This story was originally published on EdSource. Marking the start of two weeks of intensive negotiations, the Legislature passed a state budget Monday with higher revenue projections than those proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, providing several billion dollars in additional spending for TK-12 and community colleges in 2026-27. Several other significant issues remain unresolved. Chief among...

This story was originally published EdSource. In coming days, school districts will find out whether their pressure campaign worked to persuade Gov. Gavin Newsom to turn over the $3.9 billion he planned to withhold, for now, from next year’s state funding for schools and community colleges.  By midnight Monday, June 15, the state Legislature must pass...

Newly released data from America’s longest-running measure of student learning have delivered a decidedly split verdict on the state of schools. Math and reading scores from the “Long-Term Trends” edition of the National Assessment of Educational Progress — a federally administered test commonly referred to as the Nation’s Report Card — offer some of the...

Math improvement rarely stalls because districts aren’t taking action. More often, it stalls because well-intentioned supports accumulate faster than schools can turn them into a coherent, actionable instructional plan. The instinct to seek additional support is understandable. Students need help immediately. Teachers deserve time and training. Families want progress they can see. So districts invest...

Recently, researchers at Dartmouth, Harvard and Stanford released the annual Education Scorecard, which points to a long-entrenched learning recession in American K-12 education.The latest reading achievement data tells a troubling story: Reading scores remain below pre-pandemic levels in many of the nation’s most under-resourced school districts. Equally concerning, researchers found that declines in reading achievement...

For a few years now, the United States has been marinating in a particular version of the American story. Specifically, we’ve been awash in warnings about the country’s alleged vulnerability in the face of cultural change. In this conservative telling, America grows stronger when it is monocultural, wealthier when it goes it alone, and better...

Public education, in red and blue states alike, is being pulled apart by student disengagement, mental health needs, culture war battles, voucher expansion, budget uncertainty and the disruptive force of artificial intelligence. New data prompt renewed handwringing over standardized test scores and their decade-long decline. Meanwhile, Republicans who seek more choice in public education and...

With millions of ballots still to be counted in California, Chino Valley Unified school board President Sonja Shaw has a clear lead in the state superintendent of public instruction primary with 24.9% of the vote, followed by San Diego Unified school board President Richard Barrera with 18.9% of the vote. None of the other candidates...

Most California parents assume that when they send their children to school on a hot day, someone is responsible for keeping them safe. They assume there are rules and that the adults in charge will notice if a child is struggling in the heat. That assumption is not always true. Until very recently, it was...

One of the many surprises of being a new parent is just how many diapers a tiny baby can go through in a day. In the haze of those first weeks and months adjusting to having an infant, parents shouldn’t have to worry about whether they can afford enough diapers — or what financial sacrifices...