Headlines
FCMAT provides links to California TK-12 news stories as a service to the industry. Some stories may require a newspaper subscription.
Mar 26, 2025
At a time when President Trump has threatened to cut education funding to institutions that cross him, the Los Angeles teachers union is having a throwback moment: It’s pushing an aggressive social justice and diversity agenda — and demanding a big raise from the L.A Unified School District.
Mar 26, 2025
When schools shuttered five years ago, many students like Benjamin Olaniyi turned to their phones to find connection during a profoundly unsettling and isolating time. “Social media made us feel more connected with the world,” said Olaniyi, who is now a junior at King/Drew Medical Magnet High School in Los Angeles.
Mar 25, 2025
The Alvord school board has temporarily replaced outgoing Superintendent Resma Byrne with a retired school administrator. In a closed session meeting Monday morning, March 24, the Alvord Unified School District board unanimously approved the hiring of Lisa Simon as interim superintendent.
Mar 25, 2025
For more than a century, Congress has given extra money to counties with large tracts of federal land to help pay for schools, roads and other critical services. Now that financial lifeline appears to be dead after Congress didn’t include it in the budget passed this month.
Mar 25, 2025
The cash-strapped Pasadena Unified School District is suing Southern California Edison, seeking compensation for the loss of multiple buildings that burned in the Eaton fire and the ensuing disruption of its operations.
Mar 24, 2025
After President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday instructing U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the Department of Education, the Humboldt County Office of Education said federal funds are essential to support vulnerable student populations, while noting most school funding comes from the state.
Mar 24, 2025
The Atascadero school board plans to announce a new candidate for district superintendent in April, acting board president Denise McGrew-Kane wrote in a statement Thursday.
Mar 24, 2025
A group of parents raising money to preserve transitional kindergarten in the Mill Valley School District has received a $500,000 contribution from Kiddo, the schools foundation.
Mar 24, 2025
The Novato Unified School District has agreed to consider reserving 27 apartments in a workforce housing complex in Larkspur.
Mar 24, 2025
The Pasadena Unified School District on Friday, March 21, sued Southern California Edison seeking compensation for “devastating” damages to district properties in the Eaton fire.
Mar 24, 2025
President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education was met with uncertainty Friday at some Southern California school districts, where educators and activists worry any federal funding cuts could impact already cash-strapped budgets and threaten programs for disadvantaged students. .
Mar 24, 2025
The March harvest of the month is kumquats. Next month, it’s Persian cucumber. That’s what’s on the menu at San Diego Unified’s “Cali-Qs” — farm-to-school barbecues the school district hosts for families at different elementary schools twice a week throughout the school year.
Mar 24, 2025
The bell dinged and the University Charter High School students gathered their things and headed for the door. As students flooded from classrooms, a strange, new sound filled the long hallway: the din of hundreds of students talking. To each other.
Mar 24, 2025
The Tulare County city of Porterville would mandate its public schools to notify parents if their child requests to be identified by a gender different from their biological sex under a new proposal.
Mar 21, 2025
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to shut down the U.S. Department of Education. Since the U.S. Education Department was created by Congress, however, legal experts say the federal agency can only be dismantled with congressional approval.
Mar 21, 2025
A few years ago, when Julian Ramos first started teaching drama, he was hoping to explore Greek tragedy with his sixth graders. Then he realized only three out of his 30 students were reading at grade level. So, Sophocles was off the table.
Mar 21, 2025
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to work toward eliminating the Department of Education, pushing forward a campaign promise to dismantle an agency that has long been maligned by conservatives.
Mar 21, 2025
President Donald Trump’s efforts to abolish the federal Department of Education are coming as California schools face a unique crisis caused by a state law that allowed a wave of lawsuits over decades-old sexual abuse allegations.
Mar 21, 2025
In 2019, his first year in office, Gov. Gavin Newsom launched the Cradle-to-Career Data System, a new state entity that aims to track students’ progress from preschool through employment. The data system was supposed to release its first public dashboard last spring.
Mar 21, 2025
President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, a long-anticipated action that will affect how billions of dollars in federal funding for California will be distributed to millions of students, educators and institutions.
Mar 20, 2025
In an email sent out to parents last week, the district said it was exploring an expansion of the school as early as the 2025-26 school year.
Mar 20, 2025
The moves affect elementary, middle and high school campuses. The reassignments were aimed at creating “safe campuses,” according to the district.
Mar 20, 2025
Alisal Union School District Deputy Superintendent Monica Anzo will succeed Jim Koenig as superintendent beginning this summer.
Mar 20, 2025
The effects of the coronavirus-related shutdown linger five years later, as measured in test scores and student engagement, especially among the Golden State’s most vulnerable children.
Mar 20, 2025
SB 64 would have created “flex accounts” for California school children, making $8,000 available for their parents to spend on charter, private or magnet schools if they decided to not go to a public school.
Mar 20, 2025
Some of California’s most acclaimed schools right now aren’t in elite suburbs or wealthy urban enclaves. They’re in a small city in the San Joaquin Valley, an outpost on Highway 99 surrounded by almond trees and orange groves.
Mar 19, 2025
The Atascadero school board won’t hire a controversial candidate to replace its outgoing superintendent after community backlash. During its meeting Tuesday night, school board member Denise McGrew-Kane announced the district would not hire E.J. Rossi, its former top pick for the job.
Mar 19, 2025
The Mill Valley School District is exploring other possible locations for its new middle school. The expanded scope, prompted by community comments, means delaying the draft environmental impact report on the project, district officials said.
Mar 19, 2025
Cabrillo High School in Long Beach has issued an apology after students posed for a racist photo that went viral on social media. The photo, which was apparently taken during a school assembly in the gym, shows students wearing t-shirts that spell out a racial slur.
