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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">San Francisco’s school district\u003c/a> is planning to open a new kindergarten through eighth-grade Mandarin immersion school in the fall of 2027, Superintendent Maria Su announced Wednesday, citing a need for more seats in multilingual classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since taking over as superintendent in October, Su said she’s “consistently heard from families the need for more Mandarin immersion programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San Francisco is an international city, and we need to do all that we can to produce global citizens,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement — which was sparse on details — comes as the district faces enrollment decline and an ongoing budget deficit threatening to force school consolidations. It also comes as the school board prepares to vote on a parent-led effort to open a \u003ca href=\"https://www.dragongateacademy.org/\">new K–8 Mandarin Immersion charter school\u003c/a>, which could siphon more funding away from the district if approved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s probably not a coincidence,” Bruce Fuller, a professor emeritus in UC Berkeley’s education department, said of the timing for both school proposals. “I’ve seen a similar dynamic where there’s budget concerns by the school board, there’s sort of recalcitrance around, ‘This is going to be challenging to do. What do we find the teachers?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He continued: “And then there’s charter pressure and, suddenly, the school board and the [superintendent] feel they have more flexibility than they did before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said the city’s public schools have not met demand for Chinese bilingual education. While private options have expanded in recent years, SFUSD has not launched a new Mandarin immersion program since the 2007–08 school year. In that time, multiple new independent schools have begun offering Cantonese dual immersion tracks, and existing private Mandarin immersion schools have increased capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.presidioknolls.org/about/mission\">Presidio Knolls School\u003c/a> graduated its first class of eighth graders in 2021, and Chinese American International School \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_nwt9avYNs/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=8022a21f-9e34-4d93-9d4e-3bb1a1b997f6\">moved to a new campus\u003c/a> last fall to accommodate more students.[aside postID=news_12046580 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg']Currently, SFUSD has just 66 seats per grade across two elementary schools for students interested in Mandarin immersion — at Starr King Elementary School in Potrero Hill and Jose Ortega Elementary in Ingleside — operating since 2006 and 2007, respectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 80 families are on the waitlist for a kindergarten spot at Jose Ortega this August, with both campuses maintaining \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PcBKOb19PDWglhEEkuUrkBLdzCGUv6dcu_Jkl1ZtWS8/edit?gid=0#gid=0\">waitlists\u003c/a> through fifth grade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Details about where the new school will be located, how many students it will serve, and what the enrollment process will look like are all undetermined, spokesperson Laura Dudnick said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said that the expansion will begin with expanding pathways to train and hire qualified teachers. Some of the district’s existing Mandarin immersion classrooms are already struggling to maintain full-time teachers, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/first-k-8-mandarin-immersion-school-20341735.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle \u003c/em>reported\u003c/a> in May.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To address that, the district is partnering with San Francisco State University and the associations of Asian American Administrators and Chinese Teachers to create new training programs and expand certification opportunities for bilingual educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This work will begin with a focus on building out the teacher pipeline first before specifics of the school are established,” Dudnick said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The district has tapped Liana Szeto, who founded the nation’s first Chinese Immersion public school — Alice Fong Yu K–8 — in San Francisco. She will lead the school’s development as a special advisor to Su beginning in January. Szeto retired after 30 years as Alice Fong Yu K–8’s principal this spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I cannot think of someone better to lead this work,” Su told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board of Education President Phil Kim said he supports the venture, which aligns with the district’s goal of expanding multilingual education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Families have been asking for expanded offerings for immersion programs, and so this very well could be an opportunity for families to choose SFUSD, knowing the great history that we have with our multilingual pathways,” he said.[aside postID=news_12044911 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED.jpg']But it’s unclear how the district’s announcement could affect a separate, parent-led effort already in motion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement comes just a few weeks before the board votes on another new immersion school — the parent-led proposal for a K–8 Mandarin immersion charter school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The so-called \u003ca href=\"https://www.dragongateacademy.org/charter-petition\">Dragon Gate Academy\u003c/a>, which hopes to gain a charter to open in the 2026–27 school year, is asking SFUSD to approve its application for a school that it said aimed to fill a lack of access to tuition-free Mandarin Immersion programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Parents have shared their struggles: crushing rejections from oversubscribed programs, long commutes tearing families apart, or private school costs that feel like a betrayal of hope,” the proposed school’s website reads. “Dragon Gate Academy is our answer — a school where kids learn Mandarin and English side by side, celebrating our city’s vibrant heritage and preparing them for a boundless future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fuller said SFUSD’s announcement could give the board reason to reject the charter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the board members might argue, ‘Well, we’re going to serve that excess demand for dual language immersion … maybe we’ll look at the charter applications later,’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Districts are often wary of approving new charter schools, especially when they face enrollment declines and funding shortfalls, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public school funding is tied to student enrollment, so if students leave SFUSD for a charter, the district stands to lose a significant amount of money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Certainly, this initiation of two new schools gets the board a rationale to deny the charter application,” Fuller said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, school boards can deny a charter application if they believe the school would be fiscally detrimental to the district, find the school’s educational program unsound or think the petitioners are unlikely to successfully implement the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kim said the board is focused on “building a sustainable and thriving school system within SFUSD, and we’re willing to partner with whomever to make sure that it happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board is expected to consider Dragon Gate’s application on July 29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">San Francisco’s school district\u003c/a> is planning to open a new kindergarten through eighth-grade Mandarin immersion school in the fall of 2027, Superintendent Maria Su announced Wednesday, citing a need for more seats in multilingual classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since taking over as superintendent in October, Su said she’s “consistently heard from families the need for more Mandarin immersion programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San Francisco is an international city, and we need to do all that we can to produce global citizens,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement — which was sparse on details — comes as the district faces enrollment decline and an ongoing budget deficit threatening to force school consolidations. It also comes as the school board prepares to vote on a parent-led effort to open a \u003ca href=\"https://www.dragongateacademy.org/\">new K–8 Mandarin Immersion charter school\u003c/a>, which could siphon more funding away from the district if approved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s probably not a coincidence,” Bruce Fuller, a professor emeritus in UC Berkeley’s education department, said of the timing for both school proposals. “I’ve seen a similar dynamic where there’s budget concerns by the school board, there’s sort of recalcitrance around, ‘This is going to be challenging to do. What do we find the teachers?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He continued: “And then there’s charter pressure and, suddenly, the school board and the [superintendent] feel they have more flexibility than they did before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said the city’s public schools have not met demand for Chinese bilingual education. While private options have expanded in recent years, SFUSD has not launched a new Mandarin immersion program since the 2007–08 school year. In that time, multiple new independent schools have begun offering Cantonese dual immersion tracks, and existing private Mandarin immersion schools have increased capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.presidioknolls.org/about/mission\">Presidio Knolls School\u003c/a> graduated its first class of eighth graders in 2021, and Chinese American International School \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_nwt9avYNs/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=8022a21f-9e34-4d93-9d4e-3bb1a1b997f6\">moved to a new campus\u003c/a> last fall to accommodate more students.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Currently, SFUSD has just 66 seats per grade across two elementary schools for students interested in Mandarin immersion — at Starr King Elementary School in Potrero Hill and Jose Ortega Elementary in Ingleside — operating since 2006 and 2007, respectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 80 families are on the waitlist for a kindergarten spot at Jose Ortega this August, with both campuses maintaining \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PcBKOb19PDWglhEEkuUrkBLdzCGUv6dcu_Jkl1ZtWS8/edit?gid=0#gid=0\">waitlists\u003c/a> through fifth grade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Details about where the new school will be located, how many students it will serve, and what the enrollment process will look like are all undetermined, spokesperson Laura Dudnick said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said that the expansion will begin with expanding pathways to train and hire qualified teachers. Some of the district’s existing Mandarin immersion classrooms are already struggling to maintain full-time teachers, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/first-k-8-mandarin-immersion-school-20341735.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle \u003c/em>reported\u003c/a> in May.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To address that, the district is partnering with San Francisco State University and the associations of Asian American Administrators and Chinese Teachers to create new training programs and expand certification opportunities for bilingual educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This work will begin with a focus on building out the teacher pipeline first before specifics of the school are established,” Dudnick said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The district has tapped Liana Szeto, who founded the nation’s first Chinese Immersion public school — Alice Fong Yu K–8 — in San Francisco. She will lead the school’s development as a special advisor to Su beginning in January. Szeto retired after 30 years as Alice Fong Yu K–8’s principal this spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I cannot think of someone better to lead this work,” Su told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board of Education President Phil Kim said he supports the venture, which aligns with the district’s goal of expanding multilingual education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Families have been asking for expanded offerings for immersion programs, and so this very well could be an opportunity for families to choose SFUSD, knowing the great history that we have with our multilingual pathways,” he said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But it’s unclear how the district’s announcement could affect a separate, parent-led effort already in motion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement comes just a few weeks before the board votes on another new immersion school — the parent-led proposal for a K–8 Mandarin immersion charter school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The so-called \u003ca href=\"https://www.dragongateacademy.org/charter-petition\">Dragon Gate Academy\u003c/a>, which hopes to gain a charter to open in the 2026–27 school year, is asking SFUSD to approve its application for a school that it said aimed to fill a lack of access to tuition-free Mandarin Immersion programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Parents have shared their struggles: crushing rejections from oversubscribed programs, long commutes tearing families apart, or private school costs that feel like a betrayal of hope,” the proposed school’s website reads. “Dragon Gate Academy is our answer — a school where kids learn Mandarin and English side by side, celebrating our city’s vibrant heritage and preparing them for a boundless future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fuller said SFUSD’s announcement could give the board reason to reject the charter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the board members might argue, ‘Well, we’re going to serve that excess demand for dual language immersion … maybe we’ll look at the charter applications later,’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Districts are often wary of approving new charter schools, especially when they face enrollment declines and funding shortfalls, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public school funding is tied to student enrollment, so if students leave SFUSD for a charter, the district stands to lose a significant amount of money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Certainly, this initiation of two new schools gets the board a rationale to deny the charter application,” Fuller said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, school boards can deny a charter application if they believe the school would be fiscally detrimental to the district, find the school’s educational program unsound or think the petitioners are unlikely to successfully implement the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kim said the board is focused on “building a sustainable and thriving school system within SFUSD, and we’re willing to partner with whomever to make sure that it happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board is expected to consider Dragon Gate’s application on July 29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "ai-is-helping-students-be-more-independent-but-the-isolation-could-be-career-poison",
"title": "AI Is Helping Students Be More Independent, but the Isolation Could Be Career Poison",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters.\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students don’t have the same incentives to talk to their professors — or even their classmates — anymore. Chatbots like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chatgpt\">ChatGPT\u003c/a>, Gemini and Claude have given them a new path to self-sufficiency. Instead of asking a professor for help on a paper topic, students can go to a chatbot. Instead of forming a study group, students can ask AI for help. These chatbots give them quick responses, on their own timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For students juggling school, work and family responsibilities, that ease can seem like a lifesaver. And maybe turning to a chatbot for homework help here and there isn’t such a big deal in isolation. But every time a student decides to ask a question of a chatbot instead of a professor or peer or tutor, that’s one fewer opportunity to build or strengthen a relationship, and the human connections students make on campus are among the most important benefits of college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Julia Freeland-Fisher studies how technology can help or hinder student success at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.christenseninstitute.org\">Clayton Christensen Institute\u003c/a>. She said the consequences of turning to chatbots for help can compound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[ad fullwidth]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over time, that means students have fewer and fewer people in their corner who can help them in other moments of struggle, who can help them in ways a bot might not be capable of,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As colleges further embed ChatGPT and other chatbots into campus life, Freeland-Fisher warns that lost relationships may become a devastating unintended consequence.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Asking for help\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Christian Alba said he has never turned in an AI-written assignment. Alba, 20, attends College of the Canyons, a large community college north of Los Angeles, where he is studying business and history. And while he hasn’t asked ChatGPT to write any papers for him, he has turned to the technology when a blank page and a blinking cursor seemed overwhelming. He has asked for an outline. He has asked for ideas to get him started on an introduction. He has asked for advice about what to prioritize first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kind of hard to just start something fresh off your mind,” Alba said. “I won’t lie. It’s a helpful tool.” Alba has wondered, though, whether turning to ChatGPT with these sorts of questions represents an overreliance on AI. But Alba, like many others in higher education, worries primarily about AI use as it relates to academic integrity, not social capital. And that’s a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988686\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988686\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17.jpg\" alt='A sign that reads \"Can I Use ChatGPT?\" is posted on the wall behind a white woman with glasses.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A poster with information for students on using ChatGPT, an AI platform, in English teacher Jen Roberts’ class at Point Loma High School in San Diego on May 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Adriana Heldiz/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jean Rhodes, a psychology professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston, has spent decades studying the way college students seek help on campus and how the relationships formed during those interactions end up benefitting the students long-term. Rhodes doesn’t begrudge students integrating chatbots into their workflows, as many of their professors have, but she worries that students will get inferior answers to even simple-sounding questions, like, “How do I change my major?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A chatbot might point a student to the registrar’s office, Rhodes said, but had a student asked the question of an advisor, that person may have asked important follow-up questions — why the student wants the change, for example, which could lead to a deeper conversation about a student’s goals and roadblocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand the broader context of students’ lives,” Rhodes said. “They’re smart but they’re not wise, these tools.”[aside postID=news_12048270 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/Teens-and-AI-Chatbots_web-img.png']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rhodes and one of her former doctoral students, Sarah Schwartz, created a program called Connected Scholars to help students understand why it’s valuable to talk to professors and have mentors. The program helped them hone their networking skills and understand what people get out of their networks over the course of their lives — namely, social capital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Connected Scholars is offered as a semester-long course at U Mass Boston, and a forthcoming paper examines outcomes over the last decade, finding that students who take the course are three times more likely to graduate. Over time, Rhodes and her colleagues discovered that the key to the program’s success is getting students past an aversion to asking others for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students will make a plethora of excuses to avoid asking for help, Rhodes said, ticking off a list of them: “‘I don’t want to stand out,’ ‘I don’t want people to realize I don’t fit in here,’ ‘My culture values independence,’ ‘I shouldn’t reach out,’ ‘I’ll get anxious,’ ‘This person won’t respond.’ If you can get past that and get them to recognize the value of reaching out, it’s pretty amazing what happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Connections are key\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Seeking human help not only leaves students with a resolution to a single problem, but it also gives them a connection to another person. And that person, down the line, could become a friend, a mentor or a business partner — a “strong tie,” as social scientists describe their centrality to a person’s network. They could also become a “weak tie” that a student may not see often, but could, importantly, still offer \u003ca href=\"https://news.mit.edu/2022/weak-ties-linkedin-employment-0915\">a job lead\u003c/a> or crucial \u003ca href=\"https://www.mariosmall.com/_files/ugd/4a8452_e96d220a75184b14aee623b41c7e7f30.pdf\">social support\u003c/a> one day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel Chambliss, a retired sociologist from Hamilton College, emphasized the value of relationships in his 2014 book, “How College Works,” co-authored with Christopher Takacs. Throughout their research, the pair found that the key to a successful college experience boiled down to relationships, specifically two or three close friends and one or two trusted adults. Hamilton College goes out of its way to make sure students can form those relationships, structuring work-study to get students into campus offices and around faculty and staff, making room for students of varying athletic abilities on sports teams, and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989313\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989313\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The OpenAI ChatGPT logo. \u003ccite>(Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In fact, \u003ca href=\"https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/how-ai-and-human-behaviors-shape-psychosocial-effects-of-chatbot-use-a-longitudinal-controlled-study/\">a recent study\u003c/a> by researchers at the MIT Media Lab and OpenAI found that the most frequent users of ChatGPT — power users — were more likely to be lonely and isolated from human interaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What scares me about that is that Big Tech would like all of us to be power users,” said Freeland-Fisher. “That’s in the fabric of the business model of a technology company.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yesenia Pacheco is preparing to re-enroll in Long Beach City College for her final semester after more than a year off. Last time she was on campus, ChatGPT existed, but it wasn’t widely used. Now she knows she’s returning to a college where ChatGPT is deeply embedded in students’ as well as faculty and staff’s lives, but Pacheco expects she’ll go back to her old habits — going to her professors’ office hours and sticking around after class to ask them questions. She sees the value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She understands why others might not. Today’s high schoolers, she has noticed, are not used to talking to adults or building mentor-style relationships. At 24, she knows why they matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A chatbot,” she said, “isn’t going to give you a letter of recommendation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/07/chatbots/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters.\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students don’t have the same incentives to talk to their professors — or even their classmates — anymore. Chatbots like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chatgpt\">ChatGPT\u003c/a>, Gemini and Claude have given them a new path to self-sufficiency. Instead of asking a professor for help on a paper topic, students can go to a chatbot. Instead of forming a study group, students can ask AI for help. These chatbots give them quick responses, on their own timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For students juggling school, work and family responsibilities, that ease can seem like a lifesaver. And maybe turning to a chatbot for homework help here and there isn’t such a big deal in isolation. But every time a student decides to ask a question of a chatbot instead of a professor or peer or tutor, that’s one fewer opportunity to build or strengthen a relationship, and the human connections students make on campus are among the most important benefits of college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Julia Freeland-Fisher studies how technology can help or hinder student success at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.christenseninstitute.org\">Clayton Christensen Institute\u003c/a>. She said the consequences of turning to chatbots for help can compound.\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\u003cp>“Over time, that means students have fewer and fewer people in their corner who can help them in other moments of struggle, who can help them in ways a bot might not be capable of,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As colleges further embed ChatGPT and other chatbots into campus life, Freeland-Fisher warns that lost relationships may become a devastating unintended consequence.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Asking for help\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Christian Alba said he has never turned in an AI-written assignment. Alba, 20, attends College of the Canyons, a large community college north of Los Angeles, where he is studying business and history. And while he hasn’t asked ChatGPT to write any papers for him, he has turned to the technology when a blank page and a blinking cursor seemed overwhelming. He has asked for an outline. He has asked for ideas to get him started on an introduction. He has asked for advice about what to prioritize first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kind of hard to just start something fresh off your mind,” Alba said. “I won’t lie. It’s a helpful tool.” Alba has wondered, though, whether turning to ChatGPT with these sorts of questions represents an overreliance on AI. But Alba, like many others in higher education, worries primarily about AI use as it relates to academic integrity, not social capital. And that’s a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988686\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988686\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17.jpg\" alt='A sign that reads \"Can I Use ChatGPT?\" is posted on the wall behind a white woman with glasses.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A poster with information for students on using ChatGPT, an AI platform, in English teacher Jen Roberts’ class at Point Loma High School in San Diego on May 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Adriana Heldiz/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jean Rhodes, a psychology professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston, has spent decades studying the way college students seek help on campus and how the relationships formed during those interactions end up benefitting the students long-term. Rhodes doesn’t begrudge students integrating chatbots into their workflows, as many of their professors have, but she worries that students will get inferior answers to even simple-sounding questions, like, “How do I change my major?