses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasts of what the guidance means for access to STEM education varied. Marshall predicted greater inequity at colleges that opt to continue calculus prerequisite sequences with high attrition rates, which she said have a “disproportionate impact on our Black and brown STEM students.”\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other side, Southwestern College math professor Kimberly Eclar said this week’s guidance gives more options to students whose high schools do not offer higher math classes. James Sullivan, a math professor at Sierra College, said the updated rules will benefit students who transition into a STEM career later in life but haven’t yet learned the concepts they’ll need for calculus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hetts, the executive vice chancellor, said the current evidence is simply “not strong enough” to prohibit colleges from offering prerequisites next year. The chancellor’s office, in consultation with the RP Group, a nonprofit that conducts research on behalf of the college system, plans to conduct additional research starting in 2025 “to more thoroughly understand” how students access calculus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The RP Group is also deciding whether to conduct a follow-up study that would compare the longer-term outcomes of students who enroll directly in calculus to those who do not, according to Alyssa T. Nguyen, the organization’s senior director of research and evaluation. Such a study could examine how often each group of students completes associate degrees or transfers. Nguyen wrote in an email that RP Group will continue to draw from student records in its analysis and may also survey, interview or conduct focus groups with students.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Three years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB101\">signed legislation mandating that high schools offer ethnic studies\u003c/a> “upon appropriation,” starting in 2025–26.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, those two words — upon appropriation — loom large. The deadline to offer a semester of ethnic studies in 2025–26 is only seven months away, and requiring the course for graduation is due to begin with the graduating class of 2029–30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2022, the California Department of Finance has taken the position that there has been no appropriation to implement the course, and some other legislators agree — no money, no requirement to develop or offer classes. As a result, school districts might conclude that the law’s “guardrails,” intended to prevent bias, bigotry, and discrimination from seeping into instruction, could be ignored. However, the guardrails language was copied from existing state education statutes (\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=220.&lawCode=EDC\">Education Code 220\u003c/a>), which would still prevail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That lack of funding is creating uncertainty about the future of ethnic studies and suspense about whether Newsom will deliver the money next month when he proposes his 2025–26 budget — and, as importantly, whether he will condition funding on amendments to the law (Assembly Bill 101), including those championed by the Jewish Legislative Caucus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I come at this with a fresh set of eyes. It’s pretty clear that the law only really takes effect if there is funding for this during the budgetary process. There has been no budget allocated for that,” said Assemblymember David Alvarez (D-San Diego), who was elected to the Legislature in 2022 and chairs the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance while serving on the Assembly Budget and Education committees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But that doesn’t mean that that won’t happen in the budget that’s to be released in January, which then funds the 2025–26 school year, which is when this would take effect,” he said. “I would expect it would” be funded.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Options ‘upon appropriation’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There is no statutory definition of “upon appropriation,” which is sometimes inserted in bills requiring significant funding. That leaves the governor and Legislature several options, according to legislative staff. One would be a significant one-time investment with dedicated funding in subsequent years. Another would be to eliminate “upon appropriation” by amending the bill — although that wouldn’t eliminate the state’s obligation to fund the mandate. The Legislature could then leave it to the Commission on State Mandates to decide how much should be reimbursed annually. Districts have complained that the commission tends to lowball reimbursements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advisers to and spokespeople for Newsom refused to discuss the unfunded mandate or what to expect in January, and leaders of one of the strongest advocates of ethnic studies, the controversial \u003ca href=\"https://www.liberatedethnicstudies.org/\">Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium\u003c/a>, aren’t answering requests for comment. An administrator of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sdcoe.net/educators/curriculum-instruction/ethnic-studies\">San Diego County Office of Education\u003c/a>, which is coordinating state grants to develop ethnic studies course curriculums, also declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[ad fullwidth]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Finance Dept. states its position\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for Newsom referred EdSource to the