Headlines
FCMAT provides links to California TK-12 news stories as a service to the industry. Some stories may require a newspaper subscription.
Apr 16, 2025
Furthermore, data shows that some of California’s rural students, as well as males and students of color, don’t enroll in and complete these courses at the same rate as others.
Apr 16, 2025
After several broad discussions yielding little, the three main opponents — the California Teachers Association, the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE), and Californians Together — released statements within the past month opposing the latest version of the legislation.
Apr 16, 2025
Of the 47 classified and classified management positions initially set to be eliminated at Modesto City Schools, only three employees were unable to secure new roles within the district.
Apr 16, 2025
Pasadena Unified School District officials updated the community on the impact of the Eaton fire, financial struggles and future renovations to district infrastructure Tuesday, April 15, during the annual State of Schools event.
Apr 16, 2025
Six former Mountain View School District students molested by a teacher won their lawsuit against the district and their ex teacher and were awarded $48 million by a jury on Monday, April 14.
Apr 16, 2025
A security guard at a Riverside high school was arrested on suspicion of arranging to meet a minor for sex and committing other crimes on Tuesday, April 15, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and the Riverside Unified School District.
Apr 16, 2025
While the state does require students to receive certain vaccines, some students can claim medical exemptions, according to the California Department of Public Health.
Apr 16, 2025
Preliminary test results from soil, soil vapor and water samples taken at Mill Valley Middle School indicate a minute health or cancer risk from long-term exposure to a potential contaminant.
Apr 15, 2025
A petition circling San Luis Obispo County is calling on local school districts to roll back policies that allow transgender students to participate in sports and use the bathrooms and locker rooms aligned with their gender identities.
Apr 15, 2025
The Pasadena Unified School District will work with the Pasadena Public Health Department to test lead levels in the soil near area schools, in the wake of recent findings that areas downwind of the Eaton fire had levels of lead exceeding public health thresholds, Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco said Sunday night.
Apr 15, 2025
The Marin County Civil Grand Jury is calling on Novato Unified School District to delve deeper into discipline and discourse to keep campuses safe.
Apr 15, 2025
The tide of uncertainty that's roiled financial markets is raising new concerns about California's underfunded retirement systems for millions of teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public sector employees.
Apr 15, 2025
The proposed lease of an 11.36-acre site in Newport Beach is gaining the attention of local environmental groups, who are claiming an Orange County school district violated state law during the search for developers.
Apr 15, 2025
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) and other House Democrats are demanding that Department of Homeland Security officials justify their attempts last week to speak with students at two Los Angeles elementary schools.
Apr 14, 2025
Marin Transit, which manages the Measure AA fund for the county’s yellow school bus programs, has approved a three-year funding cycle amounting to about $1.1 million annually.
Apr 14, 2025
Concerned about the rebranding costs that would be needed if Altimira Middle School is renamed, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District board of trustees voted unanimously to postpone a decision on the matter for one year.
Apr 14, 2025
Superintendent Daisy Morales said the district is making progress on its massive restructuring and also addressed the fallout that has led to questions about her leadership.
Apr 14, 2025
The Trump administration has sent a letter to all states asking them to certify that DEI initiatives will not be implemented at schools or risk losing federal funding.
Apr 14, 2025
Parents say instability, uncertainty, feeling unheard top reasons they’re pulling students from Sonoma County’s biggest district.
Apr 14, 2025
Proponents of Measure E, the property tax proposal in the Ross Valley School District, are defending the plan against critics who say it would be too costly for some owners.
Apr 14, 2025
In separate decisions, the department ordered both the Campbell Union High School District and Santa Clara Unified to provide anti-discrimination training, and in the case of Santa Clara Unified, training in students’ rights against retaliation.
Apr 14, 2025
In 1971 California’s Supreme Court issued one of its most important and far-reaching decisions, declaring that the state’s system of financing public schools — primarily via locally levied property taxes — was unconstitutionally unfair.
Apr 14, 2025
California on Friday defied a Trump administration order to certify that the state’s 1,000 school districts have ended all diversity, equity and inclusion programs despite federal threats to cut billions of dollars in education funding if the state does not comply.
Apr 11, 2025
The Petaluma City Schools district has released and adopted an annual plan that outlines its transportation services – offering a look at the costs the district shoulders in transporting students and how it may try to solve the thorny issue of extracurricular trips in the coming year.
Apr 11, 2025
Nine Marin teachers and classified staff unions have formed a new coalition to push for better wages and greater staff retention in the county.