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A chatbot might point a student to the registrar’s office, Rhodes said, but had a student asked the question of an advisor, that person may have asked important follow-up questions — why the student wants the change, for example, which could lead to a deeper conversation about a student’s goals and roadblocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand the broader context of students’ lives,” Rhodes said. “They’re smart but they’re not wise, these tools.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rhodes and one of her former doctoral students, Sarah Schwartz, created a program called Connected Scholars to help students understand why it’s valuable to talk to professors and have mentors. The program helped them hone their networking skills and understand what people get out of their networks over the course of their lives — namely, social capital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Connected Scholars is offered as a semester-long course at U Mass Boston, and a forthcoming paper examines outcomes over the last decade, finding that students who take the course are three times more likely to graduate. Over time, Rhodes and her colleagues discovered that the key to the program’s success is getting students past an aversion to asking others for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students will make a plethora of excuses to avoid asking for help, Rhodes said, ticking off a list of them: “‘I don’t want to stand out,’ ‘I don’t want people to realize I don’t fit in here,’ ‘My culture values independence,’ ‘I shouldn’t reach out,’ ‘I’ll get anxious,’ ‘This person won’t respond.’ If you can get past that and get them to recognize the value of reaching out, it’s pretty amazing what happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Connections are key\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Seeking human help not only leaves students with a resolution to a single problem, but it also gives them a connection to another person. And that person, down the line, could become a friend, a mentor or a business partner — a “strong tie,” as social scientists describe their centrality to a person’s network. They could also become a “weak tie” that a student may not see often, but could, importantly, still offer \u003ca href=\"https://news.mit.edu/2022/weak-ties-linkedin-employment-0915\">a job lead\u003c/a> or crucial \u003ca href=\"https://www.mariosmall.com/_files/ugd/4a8452_e96d220a75184b14aee623b41c7e7f30.pdf\">social support\u003c/a> one day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel Chambliss, a retired sociologist from Hamilton College, emphasized the value of relationships in his 2014 book, “How College Works,” co-authored with Christopher Takacs. Throughout their research, the pair found that the key to a successful college experience boiled down to relationships, specifically two or three close friends and one or two trusted adults. Hamilton College goes out of its way to make sure students can form those relationships, structuring work-study to get students into campus offices and around faculty and staff, making room for students of varying athletic abilities on sports teams, and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989313\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989313\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The OpenAI ChatGPT logo. \u003ccite>(Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In fact, \u003ca href=\"https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/how-ai-and-human-behaviors-shape-psychosocial-effects-of-chatbot-use-a-longitudinal-controlled-study/\">a recent study\u003c/a> by researchers at the MIT Media Lab and OpenAI found that the most frequent users of ChatGPT — power users — were more likely to be lonely and isolated from human interaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What scares me about that is that Big Tech would like all of us to be power users,” said Freeland-Fisher. “That’s in the fabric of the business model of a technology company.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yesenia Pacheco is preparing to re-enroll in Long Beach City College for her final semester after more than a year off. Last time she was on campus, ChatGPT existed, but it wasn’t widely used. Now she knows she’s returning to a college where ChatGPT is deeply embedded in students’ as well as faculty and staff’s lives, but Pacheco expects she’ll go back to her old habits — going to her professors’ office hours and sticking around after class to ask them questions. She sees the value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She understands why others might not. Today’s high schoolers, she has noticed, are not used to talking to adults or building mentor-style relationships. At 24, she knows why they matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A chatbot,” she said, “isn’t going to give you a letter of recommendation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/07/chatbots/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Chancellor Lyons Testified in House Hearing on UC Berkeley Antisemitism Policies",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 12:30 p.m. Tuesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uc-berkeley\">UC Berkeley\u003c/a> Chancellor Rich Lyons’ turn in the hot seat on Capitol Hill Tuesday, as he testified on the school’s efforts to prevent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034707/federal-antisemitism-investigations-california-higher-education-explained\">antisemitic discrimination and harassment\u003c/a> on campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyons appeared before the Committee on Education and Workforce, in a hearing titled: “Antisemitism in Higher Education: Examining the Role of Faculty, Funding, and Ideology.” The committee has held a number of hearings with university leaders since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the war in Gaza that followed. The interim president of Georgetown University and the Chancellor of the City University of New York also testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This hearing will focus on the underlying factors instigating antisemitic upheaval and hatred on campus,” committee chair Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Michigan, said in a press release, “Until these factors — such as foreign funding and antisemitic student and faculty groups — are addressed, antisemitism will persist on college campuses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the start of the meeting, Walberg identified a number of groups that he said “incite antisemitism on college campuses,” including faculty and student groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine, Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, faculty unions and Middle East Studies centers, as well as DEI policies and funding sources from outside the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walberg said the hearing marked the “next phase” of the committee’s work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyons was questioned by the committee on several issues, including collective bargaining with pro-Palestinian labor groups, foreign investments in the university, progressive leanings in higher education, doxxing and student safety. He was also repeatedly asked about Ussama Makdisi, a UC Berkeley history professor who was made the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12003861/uc-berkeley-launches-new-palestinian-studies-program-this-fall\">inaugural chair of Palestinian and Arab Studies\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12004344\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12004344\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1368\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi-800x547.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi-1020x698.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi-1536x1051.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi-1920x1313.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UC Berkeley history professor Ussama Makdisi. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sofia Liashcheva via UC Berkeley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The hearing is part of a crusade by the Trump administration to root out what it describes as pervasive antisemitism at some of the top universities in the country. UC Berkeley now joins a list of schools that have appeared before the committee, which includes Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, both of whose presidents resigned after their hearings in December 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During these and other hearings, the Republican House majority has also threatened to revoke federal funding if some schools don’t comply with requested reforms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it also comes at a time when institutions of higher education are under a flurry of investigations by the administration — not just for antisemitism, but also for race and sex based hiring practices, and other programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Critics of the administration see it as a thinly veiled attempt to exert influence on higher education and an attack on academic freedoms.[aside postID=news_12034707 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg']During the hearing, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Maryland) characterized diversity, equity and inclusion practices as fundamentally divisive. He questioned the chancellors about whether a practice that categorizes people on the basis of “oppressor or oppressed” makes college campuses safer for Jewish students. Similar language appeared in President Donald Trump’s executive order on so-called “radical indoctrination” in K-12 schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ This whole crusade against antisemitism is a Trojan horse,” said Amanda Goldstein, a Jewish associate professor of English at UC Berkeley and a member of the group \u003ca href=\"https://speaklearnteach.org/2025/04/16/about-bff2l/\">Berkeley Faculty for the Freedom to Learn\u003c/a>. “ They feel threatened by our form of free inquiry and free thought, and they’re using antisemitism as a pretext to crack down on very many aspects of our legitimate and rigorous research and teaching.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goldstein said BFF2L formed in the spring in response to what she calls an escalation of the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education, including revoking student visas based on their perceived political views and making federal funding contingent on things like the “severe curtailment of faculty input and governance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of Jewish faculty members from UC Berkeley has penned an \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfVjAp1A88aXlahHxCtKEqHvy2UQFH_zW7CUlP96dLvvkpTpQ/viewform\">open letter\u003c/a> to Lyons ahead of his testimony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12034299\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12034299\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students hold up homemade signs and shirts to protest against UC Berkeley during the 2024 commencement ceremony at the California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California, on May 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Aryk Copley/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This letter does not dismiss the real challenges Jewish students, staff, and faculty have faced, including moments of unease and, at times, physical threats. Isolated incidents of hostile speech and even acts of violence have occurred,” the letter said. “However, as Jewish faculty who frequently engage with campus leadership and remain vigilant about the well-being of the Jewish campus community, we reject the claim that Berkeley is an antisemitic campus or that widespread antisemitism exists here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goldstein called the previous hearings by the Committee on Education and Workforce a “bad-faith show trial.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We feel that that capitulation has not worked to protect the important work of education and research that we do in our universities, and we hope that our chancellor will continue to clearly and forcefully defend the research, teaching and scholarship that we do at UC Berkeley.”[aside postID=news_11985335 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/GettyImages-2152066925-1020x680.jpg']In a reflection of the tensions that have existed on college campuses since Oct. 7, 2023, the hearing was punctuated by multiple interruptions from pro-Palestinian protestors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Chancellor Lyon, you are complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. Free Palestine, free Palestine,” shouted one protester, who was quickly removed from the room. Another shouted, “You’re burning children alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some former Justice Department employees are alarmed at how the Trump administration is using its authority to extract concessions out of universities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything that the Trump administration is doing right now is subverting institutional norms,” said Jen Swedish, a former lawyer with the employment litigation section of the Civil Rights Division at the DOJ. “It’s weaponizing the department and in this situation, it’s using civil rights laws as a way to bully employers and other entities into doing what it wants them to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swedish pointed to a recent example: the Trump administration successfully \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/us/politics/uva-president-resigns-jim-ryan-trump.html\">demanded the resignation\u003c/a> of the president of the University of Virginia as a condition to settle a civil rights investigation into the school’s diversity practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea of threatening a university president to resign as a way to settle a Title VII case is completely out of the norm,” Swedish said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008656\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008656\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Harry Singh (center), a pro-Israel student at Berkeley, counter-protests a walkout and rally for Gaza and Lebanon at the University of California, Berkeley on Oct. 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The DOJ is currently investigating whether the UC system allowed an “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029887/trump-doj-investigate-university-california-over-antisemitism-allegations\">antisemitic hostile work environment\u003c/a>” to exist for professors, staff and other employees, while UC Berkeley itself is one of 60 schools being \u003ca href=\"https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-educations-office-civil-rights-sends-letters-60-universities-under-investigation-antisemitic-discrimination-and-harassment\">investigated\u003c/a> by the U.S. Department of Education for allegedly failing to “fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyons is the second Berkeley education official to be called before the committee to testify about antisemitism in schools. In May 2024, Enikia Ford Morthel, the superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985335/berkeley-schools-chief-rejects-allegations-of-pervasive-antisemitism-in-capitol-hill-testimony\">firmly denied accusations\u003c/a> that antisemitism had become “pervasive” in the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyons took the helm as chancellor of Berkeley just over a year ago in July 2024. He inherited a UC system that has beefed up rules \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12000770/uc-president-orders-new-rules-on-encampments-masks-as-students-return-to-school\">preventing student encampments\u003c/a> and restricted how students can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12000859/uc-system-implements-new-rules-on-protests-encampments\">protest on campuses\u003c/a>.[aside postID=news_12047925 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/RobBontaSFAP-1020x680.jpg']“In universities, there is a freedom to express one’s views — even if there’s some learning that needs to happen through that process,” Lyons said during his testimony. “If somebody is expressing pro-Palestine views, that’s not necessarily antisemitism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Michigan) and several other representatives questioned Lyons on statements Makdisi had made regarding the Hamas attack on Israel. McClain said the professor previously described the attack as an act of “resistance” and said he could have been one of the people “who broke through on the siege.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a celebration of the terrorist attack on Oct. 7,” Lyons said after being questioned by McClain on the subject for several minutes. He also referred to Makdisi several times throughout the hearing as a “fine scholar,” and acknowledged the professor’s academic contributions to the university.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Oct. 7, 2023, university campuses across the Bay Area have become hotbeds for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11984203/pro-palestinian-protests-sweep-california-college-campuses-amid-israel-hamas-war\">student-led demonstrations\u003c/a> decrying Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza. During the 2023–24 school year, students led monthslong encampments calling for divestment from companies that supported Israel’s military, among other demands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jewish students and allies on those same campuses responded with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978998/uc-berkeley-jewish-community-members-march-on-campus-amid-rising-tensions\">marches and demonstrations\u003c/a> of their own, claiming they felt unsafe at school due to outspoken activism against Israel and Israeli soldiers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his first month in office, Trump signed an executive order aimed at fighting antisemitism, particularly on college campuses. The administration’s DOJ formed a multi-agency task force to combat antisemitism shortly after.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008657\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008657\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students hold signs that read “No Votes for Genocide” at a walkout and rally for Gaza and Lebanon at the University of California, Berkeley on Oct. 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While Lyon’s testimony isn’t explicitly linked to the multitude of investigations into the UC System and UC Berkeley itself, it certainly is related, according to Swedish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swedish said if the UC system is found to have engaged in a pattern or practice of workplace discrimination against Jewish employees, the DOJ would enter into a settlement agreement with the UC System “ to take certain measurable steps that we believe would prevent it from happening again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The crackdown on Harvard University may foreshadow other potential impacts upon the UC system or UC Berkeley itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On June 30, the DOJ’s joint antisemitism task force notified Harvard that its investigation found that the university was in “violent violation” of the Civil Rights Act for failing to adequately protect Jewish students from antisemitism on campus.” The task force said in a press release that “failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Justice does not currently have an open investigation into whether the UC system or UC Berkeley has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by failing to prevent antisemitism on campus. But if it were to open one, “revocation of federal funds is a potential remedy,” according to Swedish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley received $419 million in research funding from the federal government for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2024, according to Assistant Vice Chancellor Dan Mogulof, a university spokesperson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 12:30 p.m. Tuesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uc-berkeley\">UC Berkeley\u003c/a> Chancellor Rich Lyons’ turn in the hot seat on Capitol Hill Tuesday, as he testified on the school’s efforts to prevent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034707/federal-antisemitism-investigations-california-higher-education-explained\">antisemitic discrimination and harassment\u003c/a> on campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyons appeared before the Committee on Education and Workforce, in a hearing titled: “Antisemitism in Higher Education: Examining the Role of Faculty, Funding, and Ideology.” The committee has held a number of hearings with university leaders since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the war in Gaza that followed. The interim president of Georgetown University and the Chancellor of the City University of New York also testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This hearing will focus on the underlying factors instigating antisemitic upheaval and hatred on campus,” committee chair Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Michigan, said in a press release, “Until these factors — such as foreign funding and antisemitic student and faculty groups — are addressed, antisemitism will persist on college campuses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the start of the meeting, Walberg identified a number of groups that he said “incite antisemitism on college campuses,” including faculty and student groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine, Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, faculty unions and Middle East Studies centers, as well as DEI policies and funding sources from outside the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walberg said the hearing marked the “next phase” of the committee’s work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyons was questioned by the committee on several issues, including collective bargaining with pro-Palestinian labor groups, foreign investments in the university, progressive leanings in higher education, doxxing and student safety. He was also repeatedly asked about Ussama Makdisi, a UC Berkeley history professor who was made the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12003861/uc-berkeley-launches-new-palestinian-studies-program-this-fall\">inaugural chair of Palestinian and Arab Studies\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12004344\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12004344\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1368\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi-800x547.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi-1020x698.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi-1536x1051.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/UCBerkeleyMakdisi-1920x1313.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UC Berkeley history professor Ussama Makdisi. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sofia Liashcheva via UC Berkeley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The hearing is part of a crusade by the Trump administration to root out what it describes as pervasive antisemitism at some of the top universities in the country. UC Berkeley now joins a list of schools that have appeared before the committee, which includes Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, both of whose presidents resigned after their hearings in December 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During these and other hearings, the Republican House majority has also threatened to revoke federal funding if some schools don’t comply with requested reforms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it also comes at a time when institutions of higher education are under a flurry of investigations by the administration — not just for antisemitism, but also for race and sex based hiring practices, and other programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Critics of the administration see it as a thinly veiled attempt to exert influence on higher education and an attack on academic freedoms.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>During the hearing, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Maryland) characterized diversity, equity and inclusion practices as fundamentally divisive. He questioned the chancellors about whether a practice that categorizes people on the basis of “oppressor or oppressed” makes college campuses safer for Jewish students. Similar language appeared in President Donald Trump’s executive order on so-called “radical indoctrination” in K-12 schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ This whole crusade against antisemitism is a Trojan horse,” said Amanda Goldstein, a Jewish associate professor of English at UC Berkeley and a member of the group \u003ca href=\"https://speaklearnteach.org/2025/04/16/about-bff2l/\">Berkeley Faculty for the Freedom to Learn\u003c/a>. “ They feel threatened by our form of free inquiry and free thought, and they’re using antisemitism as a pretext to crack down on very many aspects of our legitimate and rigorous research and teaching.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goldstein said BFF2L formed in the spring in response to what she calls an escalation of the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education, including revoking student visas based on their perceived political views and making federal funding contingent on things like the “severe curtailment of faculty input and governance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of Jewish faculty members from UC Berkeley has penned an \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfVjAp1A88aXlahHxCtKEqHvy2UQFH_zW7CUlP96dLvvkpTpQ/viewform\">open letter\u003c/a> to Lyons ahead of his testimony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12034299\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12034299\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC8380_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students hold up homemade signs and shirts to protest against UC Berkeley during the 2024 commencement ceremony at the California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California, on May 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Aryk Copley/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This letter does not dismiss the real challenges Jewish students, staff, and faculty have faced, including moments of unease and, at times, physical threats. Isolated incidents of hostile speech and even acts of violence have occurred,” the letter said. “However, as Jewish faculty who frequently engage with campus leadership and remain vigilant about the well-being of the Jewish campus community, we reject the claim that Berkeley is an antisemitic campus or that widespread antisemitism exists here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goldstein called the previous hearings by the Committee on Education and Workforce a “bad-faith show trial.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We feel that that capitulation has not worked to protect the important work of education and research that we do in our universities, and we hope that our chancellor will continue to clearly and forcefully defend the research, teaching and scholarship that we do at UC Berkeley.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In a reflection of the tensions that have existed on college campuses since Oct. 7, 2023, the hearing was punctuated by multiple interruptions from pro-Palestinian protestors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Chancellor Lyon, you are complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. Free Palestine, free Palestine,” shouted one protester, who was quickly removed from the room. Another shouted, “You’re burning children alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some former Justice Department employees are alarmed at how the Trump administration is using its authority to extract concessions out of universities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything that the Trump administration is doing right now is subverting institutional norms,” said Jen Swedish, a former lawyer with the employment litigation section of the Civil Rights Division at the DOJ. “It’s weaponizing the department and in this situation, it’s using civil rights laws as a way to bully employers and other entities into doing what it wants them to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swedish pointed to a recent example: the Trump administration successfully \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/us/politics/uva-president-resigns-jim-ryan-trump.html\">demanded the resignation\u003c/a> of the president of the University of Virginia as a condition to settle a civil rights investigation into the school’s diversity practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea of threatening a university president to resign as a way to settle a Title VII case is completely out of the norm,” Swedish said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008656\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008656\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Harry Singh (center), a pro-Israel student at Berkeley, counter-protests a walkout and rally for Gaza and Lebanon at the University of California, Berkeley on Oct. 