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  • Trump’s law reshapes federal loans and Pell Grants, impacting California students

    Trump’s law reshapes federal loans and Pell Grants, impacting California students


    UC Berkeley students stroll around campus near the landmark Sather Gate on April 19, 2017.

    Photos by Alison Yin for EdSource

    Top Takeaways
    • The law blocks graduate students from taking out new Grad PLUS loans and caps Parent PLUS loans starting in 2026.
    • To maintain access to federal student loans, academic programs must soon show alumni earn more than peers without the same degree. 
    • The law expands Pell Grants to short-term workforce training and nixes an earlier proposal that likely would have reduced aid to many Pell recipients.

    The domestic policy law signed by President Donald Trump will have major implications on how students in California and across the country pay for college, with analysts describing it as the most consequential federal higher education legislation in decades.

    The most significant changes will impact access to federal loans and borrower repayment plans. The law also amends Pell Grant eligibility standards, expands qualified expenses for 529 college savings accounts, and is expected to raise the endowment tax on a few private universities, including Stanford. 

    Republican lawmakers say their suite of higher education policies aims to make college more affordable and reel in student debt while broadening access to career and technical education. Critics warn the package’s financial aid measures will do just the opposite, making higher education more expensive for low- and moderate-income students.

    “This is the biggest set of changes to higher education policy in America since at least 1992,” said Robert Kelchen, a professor of higher education at the University of Tennessee, noting that the Higher Education Act hasn’t been reauthorized since 2008. “In this reconciliation bill, there are effectively pieces of legislation that congressional Republicans have been working on for years.”

    The Grad PLUS program will stop accepting new borrowers

    The federal Grad PLUS program, loans which make it possible for graduate students to borrow up to the cost of attendance minus other financial aid, will stop accepting borrowers this time next year. Current borrowers, however, will be grandfathered in and allowed to continue accessing those loans.

    Graduate students will still have access to direct unsubsidized federal loans, but the bill caps those at $50,000 per year for students in professional programs, such as those studying to become lawyers or doctors, and most other graduate degrees at $20,500 per year. 

    The changes will reduce access to graduate school, particularly for low-income students who don’t have other funding options, said Melanie Storey, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, a nonprofit membership organization representing financial aid professionals at colleges across the country. “Very capable students who come from more modest backgrounds may be unwilling to pursue graduate or professional education.”

    Some of those students may borrow from private lenders, but those loans “won’t come with the same kinds of terms and conditions and protections that a federal loan has,” she added.

    The University of Southern California may be hit particularly hard by the loss of those PLUS loans. “They have so many graduate programs, and they have a lot of students who do not get financial aid,” Kelchen said.

    The Grad PLUS program disbursed about $2 billion to students at California colleges and universities in the 2023-24 school year, federal data shows.

    Lower caps on Parent PLUS loans will limit borrowing

    Under the federal Parent PLUS loan program, parents used to have the ability to borrow up to the total cost of a student’s college education. A new cap starting July 2026 will limit borrowers to $20,000 per year and a lifetime maximum of $65,000 per student. Supporters argue that borrowing limits will slow rising tuition. 

    Parent PLUS loans have been “the loans of last resort” for students whose parents don’t qualify for private loans because of their credit, Kelchen said, so reducing the borrowing limit may hit students with substantial financial need the hardest. A brief by the Education Trust characterized them as “a double-edged sword for Black borrowers” in particular, who tend to have fewer resources to pay for college due to long-standing inequities in wealth and income.

    Capping the Parent PLUS program will likely either “discourage students from attending college or limit their choices,” Storey said. 

    Institutions will need to get creative to ensure low-income and first-generation students can continue enrolling, said Emmanual Guillory, senior director of government relations at the American Council on Education. 

    “It’s hard to say that institutions will just find a way to make up the difference and will offer more institutional aid for low-income students to help them be able to cover the cost,” he said.

    Former students’ earnings will determine loan access

    The reconciliation bill puts postsecondary programs to a new test: In order to access federal student loans, alumni must earn more than peers who didn’t study for the same degree. 