Mar 19, 2025
A California legislator plans to unveil a first-of-its-kind bill Wednesday that would phase out certain ultra-processed foods from meals served in public schools statewide.
Mar 18, 2025
One of the two owners of a metal salvage and recycling yard adjacent to Jordan High School in Watts was ordered Monday to remain jailed in lieu of $1 million bail in connection with charges that they illegally disposed of hazardous waste — some of which was allegedly deposited on the grounds of the school.
Mar 18, 2025
The district is under a five-year agreement with the state Department of Justice to monitor how it handles sexual harassment claims.
Mar 18, 2025
Union members began casting ballots Friday and will continue to do so through spring break, with nearly two-thirds of the potential vote already in.
Mar 18, 2025
Becky Rosales, 64, has worked in the education field for 40 years, including the past six years as the district’s top administrator. Her salary is $261,000.
Mar 18, 2025
Congressman Jim Costa held a virtual press conference Monday along with other local leaders to discuss recent cuts to federal food programs and how the cuts will affect local school districts and food banks.
Mar 18, 2025
A South L.A. recycling plant accused of spewing toxic waste and lead onto the grounds of a nearby high school was ordered shut down on Monday, a major victory for community activists and student groups who have been fighting against the facility for two decades.
Mar 17, 2025
Teachers at Friday’s protest said the recent moves have broken their trust in the district’s ability to manage the overhaul of its schools.
Mar 17, 2025
At least 56 staff members at Maria Carrillo High School were reported absent Friday, forcing officials to have students gather in the gym. At Slater, district officials were brought in to manage classrooms.
Mar 17, 2025
The board voted Thursday to eliminate 10 full-time certificated roles and 24 classified jobs by the end of the school year.
Mar 17, 2025
The removal of a number of administrators last week sparked a petition for the removal of new Santa Rosa schools Superintendent Daisy Morales, who says she values ‘the concerns and perspectives’ of the SRCS community in a time of transition.
Mar 17, 2025
A South Orange County school board member’s use of the N-word at a recent public meeting – while supporting approval of a book about an enslaved man – has triggered concerns and debate across one of Orange County’s largest school districts.
Mar 17, 2025
Modesto City Schools is the only district in the nation incorporating tai chi into its after-school program, helping elementary students sharpen focus, reduce stress and enhance overall well-being, instructor Naser Ataee said.
Mar 17, 2025
When the Trump administration announced last week that about half the staff of the U.S. Department of Education were to be laid off, the slashing closed down the San Francisco regional branch of the Office for Civil Rights responsible for providing the state’s students protection from discrimination.
Mar 17, 2025
Five years ago, California's roughly 10 million K-12 and college students, along with parents, educators and school leaders, were thrust into an uncertain world of remote learning, followed a year later by a return to in-person schooling punctuated by social distancing, mask mandates, learning loss and chronic absenteeism.
Mar 17, 2025
As California gets closer to its 2030 goal of having 1,600 dual language immersion programs in the state’s public schools and advocates call for a more ambitious vision, legislators have pumped the brakes on funding.
Mar 17, 2025
Educators and classified professionals rallied in protest against the Trump administration in downtown San Diego on Friday during their union’s twice-yearly convention, warning of possible effects on schools and students.
Mar 14, 2025
Seven of 12 regional offices that handle federal civil rights complaints were shuttered, including the Office for Civil Rights branch in San Francisco, which handles complaints filed in California.
Mar 14, 2025
The coach, who has been with the program for 26 years, said she has sent complaints to the district and the city every year at the start of the softball season asking to have the complex cleaned up.
Mar 14, 2025
Garden Grove Unified School District has started to livestream their board meetings, allowing residents who cannot attend meetings in person to stay informed.
Mar 14, 2025
Kenneth Turnage II, who served as Antioch Unified School District’s Maintenance Operations and Facilities director and was previously accused of bullying and harassing employees, filed a lawsuit against the district for wrongful suspension and dismissal.
Mar 14, 2025
San Diego Unified School District families can soon start enrolling their children in transitional kindergarten, which will have more classrooms next school year and fewer children in each one.
Mar 14, 2025
Rialto Unified spokeswoman Syeda Jafri said “quick and decisive action” has been taken against the teacher, but did not say what that was or why. Jafri said she would research the district’s policy on intervening in fights.
Mar 14, 2025
Pasadena Unified School District, roiled by years of declining enrollment and grappling with the exhaustion of pandemic-era federal funds, needed to slash $12 million from its budget — and the school board had just voted to send out preliminary layoff notices to dozen of teachers.
Mar 14, 2025
The agreement extends to December 2029, with options for two, five-year renewals. The district owns the land next to Mill Valley Middle School, but the city has been managing it for many years.
Mar 14, 2025
Efforts to build school district housing at the county education department’s property off Highway 1 have been in progress since before the passage of Assembly Bill 2296 in 2022, Superintendent James Brescia told The Tribune.
Mar 14, 2025
The proposal would have strayed from the Santa Rosa City School’s plan to turn Elsie Allen High School into a magnet school and to remove its boundaries.
Mar 14, 2025
The district has selected a building at Santa Rosa High School to accommodate the middle schoolers who will be moving onto campus.
Mar 13, 2025
Concerned, and in some cases surprised, parents from Bellevue Union School District this week pleaded with the district’s five-member board to reinstate elementary school PE teachers, counselors and others who are among 40 staffers slated to receive pink slips later this week to close the district’s budget gap.
Mar 13, 2025
While high school graduation rates for Black students in California have increased and suspension rates have declined, gaps in numerous learning outcomes continue to persist.
Mar 13, 2025
A discussion about the next steps to be taken in consolidating schools is scheduled for the Sonoma Valley Unified School District board of trustees meeting on Thursday, March 13.