Department of Finance, which, in turn, pointed to a link to a Feb. 22, 2022, webcast of the Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance hearing (\u003ca href=\"https://www.assembly.ca.gov/media/assembly-budget-subcommittee-2-education-finance-20220222\">\u003cem>watch between 2:57 to 3:07\u003c/em>\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the hearing, then-Assemblymember Kevin McCarthy (D-Sacramento), a strong proponent of ethnic studies, noted that the 2021–22 state budget included $50 million that would be disbursed to school districts to “launch this work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do we think that’s the adequate amount we need to make sure we have a successful ethnic studies requirement for high schools throughout California?” he asked state officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amber Alexander, representing the Department of Finance, clarified that the $50 million was one-time funding for districts to create, not implement, the graduation mandate. “Nor,” she added, “does the Finance Department believe the $50 million would be sufficient, should the mandate progress.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know that we have some debate about that, and I’m not sure why you need an appropriation because you’re going to have that class taught in a high school anyway, and you’ll have a teacher teaching that class as opposed to another class,” McCarthy responded. “Just simple mathematics; I don’t get it yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turning to Mike Torres, director of the curriculum frameworks division of the California Department of Education, McCarthy asked, “Do we think that we need any other resources? On the lead-up to ethnic studies throughout California?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torres answered, “Gearing up for this requirement is likely to be a multi-year process with costs exceeding $50 million statewide (for districts) to make that happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an analysis of the financial impact of AB 101, the Finance Department estimated the implementation cost of ethnic studies at $272 million. Alvares said that the 2021 ballpark estimate would need to be recalculated, and he wouldn’t hazard a guess of the cost other than to say it would be well over $100 million annually to reimburse districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Jewish caucus finds an ally in Newsom\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite uncertainty over funding, intense work continues on developing ethnic studies curricula and piloting courses throughout the state. This week, the California Department of Education \u003ca href=\"https://camodelcurricula.ucdavis.edu/about\">launched a website\u003c/a> dedicated to Southeast Asian ethnic studies, including separate K–12 lesson plans exploring Vietnamese, Cambodian and Hmong histories and experiences. Chapters on Native American studies are planned for next fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The site was developed by the county education offices in Orange, Humboldt and San Diego counties, with $14 million in state funding from the 2021–22 budget. San Diego County has also hosted multiple series of ethnic studies webinars for teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the spread of the liberated ethnic studies curriculum developed as an alternative to the state’s Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Framework has escalated tensions between its creator and promoter, the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium and the Jewish Legislative Caucus. The “liberated” version has been a focus of several lawsuits (see \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/lawsuits-charge-antisemitism-civil-rights-violations-at-charter-school-and-high-school-district/722503\">here\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/judge-rejects-lawsuit-over-liberated-ethnic-studies-classes-in-lausd/723380\">here\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyside.org/2024/04/12/berkeley-unified-israel-palestine-curriculum-lawsuit-deborah-project\">here\u003c/a>) brought by Jewish families and supportive law firms charging that its one-sided, ideological opposition to the state of Israel and its ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza has fostered antisemitism in schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say that “liberated” ethnic studies view race relations in America as a continuing struggle against white supremacy and its oppression of people of color. It stresses the importance for students to challenge capitalism and the forces of imperialism, including Israel, which the curriculum calls a modern outpost of “settler colonialism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the urging of the Legislative Jewish Caucus, the Legislature wrote into AB 101 that school districts should not use unadopted portions of earlier drafts of the model curriculum — an oblique reference to the elements of the liberated curriculum that were excised from the first draft. Advocates of liberated ethnic studies charged that the clause and other “guardrails” seek to squelch their free speech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Jewish caucus has found an ally in Newsom. In August 2023, Brooks Allen, executive director of the State Board of Education and a Newsom adviser, wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/8.23.23-Ethnic-Studies-Letter.pdf\">a memo to school districts (PDF)\u003c/a>, “We have been advised, however, that some vendors are offering materials that may not meet the requirements of AB 101, particularly the second requirement (not reflecting or promoting any bias, bigotry, or discrimination), an important guardrail highlighted when the bill was signed. Accordingly, before any curriculum or instructional materials for ethnic studies courses are selected, we strongly encourage you to closely scrutinize them to ensure that they meet the above requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom cites the need to include lessons about Jewish Americans in the ethnic studies curriculum in his 17-page \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Golden-State-Plan-to-Counter-Antisemitism.pdf\">Golden State Plan to Combat Antisemitism (PDF)\u003c/a>, issued in April 2024. It also includes, “The Governor will work with the Jewish Caucus and Legislature to pursue legislation strengthening the guardrails established by AB 101 to ensure all ethnic studies courses are free from bias, bigotry, and discriminatory content.