Apr 11, 2025
Clovis Unified plans to use funds from a state grant intended to raise student attendance and achievement toward investing in professional development in early literacy for teachers and behavioral counseling for students.
Apr 11, 2025
Sacramento-area school districts said it’s too early to know which school programs might be affected by Trump administration threats to cut federal education funding as it seeks to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Apr 11, 2025
After the Palisades Fire destroyed her son's high school, Shoshanha Essakhar found herself among the thousands of Los Angeles County parents wondering what to do. A potential solution came by way of an executive order California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Jan. 14.
Apr 11, 2025
Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho confirmed Thursday morning that the district denied campus entry earlier this week to Department of Homeland Security officials seeking information about five students in first through sixth grades.
Apr 11, 2025
The Trump administration overstepped its authority when it cut short pandemic relief grants for K-12 schools, a move that cost them hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a lawsuit filed today by California and a dozen other states.
Apr 10, 2025
The Oakland school board is considering whether to push out the district’s longtime superintendent, a board member told the Chronicle, a move that would create more upheaval amid a fiscal crisis, possible school closures and threats of a wildcat teacher strike.
Apr 10, 2025
Federal officials arrived and were denied entry at two L..A. Unified elementary schools this week, district officials confirmed Wednesday, the first reported instance of an attempt by U.S. authorities to enter a Los Angeles public school amid concerns of immigration enforcement.
Apr 10, 2025
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced Wednesday that 19 school attendance review boards (SARBs) statewide have been designated as model programs for exemplary practices in improving student attendance.
Apr 10, 2025
The spate of jarring incidents at schools in Sonoma County’s largest school district over the last two years — and the district’s response to them — has prompted some parents to call for stricter security, more transparency from district officials and additional resources for students.
Apr 09, 2025
Shasta County schools stand to lose millions of dollars if the Trump administration follows through on its efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, local officials said.
Apr 09, 2025
The Fremont Unified District Teachers Association and Fremont Unified School District officials met Monday in a fact-finding session that stretched until 2 a.m. Tuesday, the union said. After hours of discussion, the two sides failed to reach an agreement.
Apr 09, 2025
In spite of statewide initiatives to increase access to and participation in computer science classes, California lags behind the national average of 60% and trails about three dozen other states in the percentage of high schools offering at least one computer science course.
Apr 08, 2025
A high court on Friday overturned the dismissal of a 2023 lawsuit involving gender expression at Chico Unified School District, opening the case of an alleged “parental secrecy policy” by the district for further analysis.
Apr 08, 2025
California’s foster care students have improved their high school graduation rates since 2013, but have barely improved, or even lost ground, in rates of suspension, attendance and prompt college enrollment, according to a new report.
Apr 08, 2025
California education officials have signaled they could defy a Trump administration order intended to end all diversity, equity and inclusion programs — even as federal officials threaten to cut off billions of dollars per year in federal education funding.
Apr 08, 2025
Alum Rock Union Elementary District in East San Jose was out of time. By last fall, it had spent down most of its savings; enrollment, more than 16,000 K-8 students in the early 2000s, had dropped to 7,300 and was headed to under 6,000. The state was threatening to take it over.
Apr 07, 2025
Courtney Goode, an assistant superintendent at the Escondido Union High School District, was chosen from a pool of candidates. His contract and salary amount are still pending approval later this month.
Apr 07, 2025
Roughly a week after Coachella Valley Unified apologized for "inadvertently" turning away a U.S. Border Patrol recruiter from a career fair at Coachella Valley High School, a few school board members briefly addressed the incident at its latest meeting last week.
Apr 07, 2025
With two months left before summer break, San Francisco schools’ superintendent disclosed what led to the special education fiasco at the start of the school year, which left nearly 200 vulnerable students without their legally mandated teachers and other support staff.
Apr 07, 2025
As Bay Area schools face multimillion dollar budget deficits and the Trump administration has threatened to withhold federal education dollars, a new bill from a South Bay Democrat aims to level the playing field and stabilize school funding in California.
Apr 07, 2025
The battle over the best way to teach children how to read has re-erupted in the California Legislature, as dueling factions haggle over a bill that would mandate a phonics-based style of reading curriculum.
Apr 07, 2025
The Supreme Court ruled for the Trump administration on Friday and lifted a judge’s order that had blocked the canceling of $148 million in grants for recruiting and training new teachers in California and millions more nationwide.
Apr 07, 2025
A dozen teachers in Pasadena, Calif., whose homes burned were told they’ll lose their jobs at the end of the school year, a crisis for educators and students alike.