Mar 13, 2025
Meanwhile, district leaders say they’ve already received 150 more requests to transfer out of the district than they had last year. Those transfers are called interdistrict transfers.
Mar 13, 2025
The parents of a boy subjected to repeated racist taunts by his classmates packed a Redlands Unified board meeting with a throng of supporters Tuesday, March 11, to demand a thorough investigation and a district campaign to combat racism.
Mar 13, 2025
More than 1,300 workers were fired Tuesday while another 572 accepted buyouts in recent weeks, bringing the department’s staff down to just over 2,100 workers.
Mar 13, 2025
As districts and government officials nationwide consider curbing smartphones’ reach, new research has revealed teens miss at least one and a half hours of school because they are on their phones.
Mar 13, 2025
The Trump administration has begun dismantling the U.S. Department of Education by laying off about half of the agency’s employees, casting uncertainty over how — or whether — billions of federal dollars for California to help disadvantaged students and those with disabilities will be distributed, how college financial aid and student loans will be managed and how civil rights enforcement will be carried out.
Mar 13, 2025
Central Unified has joined the list of Central Valley school districts searching for a new superintendent.
Mar 12, 2025
Gabriel Albavera, the longest-serving high school principal in Santa Rosa City Schools, will not be returning to Elsie Allen High School as principal, district officials announced Tuesday night.
Mar 12, 2025
The Tamalpais Design Review Board has lodged objections to a proposed 32-apartment building at 150 Shoreline Highway, citing regulation conflicts and safety hazards.
Mar 12, 2025
Nearly a month ago, Santa Rosa City Schools trustees voted to close five schools at the end of the year and move middle schoolers onto high school campuses.
Mar 12, 2025
A resolution to refrain from language such as “toxic masculinity” in San Rafael City Schools has been withdrawn in the face of public opposition.
Mar 12, 2025
Thirty-one legislators, led by the Legislative Jewish Caucus, are calling for a do-over on teaching ethnic studies after a half-dozen years of strife. The authors are convinced that flaws in a voluntary model curriculum have led to complaints and lawsuits alleging that some districts are using biased and antisemitic course content and instruction.
Mar 12, 2025
Grossmont Union High School District Superintendent Mike Fowler is stepping down, citing his ongoing intensive treatment for a brain tumor. Fowler made the announcement in a video played before the district’s board meeting Tuesday evening.
Mar 12, 2025
President Donald Trump’s purge of government programs for racial and gender minorities has landed in San Francisco public schools with cutbacks that school officials say will devastate mentorship and counseling programs for their most vulnerable students. The city is now challenging those edicts in court.
Mar 12, 2025
A U.S. District Court Judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to cancel an estimated $250 million in teacher-training grants across the country, including a significant cut affecting students preparing to staff high-need California schools.
Mar 11, 2025
Videos recorded from outside the girls’ bathroom and circulated on social media show the altercation lasted at least a couple of minutes.
Mar 11, 2025
Some teachers and staff at Bellevue Union School District are fighting for their jobs as the district faces low enrollment and budget constraints.
Mar 11, 2025
The Tamalpais Union High School District has declined to participate in a bond guarantee program designed to allow the Village at Oak Hill housing project to bridge a multimillion-dollar budget gap.
Mar 11, 2025
Pittsburg Unified School District board of trustees unanimously voted on a $8.3 million reduction for the 2025-2026 school year without eliminating the positions and a $7.81 million reduction for the 2026-2027 school year.
Mar 11, 2025
San Francisco public school PTAs have for years raised money from families and the community to cover the costs of extra teachers, literacy coaches and recess specialists among other needs like paper and art supplies.
Mar 11, 2025
The Modesto City Schools Board of Education unanimously approved a plan Monday to reduce or eliminate classified and classified management positions for the upcoming school year.
Mar 10, 2025
On Monday, Elizabeth Gordon-Stoll, a retired Santa Clara Unified School District Coordinator, is scheduled to replace Albavera for the remainder of the school year.
Mar 10, 2025
Disciplinary actions for special education students have risen as schools navigate post-pandemic behavioral trends, but Windsor’s suspensions are 3 percent higher than the statewide average.
Mar 10, 2025
State data shows Windsor district suspensions of special education students is well above the statewide average.
Mar 10, 2025
Pacific Grove Unified School District’s Board of Education voted Thursday to lay off the equivalent of 4.6 full-time teachers at the elementary and middle school level and three mental health therapists. The reductions will save the district around $1.1 million.
Mar 10, 2025
The Marin County schools superintendent warned Mill Valley School District officials this week that they must rescind their decision to eliminate transitional kindergarten next year or face strong repercussions from the state.
Mar 10, 2025
How much money does California get from the U.S. Department of Education to help fund schools? About 10-20% in the past few years, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, but in pre-pandemic years, that number was about 5%.
Mar 10, 2025
Kiny Holapatiphone and her friend were walking across the Buchanan High School campus on a crisp fall afternoon when they were stopped by a male administrator who noticed her sweater.
Mar 10, 2025
After a nearly three-year fight to get facilities funding, San Diego County’s rural Mountain Empire Unified School District is getting $4.6 million from the state to finally begin rebuilding its crumbling high school.
Mar 10, 2025
On paper, the Compton Unified School District has soared in its academic performance in the last decade. District Superintendent Darin Brawley has, in part, attributed the upswing to regular assessments and the use of standardized test scores to help determine academic strategies at individual school sites.
Mar 10, 2025
Senate Bill 274 would permanently extend the ban on willful defiance suspensions in middle and high schools after 2025. Current law bans these suspensions permanently for students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Mar 10, 2025
School districts across the Bay Area are facing financial crises from declining enrollment, with many turning to school closures or widespread layoffs in an effort to plug multimillion-dollar budget holes and avoid running out of cash.
