EdSource

Since 2019, the state has funded $715 million to hire and train reading specialists and coaches in high-poverty schools — a key element in the state’s comprehensive early literacy plan. But that money, in one-time grants, will expire over the next three years. Newsom proposes $440 million to extend the grants through 2031 in his 2026-27 May revision budget proposal.

With one contentious exception, school districts can check off most items on their wish list for 2026-27 with the release on Thursday of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised state budget. Newsom is proposing to target unexpected billions of dollars from surging state revenues to the priorities that school district leaders had prized, including a higher cost-of-living adjustment, billions of dollars more annually for special education, and a one-time, much larger discretionary block grant. Also, all employees of community colleges and TK-12 schools will be entitled to up to 14 weeks of paid pregnancy disability leave beginning in 2026-27, which the higher COLA will pay for. But there remains a major point of contention: Newsom is still withholding $3.9 billion in Proposition 98 funding that school organizations say should go to schools and community colleges now. School districts had complained loudly that their base funding hadn’t kept up with rising expenses, particularly special education and declining enrollment. Amid overall record state funding, Newsom prioritized new initiatives, including the addition of transitional kindergarten, the creation of community schools and expanded learning after school and during the summer. “People were looking for base money in their pocket,” said Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee. “The attention to a higher COLA and special education is welcome news.” Ted Lempert, president of the nonprofit advocacy organization Children Now, said, “Big picture, the May revision puts $8.1 billion more than the January budget into education. While it’s not perfect, we really appreciate it. The governor and Legislature have done a better job in the last couple of years of protecting funding. That said, kids are still way behind.” Swipe to learn more. Full story. LINK IN BIO.

After-school coordinators in the Berkeley Unified School District are still slated to lose their jobs even though the district rescinded 330 layoff notices this week — a grueling yearly process California schools go through, the Berkeleyside reported. School districts across California have typically turned to layoffs to close large budget deficits. In compliance with state law, school districts are required to send preliminary pink slips by March 15 to employees who could lose their jobs. Many of the notices are later rescinded before May 15, the last day final layoff notices can be given. This year, at least 5,000 school employees statewide received preliminary layoff notices. Twenty-one nonteaching positions remain on the chopping block for Berkeley Unified, which is working to close a nearly $8 million budget deficit for this school year. The district can still rescind the pink slips by the end of June if additional resources become available. Unlike the many districts that rescinded most notices, the state’s third-largest, Fresno Unified School District, upheld the majority of its layoffs. Staff with seniority will be able to move into similar open roles or positions held by colleagues with less seniority. Some staff members are expected to retire, possibly opening positions for those laid off. Fresno Unified, however, is eliminating vacant positions and not replacing some held by retiring educators. In Berkeley, Daniel Brownson, a clerical assistant, was laid off last year, Berkeleyside reported. He remained employed because his current position opened after a voluntary resignation. Read more. LINK IN BIO.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest education budget proposal for 2026-27 received mixed reviews from education leaders and advocates. Many applauded Newsom’s proposed increases to special education funding, but school districts and teachers unions continue to protest the governor’s plan to withhold billions in overall funding. Some advocacy organizations also called for increased funding for English learners and subsidized childcare for low-income families. Here’s what they had to say. ‘Historic’ special education funding Newsom’s proposed $2.4 billion increase in state funding for students with disabilities, up from the $509 million he proposed in January, was largely hailed as “historic.” School districts have long said that they don’t have enough funding from the federal and state governments to cover special education expenses, which they are required to provide under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The federal government has never fulfilled its promise to provide 40% of funding for students with disabilities; it currently provides less than 13%. “The federal government has consistently failed to meet its funding obligations, leaving California and other states alone to close critical gaps and leaving too many students with disabilities without the support they deserve,” said Assembly Education Committee Chair Darshana Patel, D-San Diego. “This historic $2.4 billion investment in special education will better serve students with disabilities and the educators who support them.” Anjanette Pelletier, director of management consultant services at School Services of California, said the new rate “is aligned with funding needed for special education as advocated by statewide organizations … to reflect increases in statewide incidence of students with disabilities and rising costs.” Read more. LINK IN BIO.