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The DOJ is currently investigating whether the UC system allowed an “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029887/trump-doj-investigate-university-california-over-antisemitism-allegations\">antisemitic hostile work environment\u003c/a>” to exist for professors, staff and other employees, while UC Berkeley itself is one of 60 schools being \u003ca href=\"https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-educations-office-civil-rights-sends-letters-60-universities-under-investigation-antisemitic-discrimination-and-harassment\">investigated\u003c/a> by the U.S. Department of Education for allegedly failing to “fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyons is the second Berkeley education official to be called before the committee to testify about antisemitism in schools. In May 2024, Enikia Ford Morthel, the superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985335/berkeley-schools-chief-rejects-allegations-of-pervasive-antisemitism-in-capitol-hill-testimony\">firmly denied accusations\u003c/a> that antisemitism had become “pervasive” in the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyons took the helm as chancellor of Berkeley just over a year ago in July 2024. He inherited a UC system that has beefed up rules \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12000770/uc-president-orders-new-rules-on-encampments-masks-as-students-return-to-school\">preventing student encampments\u003c/a> and restricted how students can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12000859/uc-system-implements-new-rules-on-protests-encampments\">protest on campuses\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“In universities, there is a freedom to express one’s views — even if there’s some learning that needs to happen through that process,” Lyons said during his testimony. “If somebody is expressing pro-Palestine views, that’s not necessarily antisemitism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Michigan) and several other representatives questioned Lyons on statements Makdisi had made regarding the Hamas attack on Israel. McClain said the professor previously described the attack as an act of “resistance” and said he could have been one of the people “who broke through on the siege.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a celebration of the terrorist attack on Oct. 7,” Lyons said after being questioned by McClain on the subject for several minutes. He also referred to Makdisi several times throughout the hearing as a “fine scholar,” and acknowledged the professor’s academic contributions to the university.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Oct. 7, 2023, university campuses across the Bay Area have become hotbeds for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11984203/pro-palestinian-protests-sweep-california-college-campuses-amid-israel-hamas-war\">student-led demonstrations\u003c/a> decrying Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza. During the 2023–24 school year, students led monthslong encampments calling for divestment from companies that supported Israel’s military, among other demands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jewish students and allies on those same campuses responded with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978998/uc-berkeley-jewish-community-members-march-on-campus-amid-rising-tensions\">marches and demonstrations\u003c/a> of their own, claiming they felt unsafe at school due to outspoken activism against Israel and Israeli soldiers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his first month in office, Trump signed an executive order aimed at fighting antisemitism, particularly on college campuses. The administration’s DOJ formed a multi-agency task force to combat antisemitism shortly after.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008657\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008657\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-03-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students hold signs that read “No Votes for Genocide” at a walkout and rally for Gaza and Lebanon at the University of California, Berkeley on Oct. 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While Lyon’s testimony isn’t explicitly linked to the multitude of investigations into the UC System and UC Berkeley itself, it certainly is related, according to Swedish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swedish said if the UC system is found to have engaged in a pattern or practice of workplace discrimination against Jewish employees, the DOJ would enter into a settlement agreement with the UC System “ to take certain measurable steps that we believe would prevent it from happening again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The crackdown on Harvard University may foreshadow other potential impacts upon the UC system or UC Berkeley itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On June 30, the DOJ’s joint antisemitism task force notified Harvard that its investigation found that the university was in “violent violation” of the Civil Rights Act for failing to adequately protect Jewish students from antisemitism on campus.” The task force said in a press release that “failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Justice does not currently have an open investigation into whether the UC system or UC Berkeley has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by failing to prevent antisemitism on campus. But if it were to open one, “revocation of federal funds is a potential remedy,” according to Swedish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley received $419 million in research funding from the federal government for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2024, according to Assistant Vice Chancellor Dan Mogulof, a university spokesperson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "heinous-heartbreaking-and-expensive-california-schools-face-avalanche-of-sex-abuse-claims",
"title": "Heinous, Heartbreaking — and Expensive. California Schools Face Avalanche of Sex Abuse Claims",
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"headTitle": "Heinous, Heartbreaking — and Expensive. California Schools Face Avalanche of Sex Abuse Claims | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Samantha Muñoz was a second grader at Fancher Creek Elementary in Clovis, her teacher told her she “wasn’t that bright” and needed extra help with schoolwork. He’d make her stay in the classroom at recess, or tell her to sit on his lap while other students were busy with assignments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During those quiet times in the classroom, she said, he sexually abused her — over and over, for at least a semester, even after the school principal walked in on him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one knew. I just didn’t know who to run to. I ran to the school, and they shut me down into silence,” said Muñoz, who’s now 28. “But (now) I’ve figured, no one should be living like this. It’s time to speak your truth and make it OK to talk about. It’s a sensitive topic, but it needs awareness and closure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muñoz, who lives in Fresno County, is part of a multi-plaintiff lawsuit against the Clovis Unified School District alleging the district knew about Muñoz’s teacher but — for at least seven years, from 2005-2012 — did not stop him from abusing students. Clovis Unified had no comment on the case because of the litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muñoz’s case is one of at least 1,000 lawsuits against California school districts and counties stemming from \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB218\">AB 218\u003c/a>, a sexual abuse reform law that took effect in 2020. It temporarily dropped the statute of limitations, provided a three-year window for victims to file claims and otherwise made it easier for them to sue school districts and counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cases span decades, some as early as the 1940s. In many cases the perpetrator is dead, the district staff has turned over, and there’s no longer a paper trail of the original complaint, if there ever was one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new law has resulted in a slew of payouts to abuse survivors, most in the range of $5 million to $10 million but some much higher. In 2023 a jury delivered a $135 million verdict against Moreno Valley Unified in Riverside County. Los Angeles Unified is expecting to pay more than $500 million to settle a portion of its claims. Overall, the claims against schools total nearly $3 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Counties also have paid out large sums of money. In April, Los Angeles County \u003ca href=\"https://lacounty.gov/2025/04/04/la-county-reaches-4-billion-tentative-settlement-in-thousands-of-sexual-abuse-cases/\">paid $4 billion\u003c/a> to settle 6,800 abuse claims from victims who were abused in foster care or in probation department facilities. Like many government entities, Los Angeles County is self-insured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlements have been so large that they’ve brought some school districts to the brink of financial insolvency and state takeover. They’ve also resulted in steep spikes in insurance payments for all school districts, regardless of whether they’ve been sued.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Untenable’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Carpinteria Unified is among those districts facing financial collapse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The predominantly low-income Latino district near Santa Barbara has been served with four sexual abuse lawsuits, all involving the same perpetrator: a principal who was \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-10-mn-2255-story.html\">convicted in 1986 of abusing several boys\u003c/a> in the 1970s and early 1980s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These suits are settling for $5 million to $10 million each, and we have a $42 million budget. You do the math,” said Superintendent Diana Rigby. “It’s untenable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12047461 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/GettyImages-959592014_qed.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has already spent $750,000 on legal fees, and has had to lay off staff, increase class sizes and cut field trips, enrichment activities and other programs to pay its legal bills. Although the district had insurance at the time of the abuse, the company has since gone out of business and its current insurance company won’t cover old claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The perpetrator is dead and the district staff has turned over 100% since the incidents occurred. Years ago, the district instituted strict protocols for abuse claims, immediately contacting the police and placing the alleged perpetrator on leave until an investigation is complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rigby worries about how her district will survive. If the state takes it over, it’ll lose its school board and superintendent, and further cuts will be inevitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe all the victims need to be compensated for these heinous crimes,” Rigby said. “But AB 218 is causing current students and taxpayers to pay for crimes that happened 50 years ago, that they had nothing to do with. There has to be a better solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Legislative solution?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Several current bills in the Legislature would curb the law, at least somewhat. A bill by Sen. John Laird, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb577\">SB 577\u003c/a>, would bring back a statute of limitations, make it easier for districts to issue bonds to pay off settlements and take other steps to give some relief to school districts and other public agencies. But it doesn’t cap attorneys’ fees or settlements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The political reality, Laird said, is that there’s not enough support in the Legislature to limit legal settlements in abuse cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to walk between the poles of avoiding billions of dollars in settlements, while not neglecting the rights of victims,” said Laird, a Democrat from Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill passed the Senate and is now in the Assembly judiciary committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consumer Attorneys of California is neutral on the bill, but several school lobbying groups have opposed it, saying it doesn’t go far enough. One group, the Association of California School Administrators, would also like to see school districts share responsibility for paying settlements with the perpetrator or other groups that might be involved, such as sports or after-school organizations. The group also wants the state to study the possibility of a victims’ fund that’s not entirely monetary; it could also include mental and physical health services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The abuse settlements are the worst financial threat to school districts since the Great Recession of 2008-2009, said Mike Fine, director of the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team, which advises the state and school districts on financial matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His \u003ca href=\"https://www.fcmat.org/PublicationsReports/child-sexual-assault-fiscal-implications-report.pdf\">group is recommending\u003c/a> that the state create a database of abuse claims as well as teachers who have been accused, to prevent perpetrators from bouncing from one district to another. The group also recommends more flexibility on settlement payment plans, and an alternative to state takeover for districts that are out of money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Laird, Fine’s group is not calling for a cap on settlements or attorney fees. “We didn’t think tort reform was within our scope,” Fine said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re also not calling for a state-financed victims’ fund, something school districts have asked for. Laird said the state lacks the money for such a fund. Fine’s group omitted it from its recommendations because a victims’ fund could preclude a trial, and Fine said that victims should have a right to go to court and have their voices heard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But schools’ top priority, Fine said, should be setting tough protocols to prevent abuse from happening in the first place. Although some districts have instituted safeguards, not all have, and the state doesn’t have a uniform policy because it’s deemed a local issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Schools have to hold themselves to a higher standard, and we’ve clearly failed in this regard,” Fine said. “This simply has to stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Prime time’ for trial attorneys\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The sexual abuse law has been a windfall for trial attorneys. Billboards seeking clients have cropped up around the state, and lawyers from throughout the country have come to California to file claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Typically attorneys in abuse lawsuits work for free until there’s a resolution, and then collect a portion of the payout if the plaintiff prevails — in some instances up to 40%, depending on the complexity of the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dorothy Johnson, legislative advocate for the Association of California School Administrators, called the current scenario “prime time” for trial attorneys in California, but forcing impossible burdens onto school districts and other agencies. Schools are already contending with financial hardships due to declining enrollment, the end of pandemic relief funds and federal education cuts. These settlements are pushing some districts over the edge — while attorneys are making millions, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t think trial attorneys should be profiting at the expense of current students,” Johnson said. “We want to make sure victims get resolution but at the same time put some guardrails up. Right now, there are no guardrails.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trial attorneys’ association is not opposed to changes in the law, as long as victims’ rights aren’t curtailed, said Nancy Peverini, legislative director for California Consumer Attorneys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s an understanding that we need to find a balance, but it’s really important that survivors’ voices don’t get lost,” Peverini said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hard choices in Montecito\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Montecito — a scenic enclave near Santa Barbara — is home to Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities. With sweeping views of the Pacific and Santa Ynez mountains, it’s one of the most affluent and exclusive towns in the country. Its school district, however, is facing financial calamity and a possible state takeover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Montecito Union Elementary District serves about 350 students, mostly children from affluent families but also the children of Montecito’s landscapers and housekeepers. Earlier this year, it took in 42 students from Pacific Palisades, which was largely destroyed in a wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, three former students sued the district over sexual abuse they said they experienced from 1972-76. The district denied the claim, and is negotiating a settlement. The payout and legal costs could swell to $20 million — more than the district’s annual budget. Even a state loan wouldn’t solve the problem, because the payments would be more than the district can afford, according to Fine’s organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s insurance company at the time of the alleged abuse no longer exists, and its current insurer doesn’t cover events from that long ago. That means that like Carpinteria Unified, Montecito will have to pay the entire cost — cutting programs, borrowing money and using reserves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“First of all, there’s a whole lot of empathy. We were heartbroken to hear these allegations,” Superintendent Anthony Ranii said. “But none of us were here then. Many of us weren’t even born. The alleged perpetrator and witnesses are dead. We’re putting the responsibility for something that might or might not have happened in 1972 100% on the heads of students in 2025. That’s not fair.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We need awareness’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Muñoz, the abuse she suffered during the 2004-05 school year took more than a decade to come to terms with. Even after the abuse stopped, Muñoz found school difficult, socially and academically. She lost trust in adults and emotionally withdrew. She never talked about what happened, not even to her family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neng Yang, the teacher whom Muñoz said abused her, was arrested and tried in 2014 on 45 counts of sexual abuse on a child under age 10, based on testimony from numerous victims who were students at Fancher Creek Elementary. He was \u003ca href=\"https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/former-fresno-area-teacher-pleads-guilty-producing-child-pornography\">convicted\u003c/a> and is serving a 38-year sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muñoz only started talking about the abuse a few years ago, when she started reading about the impacts of childhood abuse. Earlier this year, she got a call from Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala, a Washington-based law firm, that was investigating claims from another of Yang’s victims for a potential suit against Clovis Unified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She decided to share her story with the attorneys and join the lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just want other victims to know that they’re not the only ones,” Muñoz said. “It’s OK to talk about it. We need awareness if there’s going to be change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2025/07/child-sex-abuse-california/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A California law took effect in 2020 that dropped the statute of limitations for filing lawsuits, provided a three-year window for victims to file claims and otherwise made it easier for them to sue school districts and counties.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Samantha Muñoz was a second grader at Fancher Creek Elementary in Clovis, her teacher told her she “wasn’t that bright” and needed extra help with schoolwork. He’d make her stay in the classroom at recess, or tell her to sit on his lap while other students were busy with assignments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During those quiet times in the classroom, she said, he sexually abused her — over and over, for at least a semester, even after the school principal walked in on him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one knew. I just didn’t know who to run to. I ran to the school, and they shut me down into silence,” said Muñoz, who’s now 28. “But (now) I’ve figured, no one should be living like this. It’s time to speak your truth and make it OK to talk about. It’s a sensitive topic, but it needs awareness and closure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muñoz, who lives in Fresno County, is part of a multi-plaintiff lawsuit against the Clovis Unified School District alleging the district knew about Muñoz’s teacher but — for at least seven years, from 2005-2012 — did not stop him from abusing students. Clovis Unified had no comment on the case because of the litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muñoz’s case is one of at least 1,000 lawsuits against California school districts and counties stemming from \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB218\">AB 218\u003c/a>, a sexual abuse reform law that took effect in 2020. It temporarily dropped the statute of limitations, provided a three-year window for victims to file claims and otherwise made it easier for them to sue school districts and counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cases span decades, some as early as the 1940s. In many cases the perpetrator is dead, the district staff has turned over, and there’s no longer a paper trail of the original complaint, if there ever was one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new law has resulted in a slew of payouts to abuse survivors, most in the range of $5 million to $10 million but some much higher. In 2023 a jury delivered a $135 million verdict against Moreno Valley Unified in Riverside County. Los Angeles Unified is expecting to pay more than $500 million to settle a portion of its claims. Overall, the claims against schools total nearly $3 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Counties also have paid out large sums of money. In April, Los Angeles County \u003ca href=\"https://lacounty.gov/2025/04/04/la-county-reaches-4-billion-tentative-settlement-in-thousands-of-sexual-abuse-cases/\">paid $4 billion\u003c/a> to settle 6,800 abuse claims from victims who were abused in foster care or in probation department facilities. Like many government entities, Los Angeles County is self-insured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlements have been so large that they’ve brought some school districts to the brink of financial insolvency and state takeover. They’ve also resulted in steep spikes in insurance payments for all school districts, regardless of whether they’ve been sued.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Untenable’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Carpinteria Unified is among those districts facing financial collapse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The predominantly low-income Latino district near Santa Barbara has been served with four sexual abuse lawsuits, all involving the same perpetrator: a principal who was \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-10-mn-2255-story.html\">convicted in 1986 of abusing several boys\u003c/a> in the 1970s and early 1980s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These suits are settling for $5 million to $10 million each, and we have a $42 million budget. You do the math,” said Superintendent Diana Rigby. “It’s untenable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has already spent $750,000 on legal fees, and has had to lay off staff, increase class sizes and cut field trips, enrichment activities and other programs to pay its legal bills. Although the district had insurance at the time of the abuse, the company has since gone out of business and its current insurance company won’t cover old claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The perpetrator is dead and the district staff has turned over 100% since the incidents occurred. Years ago, the district instituted strict protocols for abuse claims, immediately contacting the police and placing the alleged perpetrator on leave until an investigation is complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rigby worries about how her district will survive. If the state takes it over, it’ll lose its school board and superintendent, and further cuts will be inevitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe all the victims need to be compensated for these heinous crimes,” Rigby said. “But AB 218 is causing current students and taxpayers to pay for crimes that happened 50 years ago, that they had nothing to do with. There has to be a better solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Legislative solution?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Several current bills in the Legislature would curb the law, at least somewhat. A bill by Sen. John Laird, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb577\">SB 577\u003c/a>, would bring back a statute of limitations, make it easier for districts to issue bonds to pay off settlements and take other steps to give some relief to school districts and other public agencies. But it doesn’t cap attorneys’ fees or settlements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The political reality, Laird said, is that there’s not enough support in the Legislature to limit legal settlements in abuse cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to walk between the poles of avoiding billions of dollars in settlements, while not neglecting the rights of victims,” said Laird, a Democrat from Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill passed the Senate and is now in the Assembly judiciary committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consumer Attorneys of California is neutral on the bill, but several school lobbying groups have opposed it, saying it doesn’t go far enough. One group, the Association of California School Administrators, would also like to see school districts share responsibility for paying settlements with the perpetrator or other groups that might be involved, such as sports or after-school organizations. The group also wants the state to study the possibility of a victims’ fund that’s not entirely monetary; it could also include mental and physical health services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The abuse settlements are the worst financial threat to school districts since the Great Recession of 2008-2009, said Mike Fine, director of the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team, which advises the state and school districts on financial matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His \u003ca href=\"https://www.fcmat.org/PublicationsReports/child-sexual-assault-fiscal-implications-report.pdf\">group is recommending\u003c/a> that the state create a database of abuse claims as well as teachers who have been accused, to prevent perpetrators from bouncing from one district to another. The group also recommends more flexibility on settlement payment plans, and an alternative to state takeover for districts that are out of money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Laird, Fine’s group is not calling for a cap on settlements or attorney fees. “We didn’t think tort reform was within our scope,” Fine said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re also not calling for a state-financed victims’ fund, something school districts have asked for. Laird said the state lacks the money for such a fund. Fine’s group omitted it from its recommendations because a victims’ fund could preclude a trial, and Fine said that victims should have a right to go to court and have their voices heard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But schools’ top priority, Fine said, should be setting tough protocols to prevent abuse from happening in the first place. Although some districts have instituted safeguards, not all have, and the state doesn’t have a uniform policy because it’s deemed a local issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Schools have to hold themselves to a higher standard, and we’ve clearly failed in this regard,” Fine said. “This simply has to stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Prime time’ for trial attorneys\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The sexual abuse law has been a windfall for trial attorneys. Billboards seeking clients have cropped up around the state, and lawyers from throughout the country have come to California to file claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Typically attorneys in abuse lawsuits work for free until there’s a resolution, and then collect a portion of the payout if the plaintiff prevails — in some instances up to 40%, depending on the complexity of the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dorothy Johnson, legislative advocate for the Association of California School Administrators, called the current scenario “prime time” for trial attorneys in California, but forcing impossible burdens onto school districts and other agencies. Schools are already contending with financial hardships due to declining enrollment, the end of pandemic relief funds and federal education cuts. These settlements are pushing some districts over the edge — while attorneys are making millions, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t think trial attorneys should be profiting at the expense of current students,” Johnson said. “We want to make sure victims get resolution but at the same time put some guardrails up. Right now, there are no guardrails.