Mar 07, 2025
The boys basketball coach at Northview High in Covina, who also taught in the Covina-Valley Unified School District, was arrested on suspicion of unlawful sexual acts with a minor on Wednesday, March 5, and police say there may be more victims, possibly including some of his students.
Mar 07, 2025
Oxnard Union High School District is on track to lay off fewer than 91 staff at the end of the school year, less than half of the cuts district leaders projected last month.
Mar 07, 2025
Gabe Albavera is the longest-serving high school principal in the Santa Rosa City Schools district. He was off campus the day after the Feb. 25 stabbing and has not returned.
Mar 07, 2025
But unlike the controversial layoff decisions plaguing other districts in San Luis Obispo County, Lucia Mar leaders described Tuesday’s cuts as routine — and said the jobs could be restored by fall.
Mar 07, 2025
Seeking to slash a $13 million budget deficit, the Novato Unified School District plans to issue preliminary warning notices of layoffs or reduced hours to more than 30 employees.
Mar 07, 2025
The grievance alleges that the district overinflated the food service coordinator’s signing bonus in order to pay a preselected candidate a higher salary than what the district was able to achieve in bargaining talks.
Mar 07, 2025
Ending several months of uncertainty, the California State Board of Education on Wednesday chose new labels to describe how students perform on the four levels of achievement on its standardized tests.
Mar 07, 2025
Rocklin Unified School District has recruited a nonprofit law firm to represent it in its ongoing legal fight with the state surrounding its policy that forces teachers and school staff to out transgender students to their parents.
Mar 07, 2025
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and attorneys general from seven other Democratic states are suing the Trump administration, claiming it illegally terminated federal grant funding for K-12 teacher preparation programs.
Mar 07, 2025
The Trump administration doubled down on its plan to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the nation’s schools last week by opening an online portal where parents and other community members can report educators and schools that use the programs.
Mar 07, 2025
A Silicon Valley school district under fire for problematic spending has continued to draw ire over its handling of a lavish, over-budget teacher housing project, including the recent purchase of a $2,500 swivel chair and other pricey furnishings.
Mar 06, 2025
During the pandemic, longtime Bay Area college and career counselor Jon Siapno started developing a chatbot that could answer high schoolers’ questions about their future education options.
Mar 06, 2025
As graduation season approaches, some Native American students in the Clovis Unified School District are concerned that their graduation experience will be jeopardized by wearing indigenous regalia to ceremonies.
Mar 06, 2025
Elk Grove Unified School District is conducting an investigation after a teacher shared a depiction of money labeled “N-word buck” as part of a history lesson.
Mar 06, 2025
A new lawsuit accuses a San Bruno school district of failing to prevent a teacher from sexually abusing two of his young charges between 2016 and 2023.
Mar 05, 2025
A homeless man was recently charged for assaulting a first-grade student last month inside a bathroom at Philadelphia Elementary School in Pomona, officials said.
Mar 05, 2025
With a fundraising goal of $100,000, the partners are looking to get the community’s support going forward — but some progress has already been made.
Mar 05, 2025
A majority of Anaheim Elementary School board members voted to vacate Trustee Mark Lopez’s seat for holding two public offices at the same time despite concerns from some elected officials that the move is illegal and could lead to a lawsuit.
Mar 05, 2025
Schools across the U.S. faced a March 1 deadline to end their diversity, equity and inclusion programs or risk losing federal funding. Sacramento school districts, like many across the country, have not openly rushed to comply with the mandates outlined in a Feb. 14 memo from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Mar 05, 2025
A new lawsuit accuses a San Bruno school district of failing to prevent a teacher from sexually abusing four of his young charges between 2016 and 2023. The filing comes just days after a jury found 34-year-old Jeremy Yeh, of San Mateo, guilty on 17 felony child molestation charges.
Mar 05, 2025
In a quest to help parents understand how their children are really doing in school — but not make them feel bad in the process — state officials are moving this week to change the way they describe student performance on standardized tests.
Mar 04, 2025
Some California Democrats in the state Legislature want less discussion of Israel and Palestine in soon-to-be-required ethnic studies courses at public schools, which they say have occasionally veered into antisemitism.
Mar 04, 2025
Under the still-to-be finalized terms of the plan, Play Marin would hold a lease for perhaps 20 years or more. The lease could encompass about a year or more of fundraising, possibly up to a goal of $10 million, and then cover about two years of renovations.
Mar 04, 2025
The Anaheim Elementary school board is considering relieving Trustee Mark Lopez from his duties after he was elected to a local community college board and is serving in the two roles simultaneously.
Mar 04, 2025
Schools across the U.S. faced a March 1 deadline to end their diversity, equity and inclusion programs or risk losing federal funding. Sacramento school districts, like many across the country, have not openly rushed to comply with the mandates outlined in a Feb. 14 memo from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Mar 04, 2025
Huntington Beach Union High School District officials said on Monday, March 3, former NFL punter Chris Kluwe, who garnered national attention after he was arrested last month for his protest of a MAGA-referencing plaque to be installed at a city library, was fired because of a social media post he made on Bluesky following the arrest.
Mar 03, 2025
California published its final report on lead in school drinking water in 2020. At that time, 18 of the Inland Empire’s four dozen districts and other education agencies had lead in campus drinking fountains or sinks, according to the State Water Resources Control Board’s last listing.
Mar 03, 2025
But those layoff numbers are rapidly shifting — cut already almost in half — after a wave of employees opted to retire under a district incentive program and a crowd of hundreds packed into the district board room Wednesday to protest the proposal.