State and federal special education fall well short of districts’ obligations for students with disabilities. Additional state funding for special education offsets districts’ base expenses. Newsom would add $1.8 billion to the extra $509 million increase he proposed in January for a total of $2.4 billion — 43% more than a year ago.

Once again, protesters are targeting two-time track and field state champion AB Hernandez, a transgender student athlete, whose participation in girls sports continues to draw scrutiny and raise questions about inclusion. Candidates running for election in June are even pushing back. Her mother, Nereyda Hernandez, is better prepared for the local, statewide and national protests following last year’s controversy, the Los Angeles Times reported. Last year, President Donald Trump threatened to cut federal funding to California and demanded that the state bar her participation. Under the national spotlight, the Jurupa Valley High School athlete won and shared state honors last year. She dominated the preliminaries in Southern California and is eyeing state titles in Clovis this year. Policies set by the California Interscholastic Federation, or CIF, the governing body for high school sports, allow transgender athletes to compete alongside cisgender girls. Sparked by the threats from the federal government last year, the CIF changed its rules regarding the number of girls who could qualify for and would win in events with a transgender athlete. Under revised rules for the championship, a cisgender girl displaced by a transgender competitor was awarded whichever medal she would have claimed had the transgender athlete not been competing. Therefore, Hernandez shared two first-place titles and a second-place medal with cisgender competitors. But the rule changes were meant to be temporary. Read the full story. LINK IN BIO.

Although students around the country have regained access to Canvas following last week’s cyberattack, some are still grappling with the hack’s residual effects. Instructure, Canvas’ parent group, said in a statement this week that they reached a deal with criminal extortion group ShinyHunters in which the group restored Canvas, returned stolen data to school districts and universities and destroyed any copies made. The hackers claimed they had breached data — including private conversations and information that identified students and faculty — of more than 275 million worldwide users at more than 9,000 schools. Students at CSU campuses regained access to Canvas on May 8, but the software remained offline for University of California students through Saturday. Access to Canvas at some California community colleges, including Fresno City College, was not restored until Monday. At UCLA, the Canvas hack suspended access to Bruin Learn — the campus’s primary learning platform — for three days. UCLA students use Bruin Learn, which is hosted on Canvas, to access grades, assignments and complete exams. Even after the hack was seemingly over, the fallout created its own ricochet of chaos. Some UCLA students received homework assignments with new deadlines and rescheduled exam dates, adding to their stress ahead of Memorial Day weekend and the start of final exams. Swipe to learn more. Full story. LINK IN BIO.

With one contentious exception, school districts can check off most items on their wish list for 2026-27 with the release on Thursday of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised state budget. Newsom is proposing to target unexpected billions of dollars from surging state revenues to the priorities that school district leaders had prized, including a higher cost-of-living adjustment, billions of dollars more annually for special education, and a one-time, much larger discretionary block grant. Also, all employees of community colleges and TK-12 schools will be entitled to up to 14 weeks of paid pregnancy disability leave beginning in 2026-27, which the higher COLA will pay for. But there remains a major point of contention: Newsom is still withholding $3.9 billion in Proposition 98 funding that school organizations say should go to schools and community colleges now. School districts had complained loudly that their base funding hadn’t kept up with rising expenses, particularly special education and declining enrollment. Amid overall record state funding, Newsom prioritized new initiatives, including the addition of transitional kindergarten, the creation of community schools and expanded learning after school and during the summer. “People were looking for base money in their pocket,” said Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee. “The attention to a higher COLA and special education is welcome news.” Ted Lempert, president of the nonprofit advocacy organization Children Now, said, “Big picture, the May revision puts $8.1 billion more than the January budget into education. While it’s not perfect, we really appreciate it. The governor and Legislature have done a better job in the last couple of years of protecting funding. That said, kids are still way behind.” Swipe to learn more. Full story. LINK IN BIO.

