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Facing thousands of unvaccinated students, Los Angeles district pushes back vaccine mandate until fall

Updated December 15 The Los Angeles Unified Board of Education voted Tuesday to delay its vaccine mandate for students 12 and up until next fall. The district was facing the possibility of transferring 34,000 unvaccinated students into an already understaffed remote learning program called City of Angels. Leaders of the district’s administrators union were concerned about the...
By Linda Jacobson | December 10, 2021
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Miami’s Carvalho brings rock star status to top L.A. schools job, but observers warn of ‘political black hole’ that awaits

The Los Angeles Unified school board on Thursday unanimously selected Alberto Carvalho, one of the nation’s most respected — and buzzed about — school leaders, as the district’s next superintendent. “This is like LeBron coming to the Lakers,” said Pedro Noguera, dean of the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education. “He is by...
By Linda Jacobson | December 9, 2021
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Exclusive data: Experts hailed holding kids back as an emergency response to pandemic learning loss. Despite wave of new state retention bills, most parents balked

Charlotte Collins was a kindergartner in name only last year — enrolled in a San Antonio charter school, but not “super participating” in remote learning, her mother said. “Having a kindergartner sit at a computer to do online school was not a thing I was willing to make her do,” said Alison Collins. But she...
By Linda Jacobson | December 7, 2021
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Proposed California ballot measure would give parents ‘legal standing’ to sue for better schools as right-to-education efforts spread

Californians could vote next year on whether students should have a constitutional right to a high-quality education, potentially opening the door to litigation from parents dissatisfied with their children’s schools. The effort to get the measure on the November 2022 ballot is just getting started, but such a statute would give parents “legal standing” before...
By Linda Jacobson | November 30, 2021
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California aims to come from behind in making sure children learn to read, but some see new push as political

It’s been more than a decade since California’s education system placed a strong emphasis on making sure educators know how to teach children to read. Reading experts and parent advocates say a lack of consistent attention to the issue since then shows. Thirty-seven percent of the state’s fourth-graders score below the basic level on federal...
By Linda Jacobson | November 16, 2021
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‘Not a pipe dream’: New report offers roadmap to eliminate internet affordability gap for students

Almost two years into the pandemic, over 18 million households lack high-speed internet access. Even if it’s available, they can’t afford it, according to a new report from nonprofit EducationSuperHighway. CEO Evan Marwell estimates about half of those families include school-age children. “The narrative is that it’s been about building infrastructure in rural America,” Marwell said, but...
By Linda Jacobson | November 8, 2021
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Supreme Court weighs limits of censure in case with implications for divisive school boards

Legislative bodies, including K-12 school boards, should be able to police their own members and censure is the historical mechanism for doing that, attorneys representing the Houston Community College System argued Tuesday in a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court. But censuring a board member for criticism of the board violates that person’s First Amendment...
By Linda Jacobson | November 4, 2021
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Amid vaccine mandates and CDC calls to ramp surveillance, schools from LA to Philadelphia confront logistics of mass testing

In the “isolation room” at Indian Springs High School — the command center for any COVID-related issues on campus — Janak Kaur seals the school security officer’s swab sample in a plastic bag. Meanwhile, the officer fills out a registration on a website where he’ll get his results in a day or two. As the...
By Linda Jacobson | November 2, 2021
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Child tax credit payments a ‘shot in the arm’ for families, but some argue extending them should depend on results

Jessica Hudson, a political science student at San Francisco State University, was balancing school and work when she had to quit both to stay home with her two children during remote learning last year. Then the whole family, Hudson’s partner included, got sick with COVID-19. They found themselves overspending on a laundry service because they...
By Linda Jacobson | October 7, 2021
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White House memo: Debt ceiling debate could impact $50 billion in K-12 funding, including Title I and special ed

Updated October 8 The Senate on Thursday passed a short-term, $480 billion increase in the debt ceiling that lasts through Dec. 3 — a move that prevents the U.S. government from failing to pay its financial obligations. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, after vowing not to help Democrats with the issue, rallied 11 Republicans to end debate...
By Linda Jacobson | October 6, 2021