Mar 03, 2025
Local officials have reaffirmed their commitment to equity in their schools, saying the Department of Education's Feb. 14 directive to abolish race-specific programs lacks legal weight.
Mar 03, 2025
Responding to a state mandate, Sonoma Valley Unified School District is seeking to establish a new policy that will regulate student use of mobile devices on campuses.
Mar 03, 2025
Alongside the changes to the instructional day, bell schedules between the two age groups will have to shift to address concerns about commingling middle and high school students. Parents, pointing to an uptick in violence reported at school campuses across the district, cite concerns about maintaining distinct areas for both groups.
Mar 03, 2025
The union representing Clovis Unified’s American Sign Language interpreters accused the district of subcontracting with remote interpreters and paying them more as the union bargains its first contract.
Mar 03, 2025
The California Department of Education wants a judge to order Cajon Valley Unified School District to implement corrective measures after it found the district’s sexual-health curriculum discriminated against LGBTQ+ students.
Mar 03, 2025
The Dublin Unified School District board this past week voted to eliminate more than two dozen jobs ahead of the next school year. The vote on Tuesday to cut $6.3 million to balance the district’s budget came after months of ongoing budget talks.
Mar 03, 2025
Oakland, San Francisco and Hayward have joined four smaller districts on the five-alarm fire list of the state’s most financially stressed districts — those flirting with insolvency.
Mar 03, 2025
In a move consistent with dozens of California school districts, West Contra Costa Unified board members have had to choose between eliminating staff and services for students or exploding its budget deficit.
Feb 28, 2025
Compton Unified debuted 25 zero-emissions electric school buses Wednesday that will start transporting students later this spring.
Feb 28, 2025
In another example of schools making cuts due to inflation and the ending of one-time COVID-19 relief funding, Petaluma’s Old Adobe Union School District has chopped roughly $1.7 million from its 2025-26 budget.
Feb 28, 2025
300 employees. That’s how many Santa Rosa City Schools staff members will receive notices for layoffs or a reduction in their hours in the next few days. Trustees unanimously approved the list of $21 million in proposed cuts Wednesday night in two votes.
Feb 28, 2025
School board leaders here are moving forward with nearly 100 layoffs in a last-ditch effort to keep the Oakland Unified School District’s finances from spiraling out of control.
Feb 28, 2025
The cuts, considered on Feb. 11 and approved during the board’s Feb. 25 meeting, are equivalent to 5.4 full-time certificated positions worth a total of $946,000 in cost savings, plus eight classified positions worth $1,066,000 in cost savings, the district said.
Feb 28, 2025
A group targeting “woke culture” and diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public education is suing Fresno Unified over its programs that aim to close its yawning African American student achievement gap.
Feb 27, 2025
Parents in the Tamalpais Union High School District want to know why students at an LGBTQ+ awareness event were shown a video with an image of an avowed Middle East terrorist.
Feb 27, 2025
Schools and colleges across the U.S. face a Friday deadline to end diversity programs or risk having their federal money pulled by the Trump administration, yet few are openly rushing to make changes.
Feb 27, 2025
More than 100 students walked out of class at Buena High School in Ventura on Monday, to protest the proposed layoff of school librarians.
Feb 27, 2025
The Ventura Unified School District will cut more than 100 jobs before the next school year starts, but the district won't get rid of any counselors or librarians after hundreds of people pleaded with the school board to spare those positions.
Feb 27, 2025
Palm Springs Unified School District's superintendent Tony Signoret has announced he will be retiring at the end of the school year, effective June 30, after more than 31 years with the district.
Feb 27, 2025
San Diego Unified will no longer require new employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The district’s board unanimously approved a recommendation to end the requirement that new hires show proof of vaccination at its Tuesday evening meeting.
Feb 27, 2025
The Oakland Education Association and parents are demanding the district find alternatives to proposed budget cuts, including educator layoffs and reduced programming, they announced during a news conference on Tuesday.
Feb 27, 2025
In the areas of chronic absenteeism, suspension and reading proficiency, the rates for Black students in California remain largely the same as they were a decade ago. That is the focus of a new report, Black Minds Matter 2025.
Feb 26, 2025
The father of a 15-year-old boy stabbed multiple times Tuesday during a fight with another student at Elsie Allen High School wants school officials to explain why they failed to notify him after his son had been seriously injured during class.
Feb 26, 2025
All eyes are on Santa Rosa City Schools as the district shutters campuses and lays off staff to address a $20 million shortfall. But declining enrollment and the end of pandemic relief grants have put other school districts across Sonoma County in similar financial distress.
Feb 26, 2025
Santa Rosa City Schools trustees will vote on whether to issue layoff notices to more than 150 classified and certificated employees and administrators Wednesday night as they continue to chip away at the district’s ongoing budget deficit.
Feb 26, 2025
Alisal Union School District was one of three districts set to benefit from a training program for CSUMB students looking to become teachers in the county. Funded by a now-canceled federal grant, the program is now in limbo.
Feb 26, 2025
Students of an Altadena school that was burned to the ground during the Eaton Fire are getting a sense of normalcy back as its founder leads efforts toward recovery.
Feb 26, 2025
The Pasadena Unified School District in Southern California announced plans to eliminate 151 full-time employees, including 115 teachers, as it struggles to close a budget shortfall and deal with the fallout from the Eaton Fire.
Feb 25, 2025
Questions continue mounting over the cost and the need for a student athlete sports program at the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, months after the launch of the district’s Universal Sports Institute last fall.
Feb 25, 2025
Luther Burbank High School teacher Erinn Leone has been looking for disciplinary reform in her school district since a fellow teacher launched into a racial slur-filled rant in her presence and she felt burdened with the responsibility of resolving the situation.