When Superintendent Bryan Easter recently bought printers for Maple School District classrooms, the goal was surprisingly simple: get younger students in class off screens more often by doing assignments by hand. The Kern County district superintendent is among a growing number of education leaders, parents and students questioning whether too much screen time is hurting students’ attention spans, social development and ability to learn. That conversation took center stage Wednesday during an EdSource roundtable on education technology. The panelists – a student, parent, teacher, superintendent and researcher – discussed how to balance the benefits of technology against mounting concerns about screen addiction and other concerns for students’ wellbeing. “Oftentimes, when I walk through my hallways, I see a lot of zombies, people just hunched over their phone, and to me, honestly, the dose is what makes the poison and what I mean by this is that technology itself is not inherently bad – but overuse without boundaries can really harm focus, mental health and learning,” said Rishaan Marwaha, a freshman? student attending Sage Hill School in Southern California’s Newport Beach. Marwaha said he knows that the current job market requires “people skills, critical thinking, and communication, as well as collaboration,” and “schools should really start focusing on these skills and must use technology in ways that strengthen those human abilities instead of replacing them.” Some teachers and administrators are questioning whether too much screen time is hurting students, especially in early grades. Swipe to learn more. Full story. LINK IN BIO.

The Fresno Unified School District board voted Wednesday to formally oppose Mayor Jerry Dyer’s proposed plan for the 9,000-acre Southeast Development Area, known as SEDA, arguing the project could speed up the district’s enrollment declines and worsen its financial struggles. The resolution passed 4-0, with two trustees abstaining and one recusing herself. According to estimates by district officials, the development could cost Fresno Unified up to $200 million annually and result in the closure of as many as 11 schools as families move into areas served by neighboring Clovis Unified School District, Fresnoland reported. Board President Genoveva Islas said that for every student who leaves, the district loses about $17,000 in state funding. Fresnoland also reported that community members and labor groups say the proposal would draw middle-class families away from Fresno neighborhoods and worsen long-standing inequities. On Dec. 19, after opponents packed the chamber, the Fresno City Council voted 5-2 to ask the Dyer administration to conduct more studies on SEDA’s financial viability and future impacts to schools and other subjects in the following six months, according to Fresnoland. The council is expected to reconsider the SEDA proposal again in the coming months. The vote follows similar action by neighboring Central Unified School District, whose board unanimously approved an identical resolution opposing the plan last month.

More than a third of undergraduate students cited career outcomes as their primary reasons for attending college, while 38% said they valued intellectual and personal growth, identity formation and giving back to their community, according to a new survey conducted by the LearningWell Coalition, a national network of colleges and universities. Lower-income and first-generation students (32%) were less likely to prioritize career motivations for going to college compared to their higher-income peers (48%) in the survey titled “What Students Value in College.” “At a time when the value of higher education is often viewed solely through the lens of economic metrics, such as first year earnings or R.O.I., it is interesting to see that students themselves are looking for more enduring benefits, such as a sense of purpose, identity, and other elements of personal growth,” said Keith Buffinton, the executive director of the LearningWell Coalition, a nonprofit organization that conducted the survey in partnership with the American Association of Colleges and Universities and Morning Consult. Seventy-eight percent of students also said they valued internships as “very” or “extremely” valuable, and students who had participated in internships reported significantly higher well-being than those who had not. The survey, conducted in January, polled 872 undergraduate students age 18 to 34 enrolled in two- or four-year degree programs.

Higher education leaders were cautiously optimistic in January when Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a proposed budget that included a combined $716.3 million in new base funding for the University of California and California State University. Their sentiment remained largely unchanged Thursday, as Newsom’s revised budget maintained the proposed funding for universities. UC and CSU officials breathed a sigh of relief because it wasn’t a given that the funding earmarked in the governor’s January budget would remain intact in his May revision. The state’s university systems do not receive the minimum funding guarantees that TK-12 schools and community colleges get under California’s Proposition 98, and must compete with other dueling priorities covered in the rest of the state budget. “He has never lost sight of the positive impact that the California State University has on driving California’s workforce and economy,” CSU Chancellor Mildred García said of Newsom in a statement. “The proposed funding for the CSU outlined in the May revision further demonstrates the administration’s belief in the CSU and confidence in the state’s return on investment.” Newsom’s updated budget appropriates $350.6 million in new base funds for UC and $365.7 million for CSU, meaning UC would receive $5.3 billion from the state’s general fund and CSU would get $5.6 billion. Those funds represent a 5% annual budget increase that had been promised by the state to UC and CSU under a five-year compact agreement. In exchange for the state funding boost, the two university systems must work to raise graduation rates and enroll more in-state residents. Swipe to learn more. Full story. LINK IN BIO.