August 26, 2020

California issues rules for opening schools to high-needs students

Special education, homeless and foster students are priority groups that can return in separate cohorts with up to 14 children and two adults.

John Fensterwald

August 21, 2020

California schools ordered to close in-person instruction after counties were put on watch list

Conflicting direction from the state added to confusion over whether schools could continue in-person instruction in Mendocino County.

Theresa Harrington

August 17, 2020

Federal government must ensure schools have funds to re-open safely

Districts have incurred many new costs as a result of the pandemic and face budget deferrals and cuts as a result of the financial crisis.

Jenny Fitzgerald

August 17, 2020

As school starts, California districts try to improve virtual special education

Parents are skeptical that distance learning will ever work for children with disabilities.

Carolyn Jones

August 17, 2020

Millions of students — and their teachers — embark on vast experiment with distance learning

Distance learning is not a mode of instruction most parents, students, teachers and administrators would have chosen in the absence of the pandemic.

Louis Freedberg

August 14, 2020

California schools allowed to open for small groups with ’acute’ needs under new guidance

Forthcoming guidance permitting limited openings will apply to districts in counties on the coronavirus watch list, where schools are shut down.

John Fensterwald

August 14, 2020

Pressure is on to close the digital divide under California governor’s executive order

The governor wants to reimagine the state’s Broadband Council and ramp up efforts to connect all students to technology during distance learning.

Sydney Johnson

August 14, 2020

Ethnic studies mandate for California K-12 students gaining momentum in Legislature

The debate continues on what should be in an ethnics studies curriculum; legislators must decide whether to be the first state to require it.

John Fensterwald

August 13, 2020

Ask a reporter: Back to school in California during Covid-19

EdSource reporters and readers met Wednesday in a virtual town hall to discuss what education will look like this fall in California. 

Sydney Johnson

August 11, 2020

Some California districts, teachers struggle to agree on distance learning

The Legislature set minimum hours but left it to districts and unions to define instruction, engagement and set the length of a school day.

John Fensterwald

August 11, 2020

Why some California classrooms will reopen for child care, though barred from in-person instruction

Some California students may find themselves in child care in the very classrooms they are barred from entering for in-person instruction.

Zaidee Stavely

August 10, 2020

Data glitches delay whether California districts can seek waiver for in-person instruction

Backlog of records is expected to be added to county data within 72 hours, which will allow the state to unfreeze its county monitoring list.

Theresa Harrington

August 10, 2020

Los Angeles is ground zero for the interpretation of California’s new charter schools law

Charter schools and district leaders in Los Angeles are at odds over a law giving districts more authority to reject charter schools.

Michael Burke

August 7, 2020

Glitches in California’s Covid-19 data could be fixed within two days, state official says

After the data issues are resolved, counties will be able to make decisions about elementary school waivers, state official says.

Theresa Harrington

August 7, 2020

Why special education funding will be more equitable under new state law

The state plans to spend an additional $650 million on special education under new law.

Carolyn Jones