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Policy & Finance

While California’s Local Control Funding Formula shifted control over budgeting and decision making from the state to local districts, the state and federal government still retain authority over setting broad education and school finance policies. In this section, find articles about pressing challenges to California’s education system, the state’s education reforms, how school districts are implementing them, and their impact.
Homeless Youth
June 1, 2023

Amid pockets of rising student homelessness, California districts tap Covid funding to help families

Pandemic-era funding has helped school staff identify and support more homeless students, but its expiration is looming. Staff are afraid of how this loss will impact students.

Betty Márquez Rosales, Emma Gallegos, And Daniel J. Willis
Teachers Unions
May 26, 2023

Teachers unions demand housing, transportation and other student supports during negotiations

Teachers unions across the country are negotiating for more than pay raises; they want 'common good' measures that benefit school employees, students and their families.

Diana Lambert
Teacher Shortage
May 18, 2023

Proposed state budget could make becoming a teacher easier

The governor's revised budget could put a dent in California's ongoing teacher shortage by removing obstacles to earning a credential and providing more funds to train teachers for hard-to-fill positions.

Diana Lambert And Zaidee Stavely
Commentary
May 17, 2023

Let's break the stigma around sexual health for young people

Teens shouldn’t have to make tradeoffs between their health and other essentials that they may have to for pay out-of-pocket.

Sen. Caroline Menjivar and Ria Babaria
School Finance
May 15, 2023

Author of bill to tie school employees' raises to funding formula increases makes big concession

Assembly Education Committee Chair Al Muratsuchi agrees to drop language explicitly calling for raising school workers' wages by 50% over seven years.

John Fensterwald
School Finance
May 12, 2023

Gov. Newsom's May revisions protect education priorities, cut $4.3 billion in one-time funding

Gov. Gavin Newsom would pare back one-time funding by $4.3 billion for schools while preserving a promised 8.2% cost-of-living adjustment.

John Fensterwald
Literacy
May 12, 2023

Mandatory dyslexia screening clears major hurdle in Newsom budget

English learner advocates and the teachers union had opposed universal dyslexia screening.

Carolyn Jones
Disasters, Emergencies & Climate
May 12, 2023

Gov. Newsom proposes increased funding for flood preparation, mitigation and recovery

Gov. Newsom announced a series of flood mitigation measures in the May revision of his budget proposal, totaling $492 million. None of those measures specifically addresses the unique challenges California's K-12 schools face when a community is flooded.

Emma Gallegos
Foster Youth
May 5, 2023

Bill seeks to increase housing support for youth in extended foster care

Foster youth in extended care receive a monthly housing stipend; AB 525 seeks to provide a housing supplement that would increase the monthly stipend depending on the housing costs of the county the youth lives in.

Betty Márquez Rosales
Pay and Tenure
May 3, 2023

Oakland teachers strike to raise some of the state's lowest salaries

As Oakland Unified School District's teachers strike, an analysis of salary data shows teachers among the lowest paid statewide and in the San Francisco/East Bay area.

Diana Lambert And Daniel J. Willis
Legislation
May 1, 2023

As fentanyl deaths climb, bill would require drug education in schools

Currently, drug education is optional in California K-12 schools despite surge in overdoses and deaths.

Carolyn Jones
Community Colleges
April 25, 2023

California Community Colleges moving forward with bachelor's degree approvals despite lawmaker objections

Following complaints from California State University, lawmakers had asked community college officials to pause applications for new baccalaureate programs.

Michael Burke
Commentary
April 24, 2023

It's time to stop stalling action on the state math framework

The debates over math instruction have been mired in misinformation and marred by melodrama — moving the conversation further and further away from the students and educators who so clearly need updated, improved instructional strategies for math.

Rachel Ruffalo and Martha Hernandez
Legislation
April 21, 2023

Battle over transgender student privacy isn't over, bill's author says

School boards taking up the issue of whether teachers should inform parents if a child identifies as transgender

Carolyn Jones
Race and Equity
April 20, 2023

National wave of anti-CRT measures trickles into California schools

California has not passed any state legislation limiting the teaching of race and racism during the last two years, but six school districts have. 

Diana Lambert