Feb 25, 2025
Months after voters approved a $1.15 billion local bond measure to support San Jose Unified School District, the district is asking voters to sign off on millions more in funding.
Feb 25, 2025
The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education Thursday, Feb. 27, will vote on whether to cut approximately 150 full-time positions including teachers and district staff members.
Feb 25, 2025
The U.S Department of Education has set a Friday deadline for K-12 schools, colleges and universities to eliminate race-specific programming or face potential federal funding cuts.
Feb 24, 2025
After more than 200 days of negotiations, the Guerneville School Teachers Association and Guerneville School District came to a tentative agreement last week to provide teachers in the lower Russian River area school district with pay raises and increased contributions toward their health benefits.
Feb 24, 2025
The board’s decision to save Elsie Allen High School Friday means they now must come up with $2 million more in savings because their closure plan won’t save enough money to pull the district out of financial jeopardy.
Feb 24, 2025
San Diego County education leaders gathered at MiraCosta College in Oceanside this week to warn of the profound effects that losing federal funding could have on their work and their lives.
Feb 24, 2025
The U.S. Department of Education alarmed school leaders last week by threatening to withhold federal funding from schools and colleges that do not abandon “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs.
Feb 24, 2025
The first real sign of the painful cuts coming to San Francisco schools came Friday when district officials announced plans to issue 395 pink slips to teachers, social workers and counselors across the district, as well as 164 teachers aides and 278 administrators and other staff.
Feb 21, 2025
The Rialto Unified school board this week voted to fire Superintendent Cuauhtemoc Avila, who has been on paid leave for nearly 10 months during an investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed one of his administrators.
Feb 21, 2025
Emotional scenes unfolded in Santa Rosa school drop-off lines Thursday as families grappled with the closure of three elementary schools, leaving students, parents and educators facing uncertainty and difficult transitions.
Feb 21, 2025
The meeting, scheduled from 3 to 6 p.m. at Lewis Early Learning Academy, 2230 Lomitas Ave. in Santa Rosa, comes amid mounting pressure to prevent hundreds of unnecessary layoff notices from going out to staff next week. It is open to the public.
Feb 21, 2025
The restoration cost, estimated four years ago at about $6 million or $7 million, would now be at “about $8 million to $10 million with all the bells and whistles,” Play Marin founder Paul Austin said. The extra amenities could include a track around the field, restrooms and a snack shack, he said.
Feb 21, 2025
Santa Ana Unified School District will stop teaching ethnic studies courses that Jewish advocacy groups say were infused with antisemitic material after settling a lawsuit this week for allegedly making the classes out of the public eye.
Feb 21, 2025
Clovis Unified Trustee Yolanda Moore made history in December after colleagues elected her to become the first African American board president in the school district’s 65-year history.
Feb 21, 2025
Renee Hill became the second woman and the first person of color to lead the Riverside Unified School District when she took the job in 2021.
Feb 20, 2025
The court affirmed the right of parents to be involved in their student’s education by notifying parents if their child requests changes to official or unofficial records, the release states.
Feb 20, 2025
After nearly six hours of discussions Wednesday night about which schools it would close to offset a $20 million deficit, trustees with the Santa Rosa City Schools district voted 5-1 to close three elementary schools.
Feb 19, 2025
The 5.5 counseling positions were placed on the chopping block as part of the district’s recommended plan to remedy a $6 million dollar structural budget deficit that is set to grow in the coming years without action.
Feb 20, 2025
A new federal audit says the Santa Clara County Office of Education misused more than $135,370 in federal funds under the previous superintendent. But county leaders disagree on whether the error was an intentional cover-up or a simple mistake.
Feb 20, 2025
Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi launched his 2026 campaign for California’s top elected education official this week. The Los Angeles Democrat said he’s running for state superintendent of public instruction to defend public school students from the Trump administration’s attacks on public education.
Feb 20, 2025
E., a mother of three in Salinas, is extra careful when she takes her kids to school. She switches up her routes, leaves at different times, and is always on the lookout for immigration agents, especially during pick-ups and drop-offs.
Feb 19, 2025
The federal government slashed two Cal Poly grants targeted at getting qualified teachers into local special education and bilingual education classrooms, documents provided to The Tribune show.
Feb 19, 2025
The Petaluma City Schools Board of Trustees, tasked with chopping $2 million from next year’s budget, heard recommendations last week on how to go about it and provided feedback on which positions should be cut – although a final vote was delayed until later this month.
Feb 19, 2025
In an effort to shorten its regular monthly board meetings, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District board of trustees voted 4-1 to change two bylaws that will limit public comment and establish a 9 p.m. ending time.
Feb 19, 2025
The plan the Santa Rosa City Schools trustees spent the most time discussing in their study session Tuesday would close three elementary schools, three middle schools and one high school, with most members leaning toward closing Elsie Allen High.
Feb 19, 2025
The Paso Robles school district will slash at least 54 jobs to help stave off its $4.9 million structural budget deficit, trustees decided Tuesday night. While many of the jobs will be eliminated through attrition, some employees will likely be laid off.
Feb 19, 2025
District leaders presented their proposed budget reductions for the 2025-26 school year at a Feb. 6 Board of Education meeting. The reductions included various cuts to staffing, mental health services and district contracts.
Feb 19, 2025
A cellphone ban — covering some 800 schools — took effect Tuesday in the Los Angeles Unified School District, eliciting a mix of reactions but no reports of major problems. About half the schools will have students surrender or lock up cellphones.
Feb 19, 2025
About 300 students at Hiram Johnson High School walked out of class to protest the Trump administration on Tuesday. The protest mirrored one held by their fellow Sacramento City Unified School District students at McClatchy High earlier this month.