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trial attorneys’ association is not opposed to changes in the law, as long as victims’ rights aren’t curtailed, said Nancy Peverini, legislative director for California Consumer Attorneys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s an understanding that we need to find a balance, but it’s really important that survivors’ voices don’t get lost,” Peverini said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hard choices in Montecito\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Montecito — a scenic enclave near Santa Barbara — is home to Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities. With sweeping views of the Pacific and Santa Ynez mountains, it’s one of the most affluent and exclusive towns in the country. Its school district, however, is facing financial calamity and a possible state takeover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Montecito Union Elementary District serves about 350 students, mostly children from affluent families but also the children of Montecito’s landscapers and housekeepers. Earlier this year, it took in 42 students from Pacific Palisades, which was largely destroyed in a wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, three former students sued the district over sexual abuse they said they experienced from 1972-76. The district denied the claim, and is negotiating a settlement. The payout and legal costs could swell to $20 million — more than the district’s annual budget. Even a state loan wouldn’t solve the problem, because the payments would be more than the district can afford, according to Fine’s organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s insurance company at the time of the alleged abuse no longer exists, and its current insurer doesn’t cover events from that long ago. That means that like Carpinteria Unified, Montecito will have to pay the entire cost — cutting programs, borrowing money and using reserves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“First of all, there’s a whole lot of empathy. We were heartbroken to hear these allegations,” Superintendent Anthony Ranii said. “But none of us were here then. Many of us weren’t even born. The alleged perpetrator and witnesses are dead. We’re putting the responsibility for something that might or might not have happened in 1972 100% on the heads of students in 2025. That’s not fair.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We need awareness’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Muñoz, the abuse she suffered during the 2004-05 school year took more than a decade to come to terms with. Even after the abuse stopped, Muñoz found school difficult, socially and academically. She lost trust in adults and emotionally withdrew. She never talked about what happened, not even to her family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neng Yang, the teacher whom Muñoz said abused her, was arrested and tried in 2014 on 45 counts of sexual abuse on a child under age 10, based on testimony from numerous victims who were students at Fancher Creek Elementary. He was \u003ca href=\"https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/former-fresno-area-teacher-pleads-guilty-producing-child-pornography\">convicted\u003c/a> and is serving a 38-year sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muñoz only started talking about the abuse a few years ago, when she started reading about the impacts of childhood abuse. Earlier this year, she got a call from Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala, a Washington-based law firm, that was investigating claims from another of Yang’s victims for a potential suit against Clovis Unified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She decided to share her story with the attorneys and join the lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just want other victims to know that they’re not the only ones,” Muñoz said. “It’s OK to talk about it. We need awareness if there’s going to be change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2025/07/child-sex-abuse-california/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California to Pay $14 Million to Former Student Abused at Deaf School in Fremont",
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"content": "\u003cp>The state of California will pay $14 million in a settlement involving a former student at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, who allegedly endured years of abuse at the hands of a former employee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaintiff, whose identity has been concealed, was enrolled at the California School for the Deaf Fremont, or CSDF, between 2009 and 2011. The state-funded boarding school serves about 400 deaf and hard-of-hearing students, ages 3 to 21, from 46 counties across California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doe filed a lawsuit in 2018, alleging that former employee Ricardo Rose abused him in his dorm room, beginning when Doe was 10 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of Doe’s attorneys, Dave Ring, said Rose had a history of complaints from students and staff for inappropriate behavior. Although Rose had no criminal record at the time of his hiring over 30 years ago, Ring said concerns about his conduct grew over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A huge part of the problem is that the school had prior problems with this perpetrator,” Ring said. “They had had prior complaints from both students and from staff about his misconduct and behavior.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ring said one staff member felt that Rose “was harassing her and she was actually afraid of him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She actually refused to work around him because she was in fear of him,” Ring said. “This was not some model employee.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite repeated red flags, the school issued restrictions rather than asserting a zero-tolerance policy and removing Rose. One such restriction, Ring said, was that “he was not supposed to be anywhere near the bungalows after normal school hours, and yet he continued to go over there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re talking about serious misconduct and serious complaints about boundary issues, about interactions with kids, about sexual harassment — and yet they don’t fire him,” Ring continued.[aside postID=news_11990571 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66175_20230608_ksuzuki_adelanteschool-111-KQED-1020x678.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Ring, Rose, who is also deaf, threatened to “bite Doe’s fingers off” if he revealed the abuse to anyone, and at times choked him in his own dorm bed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2011, after over two years of alleged abuse, Doe begged his parents to withdraw him from the school, though he didn’t explain why. It would be another seven years — once Doe turned 18 years old — before he came forward as an adult to report the abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s expanded statute of limitations allows victims more time to bring forward abuse claims. After the police investigated Doe’s claims, the California Highway Patrol arrested Rose in the Hayward area on charges of child molestation and criminal threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ring said the $14 million settlement is the largest the state has ever paid to a single survivor of sexual abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know that there are other victims of this perpetrator,” Ring said, emphasizing his concern that Rose is not in custody. “If they haven’t come forward already, I would urge them to do so.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Liz Sanders, director of communications for the California Department of Education, said, “Student safety remains a top priority” for both the department and the state’s special schools, including the CSDF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since learning of these incidents, CSDF has taken additional protective measures for students,” Sanders said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Increasing residential staffing and providing additional training for residential staff are two of those actions, according to Sanders. She said the school has also “expanded monitoring capabilities” throughout the campus to help “ensure safe, supportive learning environments for current and future students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CSDF did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the experience was deeply traumatizing for Doe, Ring said his client has been in therapy and the litigation did provide a sense of closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It empowered him,” Ring said. “He made a difference, and they acknowledged that he had been seriously harmed. So all things considered, he is in a good spot right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The state of California will pay $14 million in a settlement involving a former student at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, who allegedly endured years of abuse at the hands of a former employee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaintiff, whose identity has been concealed, was enrolled at the California School for the Deaf Fremont, or CSDF, between 2009 and 2011. The state-funded boarding school serves about 400 deaf and hard-of-hearing students, ages 3 to 21, from 46 counties across California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doe filed a lawsuit in 2018, alleging that former employee Ricardo Rose abused him in his dorm room, beginning when Doe was 10 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of Doe’s attorneys, Dave Ring, said Rose had a history of complaints from students and staff for inappropriate behavior. Although Rose had no criminal record at the time of his hiring over 30 years ago, Ring said concerns about his conduct grew over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A huge part of the problem is that the school had prior problems with this perpetrator,” Ring said. “They had had prior complaints from both students and from staff about his misconduct and behavior.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ring said one staff member felt that Rose “was harassing her and she was actually afraid of him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She actually refused to work around him because she was in fear of him,” Ring said. “This was not some model employee.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite repeated red flags, the school issued restrictions rather than asserting a zero-tolerance policy and removing Rose. One such restriction, Ring said, was that “he was not supposed to be anywhere near the bungalows after normal school hours, and yet he continued to go over there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re talking about serious misconduct and serious complaints about boundary issues, about interactions with kids, about sexual harassment — and yet they don’t fire him,” Ring continued.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Ring, Rose, who is also deaf, threatened to “bite Doe’s fingers off” if he revealed the abuse to anyone, and at times choked him in his own dorm bed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2011, after over two years of alleged abuse, Doe begged his parents to withdraw him from the school, though he didn’t explain why. It would be another seven years — once Doe turned 18 years old — before he came forward as an adult to report the abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s expanded statute of limitations allows victims more time to bring forward abuse claims. After the police investigated Doe’s claims, the California Highway Patrol arrested Rose in the Hayward area on charges of child molestation and criminal threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ring said the $14 million settlement is the largest the state has ever paid to a single survivor of sexual abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know that there are other victims of this perpetrator,” Ring said, emphasizing his concern that Rose is not in custody. “If they haven’t come forward already, I would urge them to do so.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Liz Sanders, director of communications for the California Department of Education, said, “Student safety remains a top priority” for both the department and the state’s special schools, including the CSDF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since learning of these incidents, CSDF has taken additional protective measures for students,” Sanders said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Increasing residential staffing and providing additional training for residential staff are two of those actions, according to Sanders. She said the school has also “expanded monitoring capabilities” throughout the campus to help “ensure safe, supportive learning environments for current and future students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CSDF did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the experience was deeply traumatizing for Doe, Ring said his client has been in therapy and the litigation did provide a sense of closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It empowered him,” Ring said. “He made a difference, and they acknowledged that he had been seriously harmed. So all things considered, he is in a good spot right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/university-of-california\">University of California\u003c/a> student governments are banned from boycotting Israel, the university system told campus presidents on Wednesday in an apparent concession to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/donald-trump\">Trump\u003c/a> administration’s effort to crack down on pro-Palestinian movements on university campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC President Michael Drake told chancellors in a letter that their campuses have an obligation to make financial decisions that are “grounded in sound business practices,” prohibiting them from boycotting companies based on associations with particular countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter applies to all countries, but comes after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and National Science Foundation sent notices to federal grantees in May with updated guidelines prohibiting recipients of new grants from engaging in boycotts of Israel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, UC student governments, including at Berkeley and Davis campuses, have been among \u003ca href=\"https://uscpr.org/activist-resource/boycott-divestment-and-sanctions/bdswins/\">dozens\u003c/a> of campus organizations at universities throughout the U.S. that have passed legislation boycotting Israeli companies and those that supply weapons or surveillance technology to the nation as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter said existing UC policy prohibits these kinds of boycotts, since universities and their student governments are required to include competitive bidding in their financial and business decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12035711\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12035711\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pro-Palestine protesters attempt to block a counterprotester with an Israeli flag at UCLA on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. Attendees rallied to protest ICE’s detainment of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who led protests at Columbia University last year. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The right of individuals and groups to express their views on public matters is distinct from the responsibility of University entities to conduct their financial affairs in a manner consistent with University policy and applicable law,” Drake’s letter reads. “This letter reaffirms both.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Abigail Verino, the president of the Associated Students of the University of California at UC Berkeley, said in a statement that her office was committed to upholding the decisions made by the student body. In May 2024, the organization passed legislation divesting from companies it said contribute to genocide in Gaza with little opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The university has been at the forefront of pro-Palestinian student-activist movements, earning it a spot on the list of schools the Trump administration is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034221/trump-administration-subpoenas-uc-faculty-information-antisemitism-investigation\">currently probing over claims of antisemitism\u003c/a>, along with Stanford, Columbia, Harvard and others. UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons is among three university chancellors who have been called to speak at a congressional committee hearing on antisemitism this month.[aside postID=news_12034707 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg']“We take seriously our responsibility to reflect student voices, especially when they concern matters of conscience and global justice,” Verino wrote in her email to KQED. “We’re navigating this moment thoughtfully and deliberately.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, UC Davis suspended its law school’s student association after it passed legislation banning the use of student funds for businesses that are part of the BDS movement’s list of companies that fund Israel and vowing not to approve funding requests for events featuring speakers they say represent the Israeli government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, the university took control of the law student association’s $40,000 annual budget over the new regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dov Baum, the director of corporate accountability for American Friends Service Committee, an organization supporting the university BDS movement, said the recent change to the grant eligibility policy represents a larger aim of the Trump administration to stifle free speech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we all see how the Trump administration is trying to crack down on universities, just like other authoritarian regimes are trying to crack down on locations where independent free thoughts can happen, and universities are one such place,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008670\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008670\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student holds a sign that reads “Divest” at a walkout and rally for Gaza and Lebanon at the University of California, Berkeley on Oct. 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Baum said that the administration’s focus on activism that opposes Israel is especially effective, since BDS has been divisive, even among progressives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Historically in this country, there was a big movement of what we call PEPs — ‘progressives except Palestine.’ People who believe in human rights and equality and liberation, but somehow leave behind the Palestinians,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new grant conditions from the National Science Foundation also warned that grants would not be provided to entities that operate any programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, but the letter from Drake does not discuss DEI efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The university system had pulled back some diversity initiatives, including a requirement that applicants for faculty positions submit diversity statements, which \u003ca href=\"https://ucop.edu/communications/_files/2025-03-20-provost-ltr-re-diversity-statements.pdf\">the UC’s Board of Regents discontinued in March\u003c/a>, but its diversity statement and information, as well as the UC Office of the President’s \u003ca href=\"https://diversity.universityofcalifornia.edu/\">Equity, Diversity and Inclusion department\u003c/a> are still in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baum said she understood that there was significant political pressure on universities to comply with the Trump administration, especially given their reliance on financial funding for research efforts. The UC received more than $4 billion — more than half of its total research budget — in research funding from federal agencies in 2024, according to university data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are willing to compromise, especially when it comes to issues around Palestine. This is where, usually, progressives compromise, unfortunately,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/university-of-california\">University of California\u003c/a> student governments are banned from boycotting Israel, the university system told campus presidents on Wednesday in an apparent concession to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/donald-trump\">Trump\u003c/a> administration’s effort to crack down on pro-Palestinian movements on university campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC President Michael Drake told chancellors in a letter that their campuses have an obligation to make financial decisions that are “grounded in sound business practices,” prohibiting them from boycotting companies based on associations with particular countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter applies to all countries, but comes after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and National Science Foundation sent notices to federal grantees in May with updated guidelines prohibiting recipients of new grants from engaging in boycotts of Israel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, UC student governments, including at Berkeley and Davis campuses, have been among \u003ca href=\"https://uscpr.org/activist-resource/boycott-divestment-and-sanctions/bdswins/\">dozens\u003c/a> of campus organizations at universities throughout the U.S. that have passed legislation boycotting Israeli companies and those that supply weapons or surveillance technology to the nation as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter said existing UC policy prohibits these kinds of boycotts, since universities and their student governments are required to include competitive bidding in their financial and business decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12035711\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12035711\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/UCLAProtestGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pro-Palestine protesters attempt to block a counterprotester with an Israeli flag at UCLA on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. Attendees rallied to protest ICE’s detainment of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who led protests at Columbia University last year. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The right of individuals and groups to express their views on public matters is distinct from the responsibility of University entities to conduct their financial affairs in a manner consistent with University policy and applicable law,” Drake’s letter reads. “This letter reaffirms both.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Abigail Verino, the president of the Associated Students of the University of California at UC Berkeley, said in a statement that her office was committed to upholding the decisions made by the student body. In May 2024, the organization passed legislation divesting from companies it said contribute to genocide in Gaza with little opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The university has been at the forefront of pro-Palestinian student-activist movements, earning it a spot on the list of schools the Trump administration is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034221/trump-administration-subpoenas-uc-faculty-information-antisemitism-investigation\">currently probing over claims of antisemitism\u003c/a>, along with Stanford, Columbia, Harvard and others. UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons is among three university chancellors who have been called to speak at a congressional committee hearing on antisemitism this month.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We take seriously our responsibility to reflect student voices, especially when they concern matters of conscience and global justice,” Verino wrote in her email to KQED. “We’re navigating this moment thoughtfully and deliberately.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, UC Davis suspended its law school’s student association after it passed legislation banning the use of student funds for businesses that are part of the BDS movement’s list of companies that fund Israel and vowing not to approve funding requests for events featuring speakers they say represent the Israeli government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, the university took control of the law student association’s $40,000 annual budget over the new regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dov Baum, the director of corporate accountability for American Friends Service Committee, an organization supporting the university BDS movement, said the recent change to the grant eligibility policy represents a larger aim of the Trump administration to stifle free speech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we all see how the Trump administration is trying to crack down on universities, just like other authoritarian regimes are trying to crack down on locations where independent free thoughts can happen, and universities are one such place,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008670\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008670\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241008-UCB-CAMPUS-WALKOUT-MD-11-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student holds a sign that reads “Divest” at a walkout and rally for Gaza and Lebanon at the University of California, Berkeley on Oct. 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Baum said that the administration’s focus on activism that opposes Israel is especially effective, since BDS has been divisive, even among progressives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Historically in this country, there was a big movement of what we call PEPs — ‘progressives except Palestine.’ People who believe in human rights and equality and liberation, but somehow leave behind the Palestinians,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new grant conditions from the National Science Foundation also warned that grants would not be provided to entities that operate any programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, but the letter from Drake does not discuss DEI efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The university system had pulled back some diversity initiatives, including a requirement that applicants for faculty positions submit diversity statements, which \u003ca href=\"https://ucop.edu/communications/_files/2025-03-20-provost-ltr-re-diversity-statements.pdf\">the UC’s Board of Regents discontinued in March\u003c/a>, but its diversity statement and information, as well as the UC Office of the President’s \u003ca href=\"https://diversity.universityofcalifornia.edu/\">Equity, Diversity and Inclusion department\u003c/a> are still in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baum said she understood that there was significant political pressure on universities to comply with the Trump administration, especially given their reliance on financial funding for research efforts. The UC received more than $4 billion — more than half of its total research budget — in research funding from federal agencies in 2024, according to university data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are willing to compromise, especially when it comes to issues around Palestine. This is where, usually, progressives compromise, unfortunately,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Bay Area school districts stand to lose millions of federal dollars budgeted for programs that support \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12002815/lawmakers-push-to-fully-implement-english-learner-roadmap-in-california-schools\">English language learners\u003c/a>, children of migrant families and others this fall after the Trump administration made a last-minute move to freeze funding for the fiscal year that begins Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Education notified states Monday afternoon that it would withhold more than $6.8 billion for six grant programs under review, including those that fund language instruction, after-school programs, teacher training and more. The freeze is expected to affect upwards of $1 billion meant for California school districts, threatening to exacerbate their \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12027158/how-oakland-and-sf-ended-up-among-7-ca-school-districts-who-cant-pay-their-bills\">already squeezed wallets\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The actions at this time represent an incredible disruption,” state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said during a press conference on Tuesday. “As schools are preparing for the next school year, as many of our programs are already in their summer programming, it couldn’t come at a worse time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The administration is punishing children for the sole reason that states refuse to cater to Trump’s political ideology, so we are here in California today to say we’re not going to let that happen,” he continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State offices of education were informed Monday that, given the change in presidential administrations, the Department of Education was reviewing congressionally appropriated grant allocations for the 2025 fiscal year, which states had expected to begin drawing down on July 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The messages said final decisions had not been made for the upcoming academic year, and that the department would not issue grant award notifications until that review was complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12045403\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12045403\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/gettyimages-2220605099-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"President Trump pumps his fist after stepping off Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Saturday.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/gettyimages-2220605099-1-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/gettyimages-2220605099-1-2000x1332.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/gettyimages-2220605099-1-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/gettyimages-2220605099-1-1536x1023.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/gettyimages-2220605099-1-2048x1364.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Trump pumps his fist after stepping off Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on June 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t immediately clear what the timeline would be. The Trump administration and the Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Edgar Zazueta, the executive director of the Association of California School Administrators, said the cuts will have a disproportionate effect on those public school students who need some of the most support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“English learners, our migrant students, adult education, after-school programs — all those who need more are the ones that are being targeted,” he said during the press conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Oakland, $1.47 million in Title III grant funding is allocated to pay for salaries and programming in language instruction for English learners this year, and another $2 million is planned to supplement teaching instruction. More than 32% of OUSD students are considered English language learners, according to district data.[aside postID=news_12046580 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg']Julie Kessler, who heads the newcomer and English language learner programs in OUSD, said that while some of the funding targets those students specifically, all students will be affected by the loss of funds, which pay for education coaches for teachers, curriculum writers who keep lesson plans up to date, and extended hours for teachers to modify their classes and do professional development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to send teachers back to schools less prepared than they would have been if we had Title III funding,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco school district’s nearly $1.3 billion budget accounts for $1.48 million for instruction for more than 15,000 English language learners — about 24% of all students, according to the state’s Ed Data dashboard — and an additional $2.5 million for instruction support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both districts were already set to receive less funding from these grants this year than in the last fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Districts in more rural parts of California will be hit especially hard by the loss of funds for migrant family programs, according to Patricia Unruhe, who heads the program at Pajaro Valley Unified School District in Santa Cruz County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 8% of Pajaro Valley students come from migrant families, Unruhe said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12026832\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12026832\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/GettyImages-2197914000-scaled-e1740613370625.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A protester waves the national flags of Mexico during a demonstration for immigrants’ rights outside of Los Angeles City Hall on Feb. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We serve over 1,000 migrant education students, and those students have unique educational needs because their families move around in order to work in the agricultural field,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the program helps mitigate learning loss from frequent school changes by focusing on early literacy for students as young as pre-kindergarten, and identifying students in high school who are falling behind in math and language arts and need additional support to catch up to grade level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rich DuVarney, the president of the California County Superintendents, said the frozen funds could lead to layoffs, continued use of outdated class materials and cuts to enrichment, summer and after-school programs.[aside postID=news_12046431 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250612-NICARAGUAN-JOURNALIST-MD-01-KQED-1.jpg']“By withdrawing those funds, our district leaders will be forced to reduce staff, delay programs and cancel services for those students [who are] the most vulnerable that rely upon those services,” he said during the press conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state was already having trouble accessing federal funding, according to California Department of Education chief of staff David Schapira, which he said is partly due to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030839/us-education-department-says-it-is-cutting-nearly-half-of-all-staff\">mass reductions\u003c/a> in the U.S. Department of Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the department would cut nearly half of its staff. Courts have required the department to hire back those workers, but Schapira said they have been placed on administrative leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, we believe the U.S. Department of Education lacks the resources to get some of these funds out in a timely manner — by choice,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state office of education did not say whether it would sue the Trump administration over the funding freeze, but it said it was in contact with California politicians and Attorney General Rob Bonta, as well as other states, adding that no legal remedy was off the table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonta’s office, which has been at the forefront of many state-led challenges to Trump administration policies, did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a joint statement, California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff said the state was prepared to respond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This reckless decision threatens the future of America’s workforce and our global competitiveness. And if the Administration is asking for a fight, make no mistake — California will give it to them,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">\u003cem>Sara Hossaini\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Bay Area school districts stand to lose millions of federal dollars budgeted for programs that support \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12002815/lawmakers-push-to-fully-implement-english-learner-roadmap-in-california-schools\">English language learners\u003c/a>, children of migrant families and others this fall after the Trump administration made a last-minute move to freeze funding for the fiscal year that begins Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Education notified states Monday afternoon that it would withhold more than $6.8 billion for six grant programs under review, including those that fund language instruction, after-school programs, teacher training and more. The freeze is expected to affect upwards of $1 billion meant for California school districts, threatening to exacerbate their \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12027158/how-oakland-and-sf-ended-up-among-7-ca-school-districts-who-cant-pay-their-bills\">already squeezed wallets\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The actions at this time represent an incredible disruption,” state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said during a press conference on Tuesday. “As schools are preparing for the next school year, as many of our programs are already in their summer programming, it couldn’t come at a worse time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The administration is punishing children for the sole reason that states refuse to cater to Trump’s political ideology, so we are here in California today to say we’re not going to let that happen,” he continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State offices of education were informed Monday that, given the change in presidential administrations, the Department of Education was reviewing congressionally appropriated grant allocations for the 2025 fiscal year, which states had expected to begin drawing down on July 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The messages said final decisions had not been made for the upcoming academic year, and that the department would not issue grant award notifications until that review was complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12045403\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12045403\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/gettyimages-2220605099-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"President Trump pumps his fist after stepping off Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Saturday.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/gettyimages-2220605099-1-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/gettyimages-2220605099-1-2000x1332.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/gettyimages-2220605099-1-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/gettyimages-2220605099-1-1536x1023.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/gettyimages-2220605099-1-2048x1364.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Trump pumps his fist after stepping off Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on June 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t immediately clear what the timeline would be. The Trump administration and the Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Edgar Zazueta, the executive director of the Association of California School Administrators, said the cuts will have a disproportionate effect on those public school students who need some of the most support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“English learners, our migrant students, adult education, after-school programs — all those who need more are the ones that are being targeted,” he said during the press conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Oakland, $1.47 million in Title III grant funding is allocated to pay for salaries and programming in language instruction for English learners this year, and another $2 million is planned to supplement teaching instruction. More than 32% of OUSD students are considered English language learners, according to district data.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Julie Kessler, who heads the newcomer and English language learner programs in OUSD, said that while some of the funding targets those students specifically, all students will be affected by the loss of funds, which pay for education coaches for teachers, curriculum writers who keep lesson plans up to date, and extended hours for teachers to modify their classes and do professional development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to send teachers back to schools less prepared than they would have been if we had Title III funding,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco school district’s nearly $1.3 billion budget accounts for $1.48 million for instruction for more than 15,000 English language learners — about 24% of all students, according to the state’s Ed Data dashboard — and an additional $2.5 million for instruction support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both districts were already set to receive less funding from these grants this year than in the last fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Districts in more rural parts of California will be hit especially hard by the loss of funds for migrant family programs, according to Patricia Unruhe, who heads the program at Pajaro Valley Unified School District in Santa Cruz County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 8% of Pajaro Valley students come from migrant families, Unruhe said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12026832\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12026832\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/GettyImages-2197914000-scaled-e1740613370625.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A protester waves the national flags of Mexico during a demonstration for immigrants’ rights outside of Los Angeles City Hall on Feb. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We serve over 1,000 migrant education students, and those students have unique educational needs because their families move around in order to work in the agricultural field,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the program helps mitigate learning loss from frequent school changes by focusing on early literacy for students as young as pre-kindergarten, and identifying students in high school who are falling behind in math and language arts and need additional support to catch up to grade level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rich DuVarney, the president of the California County Superintendents, said the frozen funds could lead to layoffs, continued use of outdated class materials and cuts to enrichment, summer and after-school programs.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“By withdrawing those funds, our district leaders will be forced to reduce staff, delay programs and cancel services for those students [who are] the most vulnerable that rely upon those services,” he said during the press conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state was already having trouble accessing federal funding, according to California Department of Education chief of staff David Schapira, which he said is partly due to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030839/us-education-department-says-it-is-cutting-nearly-half-of-all-staff\">mass reductions\u003c/a> in the U.S. Department of Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the department would cut nearly half of its staff. Courts have required the department to hire back those workers, but Schapira said they have been placed on administrative leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, we believe the U.S. Department of Education lacks the resources to get some of these funds out in a timely manner — by choice,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state office of education did not say whether it would sue the Trump administration over the funding freeze, but it said it was in contact with California politicians and Attorney General Rob Bonta, as well as other states, adding that no legal remedy was off the table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonta’s office, which has been at the forefront of many state-led challenges to Trump administration policies, did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a joint statement, California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff said the state was prepared to respond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This reckless decision threatens the future of America’s workforce and our global competitiveness. And if the Administration is asking for a fight, make no mistake — California will give it to them,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">\u003cem>Sara Hossaini\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Vallejo City Unified School District has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11913592/bay-area-schools-see-families-leave-cities-flock-to-suburbs\">full local control of its schools\u003c/a> for the first time in more than two decades, after it announced this week that state oversight of the district has officially ended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not just an administrative shift — it’s a full-circle moment for a district that has worked tirelessly to rebuild credibility, restore fiscal solvency, and center student success,” Superintendent Rubén Aurelio said in a statement. “Our entire community — educators, families, partners, and students — has contributed to this recovery, and we are ready to lead with discipline and vision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, Solano County Superintendent Lisette Estrella-Henderson formally recommended that the district exit state receivership after what the district said was years of difficult financial planning, stable leadership and steps toward financial recovery. The district was joined by nearby Oakland Unified School District, which also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043062/as-ousd-gets-closer-to-controlling-its-finances-new-budget-challenges-loom\">exited state receivership on Monday\u003c/a> after 22 years of state control, the \u003cem>Mercury News\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/30/oakland-unified-school-district-control-receivership/\">reported\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state took over Vallejo schools in 2004 after the threat of financial ruin forced the district to take out a $60 million emergency loan from the state to stay solvent. For the last 20 years, a state-appointed administrator has been responsible for overseeing the school district’s financial and managerial operations, although partial control was eventually returned to the district’s Board of Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Declining enrollment, depleted cash reserves and overspending brought the district to the brink of bankruptcy, Aurelio said. As the financial crisis mounted, district officials such as the superintendent were unable to make unilateral decisions without consulting with entities such as the teachers’ union, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046659\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/GettyImages-1321886659-scaled-e1751332683484.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046659\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/GettyImages-1321886659-scaled-e1751332683484.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1289\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">On March 29, 2005, former Solano County Superintendent of Schools Dee Alarcon listened in Fairfield, Calif., as auditors delivered their findings to the Solano Office of Education in regards to troubled Vallejo City Unified School District, which “willfully overstated student enrollment, took out loans to cover debts and shuffled money between accounts to hide millions of dollars in losses,” leading up to the $60 million bailout. \u003ccite>(Michael Macor / San Francisco Chronicle (Photo By Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After the state took over, the administrator who was put in place was able to make “sweeping changes” without needing to bargain and negotiate, leading to more aggressive budget cuts and two school closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to paying off the loan, the school district had to demonstrate to the Solano County Office of Education that an accountability plan was in place to prevent future financial distress, according to district officials.[aside postID=news_12043062 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/026_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed.jpg']As the district exits receivership, monthly budget meetings as well as partnerships with the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, a state-run advisory group, and the county’s education office are set to continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moving forward into the next fiscal year, Aurelio said the district will need to stay mindful of its finances. While nothing is certain, there may need to be more school closures and possible layoffs in order to address the district’s ongoing structural deficits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the district will be transparent about any tough choices that need to be made, and that community members are welcome to reach out with any concerns as they continue to reorganize and assess the financial situation for the next school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The safety net is gone as we move forward,” Aurelio told KQED. “Every decision that is made now is made wholeheartedly by the board, and they must stand on that decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their fiduciary responsibilities are obviously number one and of course, making sure our students are getting what they need,” he continued. “They have not shied away from things like closing schools or reducing the budget, and those are sometimes painful decisions … They’re doing what’s necessary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/rpalmer\">\u003cem>Riley Palmer\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Vallejo City Unified School District has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11913592/bay-area-schools-see-families-leave-cities-flock-to-suburbs\">full local control of its schools\u003c/a> for the first time in more than two decades, after it announced this week that state oversight of the district has officially ended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not just an administrative shift — it’s a full-circle moment for a district that has worked tirelessly to rebuild credibility, restore fiscal solvency, and center student success,” Superintendent Rubén Aurelio said in a statement. “Our entire community — educators, families, partners, and students — has contributed to this recovery, and we are ready to lead with discipline and vision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, Solano County Superintendent Lisette Estrella-Henderson formally recommended that the district exit state receivership after what the district said was years of difficult financial planning, stable leadership and steps toward financial recovery. The district was joined by nearby Oakland Unified School District, which also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043062/as-ousd-gets-closer-to-controlling-its-finances-new-budget-challenges-loom\">exited state receivership on Monday\u003c/a> after 22 years of state control, the \u003cem>Mercury News\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/30/oakland-unified-school-district-control-receivership/\">reported\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state took over Vallejo schools in 2004 after the threat of financial ruin forced the district to take out a $60 million emergency loan from the state to stay solvent. For the last 20 years, a state-appointed administrator has been responsible for overseeing the school district’s financial and managerial operations, although partial control was eventually returned to the district’s Board of Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Declining enrollment, depleted cash reserves and overspending brought the district to the brink of bankruptcy, Aurelio said. As the financial crisis mounted, district officials such as the superintendent were unable to make unilateral decisions without consulting with entities such as the teachers’ union, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046659\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/GettyImages-1321886659-scaled-e1751332683484.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046659\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/GettyImages-1321886659-scaled-e1751332683484.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1289\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">On March 29, 2005, former Solano County Superintendent of Schools Dee Alarcon listened in Fairfield, Calif., as auditors delivered their findings to the Solano Office of Education in regards to troubled Vallejo City Unified School District, which “willfully overstated student enrollment, took out loans to cover debts and shuffled money between accounts to hide millions of dollars in losses,” leading up to the $60 million bailout. \u003ccite>(Michael Macor / San Francisco Chronicle (Photo By Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After the state took over, the administrator who was put in place was able to make “sweeping changes” without needing to bargain and negotiate, leading to more aggressive budget cuts and two school closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to paying off the loan, the school district had to demonstrate to the Solano County Office of Education that an accountability plan was in place to prevent future financial distress, according to district officials.