    Congressional Republicans say the idea is to hold colleges and universities accountable for what alumni ultimately earn when they join the workforce. Loosely, for a given field of study, an undergraduate degree program can continue accessing federal loans if the median earnings of former students exceed the median earnings of high school graduates in the same state. Graduate programs maintain access to federal loans by comparing former students to similarly situated bachelor’s degree holders.

    “It’s a really significant step towards the kind of focus on educational outcomes that we have seen both Republicans and Democrats talk about in recent years,” said Clare McCann, policy director at the Postsecondary Education & Economics Research Center. But McCann said it’s problematic that the measure doesn’t apply a similar standard to undergraduate certificate programs. 

    An analysis by Preston Cooper, a senior fellow at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, found that many associate degree programs could lose access to student loans, although associate degree students may be less likely to finance their educations in the first place. 

    “The promise of a lot of these programs is that you shouldn’t have to borrow,” Cooper said. “I kind of think that if these programs do have earnings outcomes that are so low, we probably shouldn’t be giving students loans for those programs, because it’s very unlikely that they’ll be able to repay their loans in full.”

    SAVE, other repayment plans will close to new borrowers

    The repayment terms will also change, reducing the number of plan choices to just two: a standard repayment plan and the Repayment Assistance Plan, which ties payment size to the borrower’s income. Supporters argue that doing so simplifies the options available to borrowers while putting them on a path to repay loan balances in full. 

    Most existing income-driven plans will later close to new borrowers, including the popular Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, a Biden administration initiative aimed at lowering monthly payments. In California, about 600,000 borrowers are enrolled in the SAVE plan, according to the Student Borrower Protection Center.

    “For most borrowers, their payments will be drastically more expensive on a monthly and annual basis,” said Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director of the Student Borrower Protection Center. 

    Loan deferments for economic hardship will be eliminated, and new limits will be placed on forbearance.

    Lawmakers nixed a Pell proposal that worried colleges

    The version of the reconciliation bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives would have increased academic credit requirements per semester to be considered a part-time or full-time student under the Pell Grant program. That proposal sparked concern among officials at California State University and the University of California that tens of thousands of their students would receive less money from Pell — or would lose eligibility altogether because they don’t take enough classes each term. 

    The universities may now breathe a sigh of relief: The final law makes more incremental adjustments to Pell, such as making students who receive full scholarships from other sources ineligible for Pell.

    Students can use Pell for short-term workforce training

    Starting in July 2026, Pell Grant recipients will be able to spend their awards on educational programs that last more than eight but less than 15 weeks at accredited institutions. Supporters of extending Pell to shorter programs say doing so will make educational programs more accessible to adult students who are already in the workforce.

    Kelchen said workforce Pell Grants have gained traction among a broad spectrum of policymakers due to frustration regarding the value of a college degree. “The goal is, by trying to encourage short-term credentials, you get people in through [an educational program] fast and back out into the economy,” he said. 

    But some are skeptical about the return on investment of weeks-long credential programs. Wesley Whistle, a project director who monitors higher education policy at the left-leaning think tank New America, said student earnings after completing short-term certificate programs “aren’t good on average” and that even when they do boost earnings, the positive effect “tends to fade after a year or two.” Researchers with the Institute of Education Sciences reported similar findings.

    Families with 529 plans will have more spending options

    The law also makes several changes to 529 plans, investment accounts typically used to save money for college, in which earnings are tax-deferred and withdrawals for qualified educational expenses are tax-exempt. The new law, starting in 2026, adds items including tutoring, standardized testing fees and some educational therapies to the list of qualified expenses while students are in K-12. After high school, the law also allows funds to be used for some professional credentials, not just college. 

    Researchers at the Brookings Institution have found that 529 plans mainly benefit wealthy families while costing the federal government billions in tax revenue. “Low-income people don’t have enough money to be able to save in this way,” McCann said.

    In California, the state’s 529 plan — ScholarShare 529 — managed more than $15.6 billion in more than 439,000 accounts as of June 2024. 