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Second attempt at tighter guardrails\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That is the intent of \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2918\">Assembly Bill 2918\u003c/a>, authored by Assemblymembers Rick Zbur (D-Los Angeles) and Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay). Introduced late in the last legislative session, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/jewish-legislators-not-giving-up-on-more-guardrails-on-ethnic-studies/717999\">it ran aground amid opposition\u003c/a> from the liberated consortium and the California Teachers Association, as well as criticism that it short-circuited the full legislative process. Addis and Zbur promised to start from scratch and confer with opponents and Latino, Black, and Asian legislative caucuses.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11993071,news_12009426,news_12003861\"]The bill called for strengthening vague wording of the guardrails as well as requirements that more opportunities for the public to weigh in on the development of local ethnic studies courses be created before a final vote for adoption by school boards. This has not been the case in some districts and is central to a \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/liberated-ethnic-studies-course-challenged-amid-allegations-of-antisemitism/718347\">lawsuit against Santa Ana Unified\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom has not given any sign of whether he would treat funding and amending AB 101 separately or use funding as leverage for added protections. Zbur, a member of the Jewish caucus, said he’s not calling for that approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want ethnic studies to move forward. The entire Jewish caucus supported ethnic studies when it came up (for a vote). We (he and Addis) don’t view this in a context of leverage,” he said. “We actually have faith that the education unions and our colleagues want to ensure that we meet the goals of ethnic studies in a manner that’s appropriate for all students, including Jewish students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Alvarez, who said he is “fully supportive of ensuring that the guardrails exist from the Jewish caucus perspective,” added that it’s appropriate to revise AB 101 while discussing how to fund it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have an opportunity to ensure we get this right,” he said. “And so as we go forward and implement, we need to make sure that we do so in the best way possible. It’s germane to the requirement that it needs to be funded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/the-clock-is-ticking-ethnic-studies-remains-an-unfunded-mandate-what-will-newsom-do/723665\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Three years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB101\">signed legislation mandating that high schools offer ethnic studies\u003c/a> “upon appropriation,” starting in 2025–26.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, those two words — upon appropriation — loom large. The deadline to offer a semester of ethnic studies in 2025–26 is only seven months away, and requiring the course for graduation is due to begin with the graduating class of 2029–30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2022, the California Department of Finance has taken the position that there has been no appropriation to implement the course, and some other legislators agree — no money, no requirement to develop or offer classes. As a result, school districts might conclude that the law’s “guardrails,” intended to prevent bias, bigotry, and discrimination from seeping into instruction, could be ignored. However, the guardrails language was copied from existing state education statutes (\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=220.&lawCode=EDC\">Education Code 220\u003c/a>), which would still prevail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That lack of funding is creating uncertainty about the future of ethnic studies and suspense about whether Newsom will deliver the money next month when he proposes his 2025–26 budget — and, as importantly, whether he will condition funding on amendments to the law (Assembly Bill 101), including those championed by the Jewish Legislative Caucus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I come at this with a fresh set of eyes. It’s pretty clear that the law only really takes effect if there is funding for this during the budgetary process. There has been no budget allocated for that,” said Assemblymember David Alvarez (D-San Diego), who was elected to the Legislature in 2022 and chairs the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance while serving on the Assembly Budget and Education committees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But that doesn’t mean that that won’t happen in the budget that’s to be released in January, which then funds the 2025–26 school year, which is when this would take effect,” he said. “I would expect it would” be funded.