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As the district exits receivership, monthly budget meetings as well as partnerships with the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, a state-run advisory group, and the county’s education office are set to continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moving forward into the next fiscal year, Aurelio said the district will need to stay mindful of its finances. While nothing is certain, there may need to be more school closures and possible layoffs in order to address the district’s ongoing structural deficits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the district will be transparent about any tough choices that need to be made, and that community members are welcome to reach out with any concerns as they continue to reorganize and assess the financial situation for the next school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The safety net is gone as we move forward,” Aurelio told KQED. “Every decision that is made now is made wholeheartedly by the board, and they must stand on that decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their fiduciary responsibilities are obviously number one and of course, making sure our students are getting what they need,” he continued. “They have not shied away from things like closing schools or reducing the budget, and those are sometimes painful decisions … They’re doing what’s necessary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/rpalmer\">\u003cem>Riley Palmer\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044082/layoff-threats-weigh-on-head-start-teachers-and-parents-in-hollister\">With funding set to expire Monday\u003c/a> for the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s Head Start program, some 275 laid-off workers showed up in the morning to clean out their desks and collect their last paychecks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they received a Hail Mary from the county’s superintendent of schools, who emailed at 9:25 a.m. saying that the federal government renewed two grants needed “to continue supporting the program without disruption to services for our youngest learners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, the Head Start classrooms that were set to close are expected to reopen Tuesday, said Mercedes Hill, who helps administer the program for the SCCOE.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she felt “huge relief” upon hearing the news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We kind of knew [funding] was coming, but there was always that piece of [what] if it wasn’t?” she said. “I think the best news is that we don’t have to break services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SCCOE cited funding uncertainties under the Trump administration when it issued layoff notices in March, saying it had not heard whether its $38 million grants to operate Head Start and Early Head Start would be renewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That uncertainty, \u003ca href=\"https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:1b080735-7d1a-4549-bfac-3918fab447ac?viewer%21megaVerb=group-discover\">combined with the reduction in funding\u003c/a> for the office’s migrant education and special education services, meant that about 275 workers (the majority of them Head Start staff members) were told their last day of work would be June 30.[aside postID=news_12044082 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250610-HEADSTARTPROGRAMS-39-BL-KQED.jpg']Veronica Arellano, a parent advocate for Head Start, said as recently as Friday, she was warning parents who were trying to enroll for the new year that the program was still waiting for more funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The uncertainty was really hard for families who are part of our year-round program,” Arellano said. “They’re like ‘oh, we’re praying that hopefully you guys don’t close your doors because I really don’t have a Plan B here and it would ultimately have to come down to me staying home with my child.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his email, Toston said while the grants ensured continuity for some 1200 low-income families enrolled in Head Start, “some individuals will still be impacted by staffing reductions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arellano said that while she was happy to hear her job would most likely be saved, she was angry that the SCCOE put its employees through “a roller coaster of emotions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, the layoff notices prompted some colleagues to retire early or to look for work elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think it was necessary to put our staff and our families through all of that, but hopefully in the future this won’t happen again,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044082/layoff-threats-weigh-on-head-start-teachers-and-parents-in-hollister\">With funding set to expire Monday\u003c/a> for the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s Head Start program, some 275 laid-off workers showed up in the morning to clean out their desks and collect their last paychecks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they received a Hail Mary from the county’s superintendent of schools, who emailed at 9:25 a.m. saying that the federal government renewed two grants needed “to continue supporting the program without disruption to services for our youngest learners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, the Head Start classrooms that were set to close are expected to reopen Tuesday, said Mercedes Hill, who helps administer the program for the SCCOE.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she felt “huge relief” upon hearing the news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We kind of knew [funding] was coming, but there was always that piece of [what] if it wasn’t?” she said. “I think the best news is that we don’t have to break services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SCCOE cited funding uncertainties under the Trump administration when it issued layoff notices in March, saying it had not heard whether its $38 million grants to operate Head Start and Early Head Start would be renewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That uncertainty, \u003ca href=\"https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:1b080735-7d1a-4549-bfac-3918fab447ac?viewer%21megaVerb=group-discover\">combined with the reduction in funding\u003c/a> for the office’s migrant education and special education services, meant that about 275 workers (the majority of them Head Start staff members) were told their last day of work would be June 30.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Veronica Arellano, a parent advocate for Head Start, said as recently as Friday, she was warning parents who were trying to enroll for the new year that the program was still waiting for more funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The uncertainty was really hard for families who are part of our year-round program,” Arellano said. “They’re like ‘oh, we’re praying that hopefully you guys don’t close your doors because I really don’t have a Plan B here and it would ultimately have to come down to me staying home with my child.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his email, Toston said while the grants ensured continuity for some 1200 low-income families enrolled in Head Start, “some individuals will still be impacted by staffing reductions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arellano said that while she was happy to hear her job would most likely be saved, she was angry that the SCCOE put its employees through “a roller coaster of emotions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, the layoff notices prompted some colleagues to retire early or to look for work elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think it was necessary to put our staff and our families through all of that, but hopefully in the future this won’t happen again,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>After \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046122/sfusd-was-a-pioneer-in-ethnic-studies-now-the-program-could-be-put-on-pause\">controversy over its ethnic studies program\u003c/a>, San Francisco’s school district announced Monday that it would continue teaching the class but put a pause on its homegrown curriculum to audit course materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, ethnic studies teachers, district employees and a school board member raised alarms after they said Superintendent Maria Su met with school leaders to discuss a possible plan to pause the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a>’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ethnic-studies\">ethnic studies\u003c/a> program entirely. For months, the course had come under fire from some parents who found it biased and “activist-driven.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said Monday that it plans to keep ninth graders enrolled in ethnic studies this fall, but it will pilot a new interim curriculum used by other California school districts that meets state board of education guidelines as it reviews its own program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next year, SFUSD will conduct an audit of the ethnic studies curriculum that teachers have developed and taught since the district was among the first in the U.S. to introduce such a course in 2010. District officials said they aim to develop a curriculum to bring to the city’s board of education for approval during that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remain deeply committed to the importance of Ethnic Studies in developing critical thinking, cultural understanding, and civic engagement among our students,” Su said in a statement. “As we prepare for a successful start to the school year, my goal is for SFUSD to offer Ethnic Studies with intention, quality, and shared purpose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046596\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046596\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/018_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/018_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/018_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/018_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student works on a written assignment at Balboa High School in San Francisco on April 20, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The class came under fire this spring after a national education group published an “incident report” criticizing curriculum focused on “white supremacy culture,” gender ideology and support for undocumented immigrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A flurry of articles weeks later found lesson plans asking students to role-play as Israeli soldiers and Palestinian refugees, and noting the Chinese youth militants known as the Red Guards among social movements that have “pushed for change and justice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethnic studies teachers in the district told KQED they had never used those course materials or heard of their colleagues teaching them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The course has “been in the district for a decade and has never been an issue,” said Sam Aguirre, who has taught the course since 2015.[aside postID=news_12046122 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed.jpg']After SFUSD launched its ethnic studies pilot program in 2010, it has had the course available as an elective for all high school students since the 2015–16 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It became a graduation requirement for ninth graders last fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re teaching the same units that have always been around, the same core values, the same mission statement for a decade,” Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2021 study from Stanford’s Graduate School of Education found that low-achieving students in the SFUSD class were more likely to attend and be engaged in school, graduate and go to college. New research from UC Irvine shows that taking the course in ninth grade boosted GPAs, especially among Black and Latino students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aguirre and other district teachers worried a pause to the class could turn into a repeal, as momentum surrounding the expansion of ethnic studies wanes more broadly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s state budget, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom over the weekend, excludes funding to implement a state mandate for ethnic studies in public schools, which was set to go into effect this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other districts in the Bay Area have also faced \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/palo-alto-ethnic-studies-19588959.php\">legal pushback\u003c/a> to plans to expand the course, many of which have stemmed from Israel’s war in Gaza and concerns over allegations of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008739/sfusd-antisemitism-training-sparks-controversy-as-some-educators-opt-for-alternative\">antisemitism in schools\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the audit, SFUSD plans to introduce a new administrative regulation on supplemental instructional materials in response to the backlash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule will require that resources teachers plan to use in their classrooms be reviewed to ensure they are “aligned with district curriculum objectives,” directly related to the course they’re used in and age-appropriate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046122/sfusd-was-a-pioneer-in-ethnic-studies-now-the-program-could-be-put-on-pause\">controversy over its ethnic studies program\u003c/a>, San Francisco’s school district announced Monday that it would continue teaching the class but put a pause on its homegrown curriculum to audit course materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, ethnic studies teachers, district employees and a school board member raised alarms after they said Superintendent Maria Su met with school leaders to discuss a possible plan to pause the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a>’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ethnic-studies\">ethnic studies\u003c/a> program entirely. For months, the course had come under fire from some parents who found it biased and “activist-driven.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said Monday that it plans to keep ninth graders enrolled in ethnic studies this fall, but it will pilot a new interim curriculum used by other California school districts that meets state board of education guidelines as it reviews its own program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next year, SFUSD will conduct an audit of the ethnic studies curriculum that teachers have developed and taught since the district was among the first in the U.S. to introduce such a course in 2010. District officials said they aim to develop a curriculum to bring to the city’s board of education for approval during that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remain deeply committed to the importance of Ethnic Studies in developing critical thinking, cultural understanding, and civic engagement among our students,” Su said in a statement. “As we prepare for a successful start to the school year, my goal is for SFUSD to offer Ethnic Studies with intention, quality, and shared purpose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046596\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046596\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/018_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/018_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/018_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/018_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student works on a written assignment at Balboa High School in San Francisco on April 20, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The class came under fire this spring after a national education group published an “incident report” criticizing curriculum focused on “white supremacy culture,” gender ideology and support for undocumented immigrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A flurry of articles weeks later found lesson plans asking students to role-play as Israeli soldiers and Palestinian refugees, and noting the Chinese youth militants known as the Red Guards among social movements that have “pushed for change and justice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethnic studies teachers in the district told KQED they had never used those course materials or heard of their colleagues teaching them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The course has “been in the district for a decade and has never been an issue,” said Sam Aguirre, who has taught the course since 2015.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>After SFUSD launched its ethnic studies pilot program in 2010, it has had the course available as an elective for all high school students since the 2015–16 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It became a graduation requirement for ninth graders last fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re teaching the same units that have always been around, the same core values, the same mission statement for a decade,” Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2021 study from Stanford’s Graduate School of Education found that low-achieving students in the SFUSD class were more likely to attend and be engaged in school, graduate and go to college. New research from UC Irvine shows that taking the course in ninth grade boosted GPAs, especially among Black and Latino students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aguirre and other district teachers worried a pause to the class could turn into a repeal, as momentum surrounding the expansion of ethnic studies wanes more broadly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s state budget, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom over the weekend, excludes funding to implement a state mandate for ethnic studies in public schools, which was set to go into effect this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other districts in the Bay Area have also faced \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/palo-alto-ethnic-studies-19588959.php\">legal pushback\u003c/a> to plans to expand the course, many of which have stemmed from Israel’s war in Gaza and concerns over allegations of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008739/sfusd-antisemitism-training-sparks-controversy-as-some-educators-opt-for-alternative\">antisemitism in schools\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the audit, SFUSD plans to introduce a new administrative regulation on supplemental instructional materials in response to the backlash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule will require that resources teachers plan to use in their classrooms be reviewed to ensure they are “aligned with district curriculum objectives,” directly related to the course they’re used in and age-appropriate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "sfusd-pays-millions-for-special-ed-this-change-could-save-money-and-help-families",
"title": "SFUSD Pays Millions for Special Ed. This Change Could Save Money — and Help Families",
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"content": "\u003cp>As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> still has a long-term budget problem despite widespread cuts, it could look to save money by revisiting the way it handles special education — an idea that many families are hesitant to get their hopes up for but desperately want to believe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid dwindling enrollment and state funding, SFUSD is still hemorrhaging cash, spending outside its means this year, and expecting to run another deficit of nearly $60 million next year without restoring \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">cut positions and services\u003c/a>. Superintendent Maria Su told reporters last month that one of the drivers of the district’s annual shortfalls is the ballooning cost of special education, particularly for the 12% or so of special education students who require services the district has opted to outsource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD is federally mandated to be responsible for all students’ special education within its geographical region, or SELPA, but the district alone cannot provide all services. It has about 200 students in private school programs that enroll students with individualized learning plans (IEPs) whose needs cannot be met by their public school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next year, SFUSD estimates that it will pay $42.1 million to these non-public school programs, along with other independent agencies and consultants that provide special education services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su believes that expanding the district’s internal special education services could recoup some of this funding. It could also improve the learning experience for students who require nontraditional services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If SFUSD could find more options for kids like my son, families like [ours] would take it in a heartbeat,” said Havah Kelley, whose child has been in a non-public school program for three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969382\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969382\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-1920x1282.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Havah Kelley poses for a portrait on Nov. 13, 2022, near McLaren Park in San Francisco.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I want my son to go to a local public school,” she told KQED. “I want to be a part of that community. I want my son to be part of the community. I want him to meet friends who actually live in San Francisco and aren’t spread out, so he can never connect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelley’s son, who is entering ninth grade in the fall, has had an IEP since he was 3. He attended elementary school in a regular SFUSD classroom, but as he was gearing up for middle school, Kelley noticed him falling behind, despite the extra resources he had already received through the district’s special education department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was just not making progress,” she said. “COVID hit, and that really, really derailed us further. Staffing shortages hit, it was a culmination of many different things happening at once, but by … the beginning of sixth grade, I was very gravely concerned.”[aside postID=news_12044768 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-07-BL_qed.jpg']That summer, Kelley, who is a member of the district’s community advisory commission for special education, said she initiated the long, stressful process of moving her son into a non-public school program (NPS).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She requested a meeting with the special education team who’d worked with her family throughout her son’s education, and said she had to prove that the district couldn’t provide legally mandated resources, she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once SFUSD officials agreed that Kelley’s son needed an NPS placement, the district referred her to one program, where she and her son went through an application process similar to a private school — written questionnaire, interviews and a school tour — before hearing whether he would be offered a spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents don’t get much choice in which NPS their child attends, which can also stir up frustration and sometimes lead to costly lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Kelley said, SFUSD refers families to one school at a time, and at the end of the application process, the parent can only decide whether to accept or reject the placement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they feel it’s the wrong fit, they start again from square one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very rarely a straight shot,” Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A difficult path back to SFUSD\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California has 265 certified NPS programs. Some, like the one Kelley’s son attends, provide smaller student-to-teacher ratios and more individualized attention than SFUSD’s general education classrooms can offer, but less extensive services than some of its internal special day classes, which Kelley said would be too restrictive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others, such as Edgewood Community School, are geared toward students who need significant mental health support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008414\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008414\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1336\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-1920x1283.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students from the San Francisco Unified School District return to their buses after a field trip in San Francisco on Sept. 13, 2012. \u003ccite>(Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco campus serves high school students who have been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, PTSD and other mental health conditions, according to program director Roberto Orozco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The class schedule that we create for the students is individualized to make sure that they’re able to make up for the lost credit that they may have not accrued throughout their high school careers,” he said, adding that when they come to Edgewood, “a lot of the students have been out of school for anywhere from months to sometimes years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Academic courses, coupled with in-house individual, group and family therapy and case management, are geared toward two tracks — one to graduate from Edgewood, and another to move to a general education classroom in SFUSD.[aside postID=news_12044911 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED.jpg']Orozco said that while seven students graduated from Edgewood last month, many are working toward returning to general education classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once progress has been made and maintained, we’re able to start having [students] go to a general education setting, where they’ll be there for about an hour,” he said. “They’ll come back, and then if it all goes well, after a month we increase the time … until finally the student is able to return to the least restrictive setting in their general education high school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year though, no students were able to step down from Edgewood’s program, which isn’t a unique problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When [my son] started, I was hopeful that he would go back to San Francisco for high school,” Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She initially thought he would be out of the district for one to two years while he caught up after distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and got some targeted support. But next year will be her son’s fourth in an NPS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really, really hard,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Outside services pose a major cost\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To get to his school, Kelley’s son travels three hours round-trip each day. She said that in addition to isolating them from other SFUSD families, the commute has affected her son’s attendance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s exhausted having to get up at 5:30 [or] 5:45 in the morning and not getting home until almost 5 o’clock,” she said. That’s without participating in any extracurriculars or hanging around after school with friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Long travel days are also a strain on the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SFUSD is required to pay for transportation for students at NPS programs, which are spread throughout the state, often hours away from San Francisco. Only two of the state-approved programs are within city limits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Transportation often represents the biggest part of NPS programs’ cost to the district, Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That price tag is getting higher, Su said, as more students require outside services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason why we’re spending so much money on special education is because we’re providing funding to serve our students outside of the district,” she said. “Imagine if we can serve these students inside the district, we can then keep these resources here.”[aside postID=news_12041122 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240517-TKBilingualLearners-98-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg']In addition to transportation, the district pays for private school tuition, case managers who are SFUSD employees and serve as liaisons between the district and NPS schools, and for settlements to families who have sued the district over its inability to provide adequate services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When parents have conflicts with the district over their child’s IEP and the services they’re allotted, lawsuits can arise, Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If a parent is upset about something … sometimes they just go straight for [legal action],” she said. “They’re just done and they don’t want to have these conversations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the parents win a settlement, they can enroll their student in a private or parochial school that the district has to pay for. Currently, there are about 400 special education students in the district’s region in these schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is also in legal heat after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-superintendent-special-education-20253658.php\">special education fiasco\u003c/a> left nearly 200 students without required teachers and services at the start of the school year. The misstep is estimated to cost the district more than $1.18 million to pay for the unmet services, plus legal fees and additional resources to determine the cause of the blunder and make amends with families.