An underused, little-known public school choice program allowing students to enroll in other districts that open their borders has been reauthorized six times in the past 30 years. Under a bill winding its way through the Legislature, it would become...

A decade after California revolutionized the way it funds schools, nearly everyone agrees the initiative has done what it was meant to do: improved math and reading scores and brought more resources to students who struggle the most. And nearly...

No one wants to close schools. Not the communities that cherish their local school. Not the school boards that want to serve the needs of all their students. Not administrators and school district personnel who have to wade through the...

California’s public schools live—or die—by the numbers. They are utterly dependent on how much money the state budget allocates each year under Proposition 98, a formula adopted by voters in 1988 that only a few wonks in and around the...

A Contra Costa County school district says it’s fully embracing artificial intelligence, but understands there’s still a lot of unknowns when it comes to the emerging technology.“I think I would step back and recognize that not all districts are embracing...

Closing or consolidating neighborhood schools is a painful decision that no school district or community ever wishes to face, but increasingly it may be on the table due to declining enrollment trends and budgetary pressures. In this episode, host Jason...

Preparation for college and a career is important to economic prosperity. How college and career readiness in schools is defined varies across the state. The College/Career Indicator, adopted by the State Board of Education, integrates eight pathways that demonstrate a...

The collaborative—a combination of superintendents, education politics scholars, and leaders of organizations that train superintendents—aims to establish a shared understanding of the superintendent’s political role and equip district leaders with the skills to confidently navigate political issues that arise, rather...

While the vast majority of students in California—86% of seniors in 2023—graduate from high school, most—56% in 2023—do not complete their A-G requirements, according to an EdSource analysis of data from the California Department of Education. EdSource’s analysis found that...

Michael Kirst joins Lisa on this week’s episode of “They Are Waiting for Us.” Dr. Kirst brings over six decades of invaluable expertise and insight, having served as the longest-running President of the California State Board of Education. In addition...

A Hayward elementary school struggling to boost low test scores and dismal student attendance is spending $250,000 in federal money for an organization called Woke Kindergarten to train teachers to confront white supremacy, disrupt racism and oppression and remove those...

People doing jobs once considered non-controversial — public health workers, librarians, election workers, school board officers — are increasingly bullied online, threatened and swept into the vortex of partisan vitriol. Public officials face an alarming rise in “swatting,” a dangerous...

Cobb County's growing Democratic and progressive communities are pushing back against its conservative school board, which was dealt a legal blow last week over its controversial district map. US. District Court Judge Eleanor Ross last week ordered the General Assembly...

Between 2007 and 2022, California saw its K–12 public school enrollment decrease by more than 390,000 students, or more than 6 percent statewide, according to data from the state’s Department of Education. The baby bust is a large contributor to...

In the first glimpse of California’s K-12 schools’ year-over-year progress since the pandemic,  graduation rates hit some of their highest levels ever, absenteeism dropped significantly, and hundreds of districts showed academic improvements. But despite a few bright spots, most of...

The California School Dashboard is back in full color for the first time in four years. The dashboard, which the California Department of Education will release on Friday, is the state’s academic accountability and improvement tool designed for parents and...

As California continues to expand access to transitional kindergarten (TK), new research from the Public Policy Institute of California finds benefits and potential pitfalls should burgeoning trends go unaddressed. For instance, TK leads to earlier identification of multilingual students in...

In its ongoing commitment to foster development of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) identities in girls and nonbinary youth, the Fleet Science Center proudly showcases three key programs that San Diegans can engage with now. Expanded learning initiatives allow...

While moderate and liberal candidates did well in recent school board elections nationwide, experts say it's too soon to call these results a permanent change to extreme partisanship in school board politics. Schools and school boards have been cultural battlegrounds...

As districts consider closures to cope with budgetary declines, new research adds to concerns that schools with higher enrollments of Black students are more likely than other schools to be shut down. “The big picture is that race plays a...

California’s Transitional Kindergarten (TK) program provides an extra year of schooling within the K–12 system. Launched a decade ago with limited eligibility, TK will soon be open to all four-year-olds. Taking stock of the program’s impact so far—especially among multilingual...

Roughly four dozen Fort Worth ISD campuses are less than 70% occupied, making them likely targets for future closings.Fort Worth ISD officials have discussed the need to make some hard decisions due to challenges driven by dwindling enrollments and underutilized...

Two years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed off on an ambitious plan to make a pre-kindergarten program available to California’s 4-year-olds for free. That effort, already underway, is an attempt to reduce learning disparities and improve outcomes for the state’s...