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Options ‘upon appropriation’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There is no statutory definition of “upon appropriation,” which is sometimes inserted in bills requiring significant funding. That leaves the governor and Legislature several options, according to legislative staff. One would be a significant one-time investment with dedicated funding in subsequent years. Another would be to eliminate “upon appropriation” by amending the bill — although that wouldn’t eliminate the state’s obligation to fund the mandate. The Legislature could then leave it to the Commission on State Mandates to decide how much should be reimbursed annually. Districts have complained that the commission tends to lowball reimbursements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advisers to and spokespeople for Newsom refused to discuss the unfunded mandate or what to expect in January, and leaders of one of the strongest advocates of ethnic studies, the controversial \u003ca href=\"https://www.liberatedethnicstudies.org/\">Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium\u003c/a>, aren’t answering requests for comment. An administrator of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sdcoe.net/educators/curriculum-instruction/ethnic-studies\">San Diego County Office of Education\u003c/a>, which is coordinating state grants to develop ethnic studies course curriculums, also declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Finance Dept. states its position\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for Newsom referred EdSource to the Department of Finance, which, in turn, pointed to a link to a Feb. 22, 2022, webcast of the Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance hearing (\u003ca href=\"https://www.assembly.ca.gov/media/assembly-budget-subcommittee-2-education-finance-20220222\">\u003cem>watch between 2:57 to 3:07\u003c/em>\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the hearing, then-Assemblymember Kevin McCarthy (D-Sacramento), a strong proponent of ethnic studies, noted that the 2021–22 state budget included $50 million that would be disbursed to school districts to “launch this work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do we think that’s the adequate amount we need to make sure we have a successful ethnic studies requirement for high schools throughout California?” he asked state officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amber Alexander, representing the Department of Finance, clarified that the $50 million was one-time funding for districts to create, not implement, the graduation mandate. “Nor,” she added, “does the Finance Department believe the $50 million would be sufficient, should the mandate progress.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know that we have some debate about that, and I’m not sure why you need an appropriation because you’re going to have that class taught in a high school anyway, and you’ll have a teacher teaching that class as opposed to another class,” McCarthy responded. “Just simple mathematics; I don’t get it yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turning to Mike Torres, director of the curriculum frameworks division of the California Department of Education, McCarthy asked, “Do we think that we need any other resources? On the lead-up to ethnic studies throughout California?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torres answered, “Gearing up for this requirement is likely to be a multi-year process with costs exceeding $50 million statewide (for districts) to make that happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an analysis of the financial impact of AB 101, the Finance Department estimated the implementation cost of ethnic studies at $272 million. Alvares said that the 2021 ballpark estimate would need to be recalculated, and he wouldn’t hazard a guess of the cost other than to say it would be well over $100 million annually to reimburse districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Jewish caucus finds an ally in Newsom\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite uncertainty over funding, intense work continues on developing ethnic studies curricula and piloting courses throughout the state. This week, the California Department of Education \u003ca href=\"https://camodelcurricula.ucdavis.edu/about\">launched a website\u003c/a> dedicated to Southeast Asian ethnic studies, including separate K–12 lesson plans exploring Vietnamese, Cambodian and Hmong histories and experiences. Chapters on Native American studies are planned for next fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The site was developed by the county education offices in Orange, Humboldt and San Diego counties, with $14 million in state funding from the 2021–22 budget. San Diego County has also hosted multiple series of ethnic studies webinars for teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the spread of the liberated ethnic studies curriculum developed as an alternative to the state’s Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Framework has escalated tensions between its creator and promoter, the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium and the Jewish Legislative Caucus. The “liberated” version has been a focus of several lawsuits (see \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/lawsuits-charge-antisemitism-civil-rights-violations-at-charter-school-and-high-school-district/722503\">here\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/judge-rejects-lawsuit-over-liberated-ethnic-studies-classes-in-lausd/723380\">here\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyside.org/2024/04/12/berkeley-unified-israel-palestine-curriculum-lawsuit-deborah-project\">here\u003c/a>) brought