Feb 19, 2025
A letter issued Friday by the U.S. Department of Education gives K-12 schools across the country two options: to eliminate programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within two weeks, or face unspecified cuts in federal funding.
Feb 18, 2025
The results of a contested election on the Greenfield Union School District Board of Trustees will remain in place following a court ruling there was insufficient evidence to redo the election.
Feb 18, 2025
The teacher has vehemently denied she exerted pressure on the boy’s head or neck with her foot. She is facing a misdemeanor ‘willful cruelty to a child’ charge.
Feb 18, 2025
A teacher at Curtis Creek Elementary School is accused of misdemeanor battery charges after the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office said he threw a baseball base at a student.
Feb 18, 2025
The Riverside Unified School District, under pressure from the community to release information on an employee suspected of committing sex crimes against children, has revealed the job title of the man that it had sought to keep secret for an unspecified amount of time.
Feb 18, 2025
From private school vouchers to threats over “woke” curriculum, the Trump administration has launched a slew of reforms intended to reshape K-12 schools. But it’s still too soon to determine how — or if — those efforts will play out in California, experts say.
Feb 18, 2025
If the southwest Santa Rosa high school is selected to close next month, an annual average of 1,500 teens may be left without a nearby place to access their physical, mental and reproductive needs.
Feb 18, 2025
The Sonoma Valley Unified School District board of trustees voted unanimously to eliminate the equivalent of 19 classified and 14 certified positions at its meeting last week to help address the district’s financial problems.
Feb 18, 2025
Santa Rosa City Schools trustees choose neutrality over convenience in moving Wednesday’s meeting to Santa Rosa City Hall, which has a capacity of only 180.
Feb 18, 2025
President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Education, Linda McMahon, told senators on Capitol Hill on Thursday that she wants to “return education to the states” but provided few specific details.
Feb 18, 2025
Ethnic studies aims to provide students with a broad view of the histories, cultures and struggles of historically marginalized groups.
Feb 18, 2025
After six years leading the Alisal Union School District, Superintendent Jim Koenig is stepping down at the end of the 2024-25 school year.
Feb 18, 2025
Despite protests and pleas, the Mill Valley School District board has agreed to a slate of layoffs to help close a $7.3 million budget deficit.
Feb 18, 2025
The Fresno teacher who questioned students about their immigration status and resident cards says his comments were taken out of context and were made while sharing stories of past undocumented students in an attempt “to make a connection with their courage.”
Feb 18, 2025
Sacramento City Unified School District will host families of Black/African students and students with disabilities in a community forum to give feedback on district policies and recommend improvements that reflect their needs.
Feb 18, 2025
San Diego Unified School District has updated its rules governing law enforcement and immigration enforcement officers’ access to its students in order to give school staff more detailed guidance.
Feb 18, 2025
More than nine months after Superintendent Cuauhtemoc Avila was placed on administrative leave, Rialto Unified School District officials and his attorney are growing impatient with an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against him.
Feb 18, 2025
Krista Miller can open an app to double check if her husband turned down their “smart” thermostat before leaving home, but the 23-year teacher hasn’t been able to decode the daily temperature inside her Pine Hollow Middle School classroom since last fall.
Feb 18, 2025
Juan Villegas, a lead gardener for the Pasadena Unified School District, played an important role in preparing campuses for reopening after the Eaton fire.
Feb 18, 2025
California school districts that are at risk of falling off the fiscal cliff are increasingly turning to early retirement incentives as a humane way to balance their budgets, but students could be the ones who lose.
Feb 18, 2025
As President Donald Trump has threatened to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education, the potential ramifications have left education officials in Southern California concerned about funding.
Feb 18, 2025
The U.S. Department of Education has told schools and colleges to eliminate DEI programs or risk losing federal funding. The decision covers race-related programs including financial aid, culturally themed dorm floors and graduation ceremonies.
Feb 14, 2025
The San Luis Obispo County Office of Education is seeking community feedback on a plan to reduce school districts’ risk to natural and human-caused disasters.
Feb 14, 2025
The Paso Robles school district will slash at least 54 jobs to help stave off its $4.9 million structural budget deficit, trustees decided Tuesday night.
Feb 14, 2025
A plan being considered by the White House would direct the education secretary to dismantle the department as much as legally possible while asking Congress to abolish it completely.
Feb 14, 2025
Teachers at El Camino Real Charter High School filed an unfair labor practice charge against school administrators as they continued their strike outside the school for a fourth day despite heavy rain pounding on the San Fernando Valley.
Feb 14, 2025
As academic researchers continue to explore what happened to public education during and after the COVID19 pandemic, they are confirming the harsh reality of decline in such basic skills as reading and mathematics.
Feb 14, 2025
The United Teachers of Richmond also gathered at Wednesday night’s board meeting to protest the $13 million in budget cuts the board approved one week ago, saying the cuts are “unnecessary,” “harmful” and “devastating” to students
Feb 14, 2025
About 100 Fresno Unified educators slammed the state’s third-largest school system for its “unilateral” decision to eliminate a decadelong initiative for underserved students during a news conference Wednesday evening.
Feb 14, 2025
Last month the school board approved plans to cut $5 million from next year's district budget but Wednesday night the board will decide which positions to cut and how many; 100 jobs are on the line to include teachers, counselors and aids.
Feb 14, 2025
Linda McMahon, President Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Department of Education, stood in solidarity Thursday with his goal of dismantling the department — an overhaul that could effect how billions of dollars in K-12 funding, financial aid and student loans flow to California schools and colleges.
Feb 14, 2025
From private school vouchers to threats over “woke” curriculum, the Trump administration has launched a slew of reforms intended to reshape K-12 schools. But it’s still too soon to determine how — or if — those efforts will play out in California, experts say.
