Elections have a major impact on California education. Voters have passed ballot measures that set the level of state education funding. They banned bilingual education and later reversed that ban. Voters elect the state superintendent of public instruction and local school board members. And they elect governors who have power over school funding, appointing members to the State Board of Education and to the UC Board of Regents and the CSU Board of Trustees.
When California voters in 1996 rejected affirmative action, CSU and UC could no longer consider race and ethnicity in admissions, making a huge impact on the public universities.
Ward Connerly, the ex-University of California regent who fought to end affirmative action in 1996, has resurfaced to fight Proposition 16 which would allow the state's public universities to use race and ethnicity to decide admissions, faculty and contracts.
Many of the decisions about how schools reopen for the fall will be made locally. Find guidance for your county as well as other state and national agencies.