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Su turns focus to special education\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Su said now that she’s completed her first school year as the superintendent, working to balance a massive budget deficit and rebuild families’ trust, she’s looking at how special education — and possibly \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010349/sf-school-closures-halted-for-now-but-districts-new-leader-will-be-tested\">school mergers and closures\u003c/a> — factor into the district’s future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I’m going to do next year is review and survey all of our facilities and determine which facilities can be converted to transitional kindergarten classrooms and … which facilities can be used to serve our special education students,” she said. “Then at the end of the day … if we have to close or merge, we will determine that, but at a later time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A review of SFUSD’s special education earlier this year by FCMAT, a financial company tasked with assisting California districts with financial management, recommended that the district assess where it might be able to shift kids whose NPS programs provide similar services into a district or county-operated class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many special education regions cover multiple school districts, SFUSD is the only district in San Francisco’s geographic area. Because of this, it doesn’t look at county-operated special education programs the way others do, according to FCMAT’s analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County classes can be a placement between NPS and SFUSD-operated programs, offering different student-to-teacher ratios and levels of support for students with similar needs currently placed in various NPS programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This lack of differentiation does not occur in most other [special education areas], and it may be causing the SFUSD to miss an opportunity to meet students’ needs in a [district or county] class instead of placing them in a more expensive and restrictive environment like an NPS,” FCMAT Executive Director Mike Fine said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our sense is that SFUSD could bring quite a few students back from an NPS, at a significant savings, but the specifics of this are well beyond our analysis,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oftentimes, as you’re looking at keeping students in [the] least restrictive environment, you can create programs that have different class size ratios, different types of support from specialists, and maybe perhaps serve more students in a district program as opposed to a non-public school,” Carolynne Beno, a FCMAT analyst, told SFUSD’s board of education in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12004914\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12004914\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Parent Havah Kelley speaks during a press conference held by the United Educators of San Francisco outside of the San Francisco Unified School District offices on Sept. 16, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Although some students will continue to need services the district can’t provide, Kelley said the idea of returning to a district school is hopeful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really want for SFUSD to have more options for kids like my son who are just a little more complicated,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that expanded in-district options would help catch some of the kids like hers, who “fall through the cracks” of SFUSD’s offerings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His needs were more expensive than [general education] could provide, but [special day classes] were not appropriate because his needs were not as severe in some cases for [that] model, so it would be too restrictive,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How the district plans to expand its options for special education beyond identifying classrooms isn’t yet clear, but the district said it is “committed to transforming how we support our students, families and staff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The structural and systemic improvements that are already underway are not just necessary — they are long overdue, especially given the threats against the U.S. Department of Education,” district officials said in a statement. “We will continue to push forward with urgency and unwavering dedication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "SFUSD Pays Millions for Special Ed. This Change Could Save Money — and Help Families | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> still has a long-term budget problem despite widespread cuts, it could look to save money by revisiting the way it handles special education — an idea that many families are hesitant to get their hopes up for but desperately want to believe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid dwindling enrollment and state funding, SFUSD is still hemorrhaging cash, spending outside its means this year, and expecting to run another deficit of nearly $60 million next year without restoring \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044768/sf-school-district-unveils-balanced-budget-after-cutting-over-110-million-in-spending\">cut positions and services\u003c/a>. Superintendent Maria Su told reporters last month that one of the drivers of the district’s annual shortfalls is the ballooning cost of special education, particularly for the 12% or so of special education students who require services the district has opted to outsource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD is federally mandated to be responsible for all students’ special education within its geographical region, or SELPA, but the district alone cannot provide all services. It has about 200 students in private school programs that enroll students with individualized learning plans (IEPs) whose needs cannot be met by their public school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next year, SFUSD estimates that it will pay $42.1 million to these non-public school programs, along with other independent agencies and consultants that provide special education services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su believes that expanding the district’s internal special education services could recoup some of this funding. It could also improve the learning experience for students who require nontraditional services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If SFUSD could find more options for kids like my son, families like [ours] would take it in a heartbeat,” said Havah Kelley, whose child has been in a non-public school program for three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11969382\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11969382\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/11132022_apmreports_soldastory312-1920x1282.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Havah Kelley poses for a portrait on Nov. 13, 2022, near McLaren Park in San Francisco.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I want my son to go to a local public school,” she told KQED. “I want to be a part of that community. I want my son to be part of the community. I want him to meet friends who actually live in San Francisco and aren’t spread out, so he can never connect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelley’s son, who is entering ninth grade in the fall, has had an IEP since he was 3. He attended elementary school in a regular SFUSD classroom, but as he was gearing up for middle school, Kelley noticed him falling behind, despite the extra resources he had already received through the district’s special education department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was just not making progress,” she said. “COVID hit, and that really, really derailed us further. Staffing shortages hit, it was a culmination of many different things happening at once, but by … the beginning of sixth grade, I was very gravely concerned.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That summer, Kelley, who is a member of the district’s community advisory commission for special education, said she initiated the long, stressful process of moving her son into a non-public school program (NPS).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She requested a meeting with the special education team who’d worked with her family throughout her son’s education, and said she had to prove that the district couldn’t provide legally mandated resources, she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once SFUSD officials agreed that Kelley’s son needed an NPS placement, the district referred her to one program, where she and her son went through an application process similar to a private school — written questionnaire, interviews and a school tour — before hearing whether he would be offered a spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents don’t get much choice in which NPS their child attends, which can also stir up frustration and sometimes lead to costly lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Kelley said, SFUSD refers families to one school at a time, and at the end of the application process, the parent can only decide whether to accept or reject the placement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they feel it’s the wrong fit, they start again from square one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very rarely a straight shot,” Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A difficult path back to SFUSD\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California has 265 certified NPS programs. Some, like the one Kelley’s son attends, provide smaller student-to-teacher ratios and more individualized attention than SFUSD’s general education classrooms can offer, but less extensive services than some of its internal special day classes, which Kelley said would be too restrictive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others, such as Edgewood Community School, are geared toward students who need significant mental health support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008414\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008414\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1336\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsGetty-1920x1283.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students from the San Francisco Unified School District return to their buses after a field trip in San Francisco on Sept. 13, 2012. \u003ccite>(Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco campus serves high school students who have been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, PTSD and other mental health conditions, according to program director Roberto Orozco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The class schedule that we create for the students is individualized to make sure that they’re able to make up for the lost credit that they may have not accrued throughout their high school careers,” he said, adding that when they come to Edgewood, “a lot of the students have been out of school for anywhere from months to sometimes years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Academic courses, coupled with in-house individual, group and family therapy and case management, are geared toward two tracks — one to graduate from Edgewood, and another to move to a general education classroom in SFUSD.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Orozco said that while seven students graduated from Edgewood last month, many are working toward returning to general education classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once progress has been made and maintained, we’re able to start having [students] go to a general education setting, where they’ll be there for about an hour,” he said. “They’ll come back, and then if it all goes well, after a month we increase the time … until finally the student is able to return to the least restrictive setting in their general education high school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year though, no students were able to step down from Edgewood’s program, which isn’t a unique problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When [my son] started, I was hopeful that he would go back to San Francisco for high school,” Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She initially thought he would be out of the district for one to two years while he caught up after distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and got some targeted support. But next year will be her son’s fourth in an NPS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really, really hard,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Outside services pose a major cost\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To get to his school, Kelley’s son travels three hours round-trip each day. She said that in addition to isolating them from other SFUSD families, the commute has affected her son’s attendance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s exhausted having to get up at 5:30 [or] 5:45 in the morning and not getting home until almost 5 o’clock,” she said. That’s without participating in any extracurriculars or hanging around after school with friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Long travel days are also a strain on the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SFUSD is required to pay for transportation for students at NPS programs, which are spread throughout the state, often hours away from San Francisco. Only two of the state-approved programs are within city limits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Transportation often represents the biggest part of NPS programs’ cost to the district, Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That price tag is getting higher, Su said, as more students require outside services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason why we’re spending so much money on special education is because we’re providing funding to serve our students outside of the district,” she said. “Imagine if we can serve these students inside the district, we can then keep these resources here.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In addition to transportation, the district pays for private school tuition, case managers who are SFUSD employees and serve as liaisons between the district and NPS schools, and for settlements to families who have sued the district over its inability to provide adequate services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When parents have conflicts with the district over their child’s IEP and the services they’re allotted, lawsuits can arise, Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If a parent is upset about something … sometimes they just go straight for [legal action],” she said. “They’re just done and they don’t want to have these conversations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the parents win a settlement, they can enroll their student in a private or parochial school that the district has to pay for. Currently, there are about 400 special education students in the district’s region in these schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is also in legal heat after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-superintendent-special-education-20253658.php\">special education fiasco\u003c/a> left nearly 200 students without required teachers and services at the start of the school year. The misstep is estimated to cost the district more than $1.18 million to pay for the unmet services, plus legal fees and additional resources to determine the cause of the blunder and make amends with families.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Su turns focus to special education\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Su said now that she’s completed her first school year as the superintendent, working to balance a massive budget deficit and rebuild families’ trust, she’s looking at how special education — and possibly \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010349/sf-school-closures-halted-for-now-but-districts-new-leader-will-be-tested\">school mergers and closures\u003c/a> — factor into the district’s future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I’m going to do next year is review and survey all of our facilities and determine which facilities can be converted to transitional kindergarten classrooms and … which facilities can be used to serve our special education students,” she said. “Then at the end of the day … if we have to close or merge, we will determine that, but at a later time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A review of SFUSD’s special education earlier this year by FCMAT, a financial company tasked with assisting California districts with financial management, recommended that the district assess where it might be able to shift kids whose NPS programs provide similar services into a district or county-operated class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many special education regions cover multiple school districts, SFUSD is the only district in San Francisco’s geographic area. Because of this, it doesn’t look at county-operated special education programs the way others do, according to FCMAT’s analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County classes can be a placement between NPS and SFUSD-operated programs, offering different student-to-teacher ratios and levels of support for students with similar needs currently placed in various NPS programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This lack of differentiation does not occur in most other [special education areas], and it may be causing the SFUSD to miss an opportunity to meet students’ needs in a [district or county] class instead of placing them in a more expensive and restrictive environment like an NPS,” FCMAT Executive Director Mike Fine said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our sense is that SFUSD could bring quite a few students back from an NPS, at a significant savings, but the specifics of this are well beyond our analysis,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oftentimes, as you’re looking at keeping students in [the] least restrictive environment, you can create programs that have different class size ratios, different types of support from specialists, and maybe perhaps serve more students in a district program as opposed to a non-public school,” Carolynne Beno, a FCMAT analyst, told SFUSD’s board of education in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12004914\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12004914\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240916-UNIONSFSCHOOLCLOSURES-33-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Parent Havah Kelley speaks during a press conference held by the United Educators of San Francisco outside of the San Francisco Unified School District offices on Sept. 16, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Although some students will continue to need services the district can’t provide, Kelley said the idea of returning to a district school is hopeful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really want for SFUSD to have more options for kids like my son who are just a little more complicated,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that expanded in-district options would help catch some of the kids like hers, who “fall through the cracks” of SFUSD’s offerings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His needs were more expensive than [general education] could provide, but [special day classes] were not appropriate because his needs were not as severe in some cases for [that] model, so it would be too restrictive,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How the district plans to expand its options for special education beyond identifying classrooms isn’t yet clear, but the district said it is “committed to transforming how we support our students, families and staff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The structural and systemic improvements that are already underway are not just necessary — they are long overdue, especially given the threats against the U.S. Department of Education,” district officials said in a statement. “We will continue to push forward with urgency and unwavering dedication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "sfusd-was-a-pioneer-in-ethnic-studies-now-the-program-could-be-put-on-pause",
"title": "SFUSD Was a Pioneer in Ethnic Studies. Now the Program Could Be Put on Pause",
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"headTitle": "SFUSD Was a Pioneer in Ethnic Studies. Now the Program Could Be Put on Pause | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 3:45 p.m. Friday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After months of mounting pushback, San Francisco’s superintendent of schools is in talks to pause the district’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ethnic-studies\">ethnic studies\u003c/a> program, according to teachers and a member of the school board who have raised concerns over the move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program — which covers topics including identity, white supremacy, sexuality and social movements — has come under increasing scrutiny from some parents and a national education group that have criticized its course materials as biased and “activist-driven.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Superintendent Maria Su is considering reassigning ninth graders enrolled in the course next fall while the district conducts an audit of the curriculum, according to ethnic studies teachers and school board member Matt Alexander.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They say that the move would deviate from the district’s past protocols for handling curriculum changes and raises concerns about the future of the course, which has been heralded as a success for more than a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a course that’s worked for a very long time,” Alexander said. “There doesn’t seem to be any reason for a pause, and it’s something that’s very effective. In fact, it may be the only initiative that we have that actually increases college and career outcomes for students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>More than a decade of ethnic studies\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District became one of the first in the nation to introduce ethnic studies after its board of education called for creating a dedicated course in 2008. The field, which has roots in Bay Area \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11830384/how-the-longest-student-strike-in-u-s-history-created-ethnic-studies\">student activism\u003c/a> in the 1960s, includes and examines the experiences of minorities in the United States, typically focusing on the experiences of Indigenous people, as well as Black, Latino and Asian Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, SFUSD launched a pilot program as an elective for high schoolers, which has been offered on all campuses since the 2015–16 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11918617\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11918617\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133.jpg\" alt=\"Children and adults hold signs at a demonstration to save a Filipino language program.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A group of students and community members demonstrates outside SFUSD headquarters on June 7, 2022, to protest the district’s plan to downsize the Filipino language program at Longfellow Elementary School. \u003ccite>(Julia McEvoy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://ed.stanford.edu/news/ninth-grade-ethnic-studies-helped-students-years-stanford-researchers-find\">2021 study\u003c/a> by Stanford’s Graduate School of Education raised the program’s profile when it found that low-achieving students who participated in SFUSD’s course were more likely to attend and be engaged in school, had higher probabilities of graduating and were more likely to go to college. And a new draft study from UC Irvine this year shows that over the 15 years SFUSD has offered the class, taking ethnic studies in ninth grade boosted the GPAs of students throughout their high school careers, especially among those who identify as Black and Latino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2021 study persuaded policymakers at the state and local levels. That year, California lawmakers enacted a mandate for public schools to require a semester of ethnic studies, which is set to take effect in 2025. That same year, the San Francisco school board passed legislation making the two-semester course a graduation requirement, beginning with ninth graders entering high school in the fall of 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But one year after lawmakers passed those measures, three of the school board members who backed the SFUSD plan — and other social justice-oriented changes within the district, including renaming schools and eliminating merit-based admissions at Lowell High School — were overwhelmingly recalled. The contentious vote followed a swell of criticism from parents, particularly in the Asian American community.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Parents and advocacy groups push back\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Samantha Aguirre, who has taught ethnic studies in SFUSD since 2015, said she had not heard widespread pushback specifically about the course until this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One parent, Vivian Safrin, began raising concerns about the curriculum to district officials last year, after she said she was shown class materials that concerned her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036911\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036911\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“[Ethnic studies] is supposed to be an opportunity for students to learn about the histories, cultures, struggles and contributions of ethnic groups in California,” she said. “And at this time, the course in San Francisco is a lot of one-sided political dogma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our kids don’t have context to be able to analyze this material, given that it is being taught before world history, before U.S. history,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Criticism of the course didn’t break into the mainstream until May, though, following media coverage and a report from a national parents’ group about the class’ content.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents Defending Education, which said it aims to protect school districts from “activists imposing harmful agendas,” published an “incident report” criticizing the ethnic studies curriculum’s focus on “white supremacy culture” and support for undocumented immigrants.