Apr 04, 2025
Carissa Plains Elementary School families are hoping to get a new teacher in their remote schoolhouse to help middle school students avoid long and exhausting bus rides to and from Atascadero each day.
Apr 04, 2025
The petition was launched in opposition to the union’s pending state Public Employees Relations Board complaint over the district’s hiring practices last summer for a new food service coordinator.
Apr 04, 2025
The First District Court of Appeal on March 12 ruled that because Kuo was working in a volunteer capacity that day she is only “entitled to workers’ compensation benefits” for “any injury sustained.”
Apr 04, 2025
Staring down millions of dollars in liability claims involving teachers accused of sexual abuse, school districts across California fear that a change in state law that revived hundreds of old cases could push them into bankruptcy.
Apr 04, 2025
The Trump administration has ratcheted up pressure on K-12 schools in California and across the nation to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion practices by giving districts and states a deadline of 10 days to certify their compliance or risk losing all federal funding.
Apr 03, 2025
Senate Bill 48, authored by State Senate Lena Gonzalez (D- Long Beach) and sponsored by Thurmond, will “address safety concerns of immigrant families and protect school funding that is projected to decline in some parts of the state as attendance is suppressed as undocumented individuals fear deportation consequences at school,” a news release said.
Apr 03, 2025
More than 80% of L.A. Unified students qualify for a free or reduced-price school meal. But this food aid appears to have become be another chess piece in the joust between California and the Trump administration’s efforts to pressure state and local officials to follow its edicts.
Apr 02, 2025
Parents say the single-school district in northern Napa County has been plagued for months by instability, racial discrimination and a lack of transparency.
Apr 02, 2025
A strike could begin as early as next week, when the Fremont Unified District Teachers Association and Fremont Unified School District officials will meet for a fact-finding session, in what the union is calling a final chance to avoid a walk out.
Apr 02, 2025
California Democrats on an Assembly committee blocked two bills Tuesday that would have banned transgender athletes from girls’ sports, locker rooms, bathrooms and dorms, after an emotional three-hour hearing that underscored the political divide in both the country and state.
Apr 02, 2025
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond has regularly taken side jobs running Bay Area nonprofits during his tenure as California’s elected schools chief, earning tens of thousands of dollars to supplement his income, financial disclosures show.
Apr 01, 2025
The battle over transgender athletes’ participation in youth sports will come to California on Tuesday as state lawmakers debate two bills aimed at keeping trans kids and teens off sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
Apr 01, 2025
In the immediate aftermath, Trejo alleged that school officials failed to contact him or the boy’s mother, despite both of them being listed in the student’s emergency contact information along with two adult family friends.
Apr 01, 2025
After public backlash led the Atascadero Unified School District to withdraw its selection for its next superintendent, the district is coming back with a new candidate for the role tomorrow.
Apr 01, 2025
PK Diffenbaugh, the superintendent for the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, has changed his mind and won’t be leaving at the end of the school year he announced in a letter sent out Monday.
Apr 01, 2025
Anaheim Union High School District officials are installing sensors in Cypress and Loara high schools in an effort to stop students from smoking and vaping. It comes after a drop in vaping among young people across the country.
Apr 01, 2025
The city council expressed concern over the health of West Contra Costa Unified School District and is looking for a possible partnership amid a budget crisis that is impacting the district.
Apr 01, 2025
A quiet place to complete homework, free and stable transportation options, and not immediately being penalized for missed work are among the things that Te’yana Brown said could have helped her as she faced homelessness at different points between elementary and high school.
Apr 01, 2025
A substitute security officer in Pasadena has been accused of duct-taping an 11-year-old girl's mouth shut at school because she "was talking too much."
Apr 01, 2025
California must submit its sex education curriculums to the Trump administration by Tuesday for an unusual “medical accuracy review” that some LGBTQ advocates fear is a move by the administration to find new ways to limit gender-affirming care.
Mar 31, 2025
The U.S. Department of Agriculture cut over $660 million in funding for the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, an initiative that helped schools get local foods, Politico reported.
Mar 31, 2025
Officials of the Bolinas-Stinson Union School District have taken the first step toward eliminating a free public preschool program for 3-year-olds.
Mar 31, 2025
Fresno Unified is taking a novel approach to address chronic absenteeism among its neediest students, some of whom don’t show up to school because they lack stable housing.
Mar 31, 2025
The Coachella Valley Unified School District has apologized to the U.S. Border Patrol after one of its recruiters was barred from attending a high school career fair earlier this week.
