John Fensterwald
John Fensterwald, staff writer, joined EdSource in 2012. Before that, he was editor and co-writer for The Educated Guess website, a leading source of California education policy reporting and opinion, which he founded in 2009. For 11 years before then, John wrote editorials for the Mercury News in San Jose, with a focus on education. He worked as a reporter, news editor and opinion editor for three newspapers in New Hampshire before receiving a Knight Fellowship at Stanford University in 1997. His wife is a retired elementary school teacher, and his daughter is a neurology resident at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine.
All articles by John Fensterwald
Study of LAUSD confirms benefits of four years of math; Superintendent Alberto Carvalho embraces findings
UCLA researchers found that high school seniors who took math, whether statistics or calculus, were significantly more likely to enroll in a four-year college and return the following year.
John Fensterwald
February 7, 2023
California schools, community colleges to face slight drop in funding, first in a decade
Funding for Proposition 98 in 2023-24 would be $1.5 billion less than appropriated last year; districts and charter schools would get an 8.1% inflation adjustment – their top priority.
John Fensterwald
January 10, 2023
Orange Unified's conservative majority fires superintendent with a day's notice
Orange Unified became the second district in Orange County to fire its leader in a month. Just before Christmas, newly empowered conservatives in Capistrano Unified dismissed that district's long-time superintendent.
John Fensterwald
January 6, 2023
California education issues to watch in 2023 — and predictions of what might happen
2023's big questions: How much will TK-12 state funding be cut? What will the final math framework look like? Will districts find tutors, after-school staff? Will the Newsom administration act decisively on early literacy?
John Fensterwald And Yuxuan Xie
January 5, 2023
California’s school finance ratings: D for adequacy, B for equity, F for effort — but on the upswing
California ranks 33rd in 2019-20, adjusted for its cost of living, spending $13,686 per student in state and local funding. Its method of funding poor districts is one of the nation's most equitable.
John Fensterwald
January 4, 2023
California school districts pass $20 billion in construction bonds, but some rural areas say no to higher taxes
Fear of a recession, worries about inflation and “pandemic polarization” produced some very close votes, but in the end, 70% of ballot issues won.
John Fensterwald And Carolyn Jones
December 22, 2022
Chronic absences rise to record levels in California, but so do graduation rates
Alarming chronic absence rates are included with student data from 2021-22 accompanying a revived California School Dashboard.
John Fensterwald
December 15, 2022
Lawsuit asserts California districts illegally charge summer school fees
The lawsuit by Public Counsel said that for-fee courses offered by district-affiliated foundations violate students' constitutional right to a free education.
John Fensterwald
December 9, 2022
Does your district have what it takes to significantly improve?
Pivot Learning releases the District Readiness Index, a database for measuring how well California districts have met the conditions needed to make sustainable change.
John Fensterwald
December 9, 2022
California court decision ups the odds for passing school parcel taxes
A 2021 state Court of Appeal decision said a citizen-led parcel tax initiative needs only a majority of votes, not two-thirds, as previously assumed under Proposition 13. That could be a game changer – if tried.
John Fensterwald
December 6, 2022
LAUSD’s stunning reading score on NAEP: Illusion, real or something in between?
Was a quick computer distribution during Covid, a literacy initiative or a combination of factors, plus random error, behind a surprising 8th grade score in Los Angeles Unified?
John Fensterwald
November 28, 2022
California's only winner of national award for principals talks school culture, enrichment
Miguel Marco, principal of Helen Wittmann Elementary in Cerritos, earned the U.S. Department of Education's Terrel H. Bell Award.
John Fensterwald
November 22, 2022
Good times to end; funding for TK-12, community colleges to drop next year, LAO predicts
The Legislative Analyst's Office predicts the state will have to dip into its reserves to cover a shortfall in education funding.
John Fensterwald
November 16, 2022
Tony Thurmond cruises to reelection as California state superintendent
Thurmond, running for a second term, easily defeated Lance Christensen, a conservative education policy advocate and supporter of a private school choice initiative.
John Fensterwald
November 8, 2022
New biography examines Michael Kirst's impact on public education in California and beyond
Kirst , who was president of the State Board of Education for all four of Jerry Brown’s terms as governor, co-authored the Local Control Funding Formula.