[aside postID=news_12044768 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-07-BL_qed.jpg']Weeks later, an \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/30/sfusd-new-ethnic-studies-mandate/\">article\u003c/a> published in the \u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em> said that one lesson plan viewed by parents asked students to role-play as Israeli soldiers putting Palestinians into refugee camps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-ethic-studies-school-20353723.php\">reported\u003c/a> that a lesson about social movements included as an example the Red Guards, an often-violent militant youth movement that backed Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong during the country’s cultural revolution in the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aguirre, along with SFUSD ethnic studies teacher Sarita Lavin and a third who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation since they are not tenured, all told KQED they had never used, or heard of any of their colleagues using, those materials in their classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the district’s publicly posted ethnic studies materials currently reference such lesson plans, though at least one of the unit curriculum slide decks contains broken links to slides that it said have been deleted, and it’s unclear when or if changes have been made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is not something as an ethnic studies department that we are promoting or teaching en masse,” Lavin said. “I think that that’s just been wildly overblown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046354\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046354\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Student drawings hang on the wall of a classroom at Balboa High School in San Francisco on April 20, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And not all families have had negative experiences with ethnic studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maria Elena Francis said that when her children took the course, they came home from school feeling like they saw themselves reflected in their curriculum for one of the first times ever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Both of my children are Puerto Rican, Chicano and Indigenous, so they’re multiracial, multi-ethnic, and don’t often hear their different histories in a classroom,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her son is a rising 11th grader, and her daughter, who took the honors course when she was in high school, graduated from UC Berkeley last month with an ethnic studies degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was important to me, it was important to my husband that we saw them coming back and saying, ‘We learned about this and I made this connection with this person,’” she said. “This program did for my children what I did not have as a student in SFUSD. I had never felt that way … and I’m so glad that my children had a different experience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We were in the middle of the process’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The teachers who spoke with KQED acknowledged that one of many parents’ resounding concerns with the class was valid: a standardized curriculum for it isn’t complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Aguirre, in the summer of 2021, amid the wider push to expand ethnic studies requirements in the district and across the state, she and other teachers were asked to participate in a working group to develop and vet a more standardized curriculum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They split into small cohorts focused on each of the course’s four units, swapped and refined lesson plans, and came up with a draft for each of the class’s sections throughout the summers of 2021 and 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the working group had planned to gather to assess their first drafts, give each other feedback and make further changes before delivering a final product.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that never happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After the summer of 2022, there was no more money or funding to keep doing the process of making the pilot curriculum,” she said.[aside postID=news_12036406 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250417-HIGHEREDPROTESTS-08-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg']The work was cut short amid the return to classrooms and mass exodus of district employees after the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing budget deficit, she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s available right now on the website when you look at SFUSD curriculum is a lot of our draft work,” Aguirre said. “We were in the middle of the process. Project specialists went in and kind of just made it presentable and put it out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those drafts — in the form of Google slide presentations for each of the class’s four units — include writing prompts, in-class group projects, links to articles and external resources that align with the class’s broader focus areas. The specific materials, Aguirre said, are suggestions, not requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is no standardized curriculum for the course, nor is there one for any of the district’s history classes, Aguirre said. Instead, teachers are required to teach based on a bullet-point list of content standards handed down by the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not a curriculum … that doesn’t exist,” she said, adding that the textbook she’s been using in her world history courses was developed 20 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pausing the course\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite the pushback that’s plagued the end of the school year, the educators said they went into the summer working on updates to their lesson plans and preparing to teach ethnic studies again in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Then, about last week, I started hearing murmurs through the different ethnic study teachers that I was already working with over the summer that something might happen and that there was some sort of plan that things might not be the same in the fall,” said the teacher who requested anonymity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046361\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046361\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a statement, a district spokesperson said, “The superintendent is currently in active discussions with principals and various stakeholders regarding high school curriculum and course sequencing for social studies, including Ethnic Studies, in fall 2025.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said there was no anticipated change to the ethnic studies graduation requirement, which is mandated by school board policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are committed to keeping our community informed as soon as we have an official update,” the statement said.[aside postID=news_12024203 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/005_KQED_StanfordGradUnion_05302023_qed-1020x680.jpg']Ethnic studies teachers told KQED they’re worried that a potential pause could turn into a repeal of the class altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no more teachers on special assignment, nobody’s actually teaching ethnic studies, I’ve heard no talk of work groups, there’s no funding to get teachers together to keep on working on the curriculum … then you run into the same issue about access to resources,” Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alexander said that an audit of the curriculum is a good idea — especially given valid concerns about certain class materials — but he believes the class should continue in the interim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said that a few years ago, when a group of parents approached the district with concerns about racism in the U.S. history curriculum, prompting an audit, “we didn’t stop teaching U.S. history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We analyzed the curriculum and looked at ways that we could improve [it] and make them anti-racist in line with our values,” Alexander told KQED. “That to me seems like the appropriate response when this kind of thing comes up. I’ve never heard of stopping a course because of curriculum concerns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A larger movement\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The decision comes as the state also seems to be backing away from its push to broaden ethnic studies education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation in 2021 mandating a semester in the course for all public school students beginning with the class of 2030, who will enter ninth grade in the fall. The same year, the state board of education adopted a model curriculum for the course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008270\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008270\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/10.02.2024-SB1016-03-scaled-1-e1733162494960.jpg\" alt=\"A white man wearing a suit sits at a desk in an office, writing on a piece of paper with an American flag behind him.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1300\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 28, 2024. \u003ccite>(Photo Courtesy of Governor of California via Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, California’s current 2025–26 budget plan, which needs to be adopted by the end of this month, doesn’t include funding to implement ethnic studies statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the 2021 law that created the ethnic studies requirement, the state had to provide money to pay for course materials, teachers and training for the mandate to take effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, districts around the Bay Area and the state have also been backing off plans to expand the course in the face of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/palo-alto-ethnic-studies-19588959.php\">legal challenges\u003c/a>, many of which have stemmed from Israel’s war in Gaza and concerns over allegations of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008739/sfusd-antisemitism-training-sparks-controversy-as-some-educators-opt-for-alternative\">antisemitism in schools\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab715\">bill making its way through California’s Legislature\u003c/a> that aims to strengthen protections against discrimination and antisemitism has also been criticized by some teachers and \u003ca href=\"https://ca.cair.com/action/stop-ab-715-in-the-senate-defend-our-classrooms/\">advocacy groups\u003c/a> who worry it could prohibit students from learning about Palestine and human rights more broadly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason why ethnic studies was created in the 1960s in San Francisco was because of the lack of education for students of color about their own identities,” Lavin said. Without ethnic studies, she asked, “Where exactly are those students supposed to get their representation?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 3:45 p.m. Friday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After months of mounting pushback, San Francisco’s superintendent of schools is in talks to pause the district’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ethnic-studies\">ethnic studies\u003c/a> program, according to teachers and a member of the school board who have raised concerns over the move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program — which covers topics including identity, white supremacy, sexuality and social movements — has come under increasing scrutiny from some parents and a national education group that have criticized its course materials as biased and “activist-driven.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Superintendent Maria Su is considering reassigning ninth graders enrolled in the course next fall while the district conducts an audit of the curriculum, according to ethnic studies teachers and school board member Matt Alexander.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They say that the move would deviate from the district’s past protocols for handling curriculum changes and raises concerns about the future of the course, which has been heralded as a success for more than a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a course that’s worked for a very long time,” Alexander said. “There doesn’t seem to be any reason for a pause, and it’s something that’s very effective. In fact, it may be the only initiative that we have that actually increases college and career outcomes for students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>More than a decade of ethnic studies\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District became one of the first in the nation to introduce ethnic studies after its board of education called for creating a dedicated course in 2008. The field, which has roots in Bay Area \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11830384/how-the-longest-student-strike-in-u-s-history-created-ethnic-studies\">student activism\u003c/a> in the 1960s, includes and examines the experiences of minorities in the United States, typically focusing on the experiences of Indigenous people, as well as Black, Latino and Asian Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, SFUSD launched a pilot program as an elective for high schoolers, which has been offered on all campuses since the 2015–16 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11918617\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11918617\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133.jpg\" alt=\"Children and adults hold signs at a demonstration to save a Filipino language program.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/IMG_8133-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A group of students and community members demonstrates outside SFUSD headquarters on June 7, 2022, to protest the district’s plan to downsize the Filipino language program at Longfellow Elementary School. \u003ccite>(Julia McEvoy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://ed.stanford.edu/news/ninth-grade-ethnic-studies-helped-students-years-stanford-researchers-find\">2021 study\u003c/a> by Stanford’s Graduate School of Education raised the program’s profile when it found that low-achieving students who participated in SFUSD’s course were more likely to attend and be engaged in school, had higher probabilities of graduating and were more likely to go to college. And a new draft study from UC Irvine this year shows that over the 15 years SFUSD has offered the class, taking ethnic studies in ninth grade boosted the GPAs of students throughout their high school careers, especially among those who identify as Black and Latino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2021 study persuaded policymakers at the state and local levels. That year, California lawmakers enacted a mandate for public schools to require a semester of ethnic studies, which is set to take effect in 2025. That same year, the San Francisco school board passed legislation making the two-semester course a graduation requirement, beginning with ninth graders entering high school in the fall of 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But one year after lawmakers passed those measures, three of the school board members who backed the SFUSD plan — and other social justice-oriented changes within the district, including renaming schools and eliminating merit-based admissions at Lowell High School — were overwhelmingly recalled. The contentious vote followed a swell of criticism from parents, particularly in the Asian American community.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Parents and advocacy groups push back\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Samantha Aguirre, who has taught ethnic studies in SFUSD since 2015, said she had not heard widespread pushback specifically about the course until this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One parent, Vivian Safrin, began raising concerns about the curriculum to district officials last year, after she said she was shown class materials that concerned her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036911\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036911\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“[Ethnic studies] is supposed to be an opportunity for students to learn about the histories, cultures, struggles and contributions of ethnic groups in California,” she said. “And at this time, the course in San Francisco is a lot of one-sided political dogma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our kids don’t have context to be able to analyze this material, given that it is being taught before world history, before U.S. history,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Criticism of the course didn’t break into the mainstream until May, though, following media coverage and a report from a national parents’ group about the class’ content.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents Defending Education, which said it aims to protect school districts from “activists imposing harmful agendas,” published an “incident report” criticizing the ethnic studies curriculum’s focus on “white supremacy culture” and support for undocumented immigrants.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Weeks later, an \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/30/sfusd-new-ethnic-studies-mandate/\">article\u003c/a> published in the \u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em> said that one lesson plan viewed by parents asked students to role-play as Israeli soldiers putting Palestinians into refugee camps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sfusd-ethic-studies-school-20353723.php\">reported\u003c/a> that a lesson about social movements included as an example the Red Guards, an often-violent militant youth movement that backed Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong during the country’s cultural revolution in the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aguirre, along with SFUSD ethnic studies teacher Sarita Lavin and a third who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation since they are not tenured, all told KQED they had never used, or heard of any of their colleagues using, those materials in their classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the district’s publicly posted ethnic studies materials currently reference such lesson plans, though at least one of the unit curriculum slide decks contains broken links to slides that it said have been deleted, and it’s unclear when or if changes have been made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is not something as an ethnic studies department that we are promoting or teaching en masse,” Lavin said. “I think that that’s just been wildly overblown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046354\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046354\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/001_KQED_MichaelRosenbergBalboaHS_04202023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Student drawings hang on the wall of a classroom at Balboa High School in San Francisco on April 20, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And not all families have had negative experiences with ethnic studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maria Elena Francis said that when her children took the course, they came home from school feeling like they saw themselves reflected in their curriculum for one of the first times ever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Both of my children are Puerto Rican, Chicano and Indigenous, so they’re multiracial, multi-ethnic, and don’t often hear their different histories in a classroom,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her son is a rising 11th grader, and her daughter, who took the honors course when she was in high school, graduated from UC Berkeley last month with an ethnic studies degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was important to me, it was important to my husband that we saw them coming back and saying, ‘We learned about this and I made this connection with this person,’” she said. “This program did for my children what I did not have as a student in SFUSD. I had never felt that way … and I’m so glad that my children had a different experience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We were in the middle of the process’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The teachers who spoke with KQED acknowledged that one of many parents’ resounding concerns with the class was valid: a standardized curriculum for it isn’t complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Aguirre, in the summer of 2021, amid the wider push to expand ethnic studies requirements in the district and across the state, she and other teachers were asked to participate in a working group to develop and vet a more standardized curriculum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They split into small cohorts focused on each of the course’s four units, swapped and refined lesson plans, and came up with a draft for each of the class’s sections throughout the summers of 2021 and 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the working group had planned to gather to assess their first drafts, give each other feedback and make further changes before delivering a final product.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that never happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After the summer of 2022, there was no more money or funding to keep doing the process of making the pilot curriculum,” she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The work was cut short amid the return to classrooms and mass exodus of district employees after the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing budget deficit, she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s available right now on the website when you look at SFUSD curriculum is a lot of our draft work,” Aguirre said. “We were in the middle of the process. Project specialists went in and kind of just made it presentable and put it out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those drafts — in the form of Google slide presentations for each of the class’s four units — include writing prompts, in-class group projects, links to articles and external resources that align with the class’s broader focus areas. The specific materials, Aguirre said, are suggestions, not requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is no standardized curriculum for the course, nor is there one for any of the district’s history classes, Aguirre said. Instead, teachers are required to teach based on a bullet-point list of content standards handed down by the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not a curriculum … that doesn’t exist,” she said, adding that the textbook she’s been using in her world history courses was developed 20 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pausing the course\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite the pushback that’s plagued the end of the school year, the educators said they went into the summer working on updates to their lesson plans and preparing to teach ethnic studies again in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Then, about last week, I started hearing murmurs through the different ethnic study teachers that I was already working with over the summer that something might happen and that there was some sort of plan that things might not be the same in the fall,” said the teacher who requested anonymity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046361\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046361\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a statement, a district spokesperson said, “The superintendent is currently in active discussions with principals and various stakeholders regarding high school curriculum and course sequencing for social studies, including Ethnic Studies, in fall 2025.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district said there was no anticipated change to the ethnic studies graduation requirement, which is mandated by school board policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are committed to keeping our community informed as soon as we have an official update,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ethnic studies teachers told KQED they’re worried that a potential pause could turn into a repeal of the class altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no more teachers on special assignment, nobody’s actually teaching ethnic studies, I’ve heard no talk of work groups, there’s no funding to get teachers together to keep on working on the curriculum … then you run into the same issue about access to resources,” Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alexander said that an audit of the curriculum is a good idea — especially given valid concerns about certain class materials — but he believes the class should continue in the interim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said that a few years ago, when a group of parents approached the district with concerns about racism in the U.S. history curriculum, prompting an audit, “we didn’t stop teaching U.S. history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We analyzed the curriculum and looked at ways that we could improve [it] and make them anti-racist in line with our values,” Alexander told KQED. “That to me seems like the appropriate response when this kind of thing comes up. I’ve never heard of stopping a course because of curriculum concerns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A larger movement\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The decision comes as the state also seems to be backing away from its push to broaden ethnic studies education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation in 2021 mandating a semester in the course for all public school students beginning with the class of 2030, who will enter ninth grade in the fall. The same year, the state board of education adopted a model curriculum for the course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12008270\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12008270\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/10.02.2024-SB1016-03-scaled-1-e1733162494960.jpg\" alt=\"A white man wearing a suit sits at a desk in an office, writing on a piece of paper with an American flag behind him.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1300\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 28, 2024. \u003ccite>(Photo Courtesy of Governor of California via Flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, California’s current 2025–26 budget plan, which needs to be adopted by the end of this month, doesn’t include funding to implement ethnic studies statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the 2021 law that created the ethnic studies requirement, the state had to provide money to pay for course materials, teachers and training for the mandate to take effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, districts around the Bay Area and the state have also been backing off plans to expand the course in the face of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/palo-alto-ethnic-studies-19588959.php\">legal challenges\u003c/a>, many of which have stemmed from Israel’s war in Gaza and concerns over allegations of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008739/sfusd-antisemitism-training-sparks-controversy-as-some-educators-opt-for-alternative\">antisemitism in schools\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab715\">bill making its way through California’s Legislature\u003c/a> that aims to strengthen protections against discrimination and antisemitism has also been criticized by some teachers and \u003ca href=\"https://ca.cair.com/action/stop-ab-715-in-the-senate-defend-our-classrooms/\">advocacy groups\u003c/a> who worry it could prohibit students from learning about Palestine and human rights more broadly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason why ethnic studies was created in the 1960s in San Francisco was because of the lack of education for students of color about their own identities,” Lavin said. Without ethnic studies, she asked, “Where exactly are those students supposed to get their representation?”\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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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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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.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
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"masters-of-scale": {
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},
"mindshift": {
"id": "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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"morning-edition": {
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"onourwatch": {
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"title": "On Our Watch",
"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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"order": 11
},
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"on-the-media": {
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"title": "On The Media",
"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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},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
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},
"pbs-newshour": {
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"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
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},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
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"order": 14
},
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"planet-money": {
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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.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
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},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"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
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0c2d153-ad36-4c8d-901d-f1da6a724824/political-breakdown",
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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/",
"meta": {
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
"subscribe": {
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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