by Jewish families and supportive law firms charging that its one-sided, ideological opposition to the state of Israel and its ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza has fostered antisemitism in schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say that “liberated” ethnic studies view race relations in America as a continuing struggle against white supremacy and its oppression of people of color. It stresses the importance for students to challenge capitalism and the forces of imperialism, including Israel, which the curriculum calls a modern outpost of “settler colonialism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the urging of the Legislative Jewish Caucus, the Legislature wrote into AB 101 that school districts should not use unadopted portions of earlier drafts of the model curriculum — an oblique reference to the elements of the liberated curriculum that were excised from the first draft. Advocates of liberated ethnic studies charged that the clause and other “guardrails” seek to squelch their free speech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Jewish caucus has found an ally in Newsom. In August 2023, Brooks Allen, executive director of the State Board of Education and a Newsom adviser, wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/8.23.23-Ethnic-Studies-Letter.pdf\">a memo to school districts (PDF)\u003c/a>, “We have been advised, however, that some vendors are offering materials that may not meet the requirements of AB 101, particularly the second requirement (not reflecting or promoting any bias, bigotry, or discrimination), an important guardrail highlighted when the bill was signed. Accordingly, before any curriculum or instructional materials for ethnic studies courses are selected, we strongly encourage you to closely scrutinize them to ensure that they meet the above requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom cites the need to include lessons about Jewish Americans in the ethnic studies curriculum in his 17-page \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Golden-State-Plan-to-Counter-Antisemitism.pdf\">Golden State Plan to Combat Antisemitism (PDF)\u003c/a>, issued in April 2024. It also includes, “The Governor will work with the Jewish Caucus and Legislature to pursue legislation strengthening the guardrails established by AB 101 to ensure all ethnic studies courses are free from bias, bigotry, and discriminatory content.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Second attempt at tighter guardrails\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That is the intent of \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2918\">Assembly Bill 2918\u003c/a>, authored by Assemblymembers Rick Zbur (D-Los Angeles) and Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay). Introduced late in the last legislative session, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/jewish-legislators-not-giving-up-on-more-guardrails-on-ethnic-studies/717999\">it ran aground amid opposition\u003c/a> from the liberated consortium and the California Teachers Association, as well as criticism that it short-circuited the full legislative process. Addis and Zbur promised to start from scratch and confer with opponents and Latino, Black, and Asian legislative caucuses.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The bill called for strengthening vague wording of the guardrails as well as requirements that more opportunities for the public to weigh in on the development of local ethnic studies courses be created before a final vote for adoption by school boards. This has not been the case in some districts and is central to a \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/liberated-ethnic-studies-course-challenged-amid-allegations-of-antisemitism/718347\">lawsuit against Santa Ana Unified\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom has not given any sign of whether he would treat funding and amending AB 101 separately or use funding as leverage for added protections. Zbur, a member of the Jewish caucus, said he’s not calling for that approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want ethnic studies to move forward. The entire Jewish caucus supported ethnic studies when it came up (for a vote). We (he and Addis) don’t view this in a context of leverage,” he said. “We actually have faith that the education unions and our colleagues want to ensure that we meet the goals of ethnic studies in a manner that’s appropriate for all students, including Jewish students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Alvarez, who said he is “fully supportive of ensuring that the guardrails exist from the Jewish caucus perspective,” added that it’s appropriate to revise AB 101 while discussing how to fund it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have an opportunity to ensure we get this right,” he said. “And so as we go forward and implement, we need to make sure that we do so in the best way possible. It’s germane to the requirement that it needs to be funded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2024/the-clock-is-ticking-ethnic-studies-remains-an-unfunded-mandate-what-will-newsom-do/723665\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"masters-of-scale": {
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},
"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"onourwatch": {
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"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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},
"pbs-newshour": {
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 5
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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