Mar 31, 2025
During Covid school closures, teachers, accustomed to using overhead projectors and pencil and paper in classrooms, had to learn to use new technology so their students could learn from home.
Mar 31, 2025
Last year California passed a law that prohibits schools from requiring staff to notify parents if a student identifies as transgender. The U.S. Department of Education alleges the law violates parents’ rights.
Mar 31, 2025
As President Donald Trump pursues the dissolution of the Department of Education, local leaders are scrambling to understand how staffing cuts and the potential loss of federal funding will affect schools.
Mar 31, 2025
Trump administration officials have zeroed in on a California law passed last year that bans schools from forcing teachers and staff to notify parents if children come out as transgender, citing the law as a potential reason to withhold federal education funds.
Mar 28, 2025
Roseland Collegiate Prep’s principal suffered minor injuries Wednesday during a confrontation on campus. It’s the latest in a series of violent incidents and police activity at Sonoma County schools during the current academic year.
Mar 28, 2025
Superintendent Daisy Morales made a public plea for collaboration after the no-confidence vote by teachers, who signaled they are not backing down. ‘She is wrecking the place,’ said one union member.
Mar 28, 2025
Sacramento State, Elk Grove Unified School District and Los Rios Community College District signed a data sharing agreement Thursday that educators say will help route students toward success in college and career programs.
Mar 28, 2025
Ousted Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools Mary Ann Dewan dismissed her lawsuit Thursday against the Board of Education that fired her last fall, concluding a months-long battle in an office plagued by controversy and turmoil.
Mar 28, 2025
Jennifer Vietz’s transgender daughter came out to a teacher and friends at her school’s Gay Straight Alliance group. “If my daughter didn’t get the kind of support that she did,” Vietz said, “she wouldn’t be here now.”
Mar 28, 2025
Federal officials are probing the California Department of Education claiming school districts are withholding information from parents about their child’s gender identity.
Mar 27, 2025
After years of debate, Sonoma County’s largest school district approved an agreement with the city to return police officers to campus. City officials must now advance the deal.
Mar 27, 2025
Indeed, students spoke furtively of the dark arts of circumvention. Some have simply told school officials they don’t have a mobile phone. Others find decoys to place in their pouches, pocketing their real devices for surreptitious use throughout the school day.
Mar 27, 2025
Around 9:40 a.m., the school resource officer was advised of a subject down in the boys’ locker room, the Gridley Police Department said. The SRO located the juvenile, who was found to have sustained a stab wound. Additional resources were called to render aid to the victim.
Mar 27, 2025
A 17-year-old former student is accused of attacking Roseland Collegiate Prep Principal Casey Thornhill Wednesday morning just outside the public charter school northeast of Santa Rosa, police said.
Mar 27, 2025
Jewish parents in the Tamalpais Union High School District are calling for greater transparency after being denied online access to the new ethnic studies curriculum.
Mar 27, 2025
The district’s board voted unanimously on Tuesday night to appoint Eimear O’Brien, former superintendent of Clovis Unified School District, to serve as interim superintendent, effective immediately.
Mar 27, 2025
The San Diego Unified School District board has passed a sweeping plan to develop affordable homes around the district in an attempt to ease a regionwide housing crisis — part of its ongoing effort to provide relief to its workforce, shore up enrollment and support its operations with revenue from its vast real estate portfolio.
Mar 27, 2025
The seven largest school districts in California are joining forces and sending a letter to the governor with recommendations for the upcoming year’s budget.
Mar 27, 2025
The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed how students and teachers spend their time in the classroom. Now, instead of writing with paper and pencil, students use computers for most assignments.
Mar 26, 2025
97% of respondents said they have no confidence in Superintendent Daisy Morales, who is in her first year leading Sonoma County’s largest school district as it struggles to address a budget crisis.
Mar 26, 2025
The Central Academy of Arts and Technology announced Tuesday it will start the 2025-26 school year with a second class at every grade level, as well as a ninth grade to supplement its kindergarten-through-eighth grade curriculum.
Mar 26, 2025
Though the district’s financial woes have been mounting for years, with declining enrollment and rising personnel and facilities costs driving factors, many parents say they felt blindsided — and stung by the remarkable overhaul that is now underway in an attempt to right the books.
Mar 26, 2025
Five years after the decades-old program was paused, Santa Rosa City Schools and city officials have a draft agreement that would return police officers to campuses in Sonoma County’s largest school district.
Mar 26, 2025
After months of debate and a fundraising drive by parents, the Mill Valley School District has approved a one-year extension for the transitional kindergarten program that was slated for elimination.
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.
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.