Feb 13, 2025
The impasse happened during the board meeting Monday to pick one of two candidates: Jason Lau and Mehrdad Moaveni. The trustees split 2-2 in more than one round of voting.
Feb 13, 2025
The Franklin-McKinley School District in San Jose will briefly delay its plan to close or consolidate school campuses to shrink the district’s $22.9 million budget deficit after a contentious three-hour school board meeting on Tuesday ended in a stalemate.
Feb 13, 2025
After months of negotiations for better pay, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) educators at El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills began their strike on Monday, Feb. 10, and said they plan to do so until an agreement is reached with management.
Feb 13, 2025
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) voted 5-2 to develop its new cellphone ban last August — placing the district more than a year ahead of the state’s requirement for districts to limit the use of smartphones by July 1, 2026.
Feb 13, 2025
After more than a decade leading Downey Unified School District and a 33-year career in education, Superintendent Dr. John A. Garcia announced his retirement, effective Aug. 1, 2025. His announcement came during Wednesday night’s Board of Education meeting.
Feb 13, 2025
The U.S. Department of Education will investigate the California Interscholastic Federation, the state’s governing body for high school sports, for continuing to allow transgender athletes to compete on female sports teams, the agency announced Wednesday.
Feb 12, 2025
The district is contractually bound by state regulations to complete the projects. Their costs do not come from the same pool of funding that led to the district’s deficit.
Feb 12, 2025
Santa Rosa City Schools trustees met with district administrators to talk about the feasibility of alternative scenarios for closing schools by the end of the school year.
Feb 12, 2025
The equivalent of 65 employees in the Rincon Valley Union School District will be laid off at the end of the school year, the Board of Trustees decided at a Tuesday night meeting.
Feb 12, 2025
In 2022, chronic absenteeism among third-eighth graders at Monterey Peninsula Unified School District had nearly doubled since before the pandemic. In 2024, the district significantly lowered that number and stands out amongst districts nationwide that are struggling to keep absenteeism rates low.
Feb 12, 2025
The Mill Valley School District will violate a state mandate if it eliminates transitional kindergarten to help solve its budget deficit, according to Marin County’s schools superintendent.
Feb 12, 2025
Hundreds of students at McLane and Duncan Polytechnical high schools walked out of their campuses midday Friday and marched on Cedar Avenue in protest of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Feb 12, 2025
Millions in cuts are being proposed by the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, putting dozens of jobs on the line and raising concern among union leadership that those most impacted will be families and students.
Feb 11, 2025
On Jan 23-24, the Fortuna Elementary School District partnered with Optical Academy’s innovative program Glasses2Classes, which provided free vision care to more than 1,000 students at Norman G. Ambrosini and Linell K. Walker elementary schools, and Toddy Thomas and Fortuna middle schools.
Feb 11, 2025
Two proposals that together would reduce the equivalent of 33 full-time classified jobs are action items on the agenda for the Sonoma Valley Unified School District board of trustees’ meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13.
Feb 11, 2025
Rialto Unified school board member Evelyn Dominguez repeatedly butted heads with the former assistant principal at her son’s elementary school, according to a district investigation, but she didn’t violate district policy or state law along the way.
Feb 11, 2025
As the state Legislature continues to advance Senate Bill 48 to shield schools from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, school districts in the Modesto area are making sure teachers and staff are safeguarding families’ rights.
Feb 11, 2025
The Compton Unified School District is winning recognition for its success with students, who are showing significant, long-term academic improvement that is outpacing growth in California and the nation.
Feb 11, 2025
Los Angeles Unified officials repeatedly violated Proposition 28 — a state law requiring the hiring of arts teachers — misusing millions in state funds and denying promised arts instruction to students across the school system, according to allegations in a lawsuit filed Monday.
Feb 11, 2025
A unique database that enables people to compare standardized test scores among nearly all districts and states found that California experienced slightly less learning loss than the national average in the four years following the 2020 pandemic.
Feb 11, 2025
School districts’ costs for compensating students victimized by sexual assault are escalating by billions of dollars. Many cases date back decades and were revived by a 2019 state law that widely expanded liability exposure to schools and other public agencies for past child sexual assaults.
Increasingly organized groups of parents advocating for an immediate return to class are emerging as a potent political counterweight to teachers unions.
The teachers union in Sacramento City Unified School District released its framework for reopening for in-person learning on Tuesday, and the plan prioritizes offering the COVID-19 vaccine to all of its 4,500 district employees.
Experts have found that remote instruction falls far short of classroom learning. But surveys have shown that a majority of Black and Latino parents in Los Angeles are still hesitant about sending their children back into schools.
Some teachers are reluctant to return to classroom settings as Orange County students resume at least some in-person learning. So substitute teachers might be in demand more than ever before.
Santa Clara County schools have the green light starting Wednesday to usher in a phased return to real face-to-face lessons. But the vast majority are opting instead to stay the course through the rest of the semester.
At Lucerne Valley Elementary in Southern California’s high desert, hundreds of students have returned to in-person learning and a dramatically different school day.
Pleasanton is the latest city to take a hard look at the role of police in the community and schools — and how to respond to mental health calls. The city agreed to revise its police use of force policies and possibly remove school resource officers.
Rescue Union School District, home to 3,700 students at its five elementary schools and two middle schools, is able to open since the county has remained off of the state’s monitoring list and complied with the long list of requirements to reopen.
Masks will be required at every level. In elementary schools, half of students will end their day at lunchtime, before the other half arrives. Middle and high school kids will trade off and spend two days a week on campus.
At the June 23 Oceanside Unified School Board meeting, Trustee Mike Blessing asked staff to present an option for “100 percent return” in the fall, District Communications Director Matthew Jennings said.