    A few selective universities will see an endowment tax hike 

    Critics, including the American Council on Education, have also warned that another provision of the law — increasing the endowment tax at a relatively small number of private universities from 1.4% to as much as 8% — could indirectly reduce the institutional financial aid available to their students. However, proponents argue that elite colleges hoard wealth while charging students exorbitant tuition. Based on their current endowment-to-student ratios, Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology would likely be among the universities to see a tax increase, while the University of Southern California, with its much larger student body, would probably be exempt.





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  • Invest in high-dosage tutoring to boost student achievement and recruit new teachers

    Invest in high-dosage tutoring to boost student achievement and recruit new teachers


    Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education

    Growing up with a physical disability, I feared that people would only see me on a surface level. I thought teachers, friends and peers would only see me for what I couldn’t do, not what I could.

    I’m fortunate, though. I’m strong, and I found those who believe in me. My teachers helped me overcome obstacles and saw that I am multifaceted — as every student is.

    Now, I’m in a place where I want to be that person — the role model, the cheerleader, the coach — for others. 

    I knew from a young age that I wanted to provide that sort of mentorship to others. While in college studying neuroscience, I heard about a high-dosage tutoring program where I could help students with their schoolwork virtually while fostering strong relationships with them. This form of tutoring creates a strong, sustained bond between the tutor and student and provides at least 90 minutes of direct instruction each week. I’m now in my second year of tutoring, and I’m a better person for it. Every school should invest in high-dosage tutoring programs, and anyone interested in pursuing a career in education should sign up. Here’s why. 

    Tutoring creates a pathway for new teachers. We need more equipped adults in the classroom. My program is the Ignite Fellowship through Teach For America California, which provides robust training so that we have the content knowledge and pedagogical skills we need to feel prepared and sustain our roles. Plus, we are paid stipends so we can afford to focus on this work.

    Teaching is a unique profession, and if we want to attract and retain educators, we should give them opportunities to test-drive the role. My experience with tutoring has shown me what it might be like to be a full-time teacher before committing. Since fellows are all college students, we’re also exposing our students to the possibility of college and beyond. I’m a proud member of Gen Z, and while you might only think of Gen Z as the TikTok generation, I think of our mission-driven sensibilities. We’re motivated to give back. A career in education aligns with this, and we should welcome this cadre of potential new teachers. 

    Relationships matter. Students won’t learn from someone they don’t like. They’re seeking role models who will take the time to get to know them as individuals; tutoring provides space to create that connection.

    I remember tutoring a special-needs student for the first time. At first, it was challenging — he could get frustrated and shut down. I didn’t give up on him. If my educators had given up on me when I was seeking support and validation, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I learned his favorite video games and his favorite Pokémon cards, then integrated those themes into our lessons. It’s key to learn your students’ distinct personalities. I watched him open up, and things clicked. The lesson is valuable: When teachers can relate concepts to students’ interests, it makes a huge difference to their learning. 

    One-on-one attention is powerful. Large classes and high student-teacher ratios don’t always allow teachers to provide the one-on-one attention each student deserves. Enter: tutors. In my program, students receive 45 minutes of personalized tutoring thrice a week. The instruction is research-based and tied into the curriculum. We’re not asking students for extra time or for parents to rearrange their schedules — we’re embedding this high-impact, high-dosage tutoring into the school day.

    As the achievement gap persists, it’s crucial that students receive individualized opportunities to learn and catch up. High-dosage tutoring allows this. Each semester I create close relationships with my students and learn their strengths and areas of growth, allowing me to tailor my teaching style to what’s going to be most effective for each student. And it’s working. At one of the schools where I tutor, Aspire Rosa Parks in Stockton, 71% of students working with Ignite fellows met their reading and math goals, and we provided 437 additional hours of individualized learning in just one semester. Plus, 98% of partner schools report that this tutoring boosts students’ academic achievement and engagement.

    My experience as a tutor has been incredibly eye-opening. In my two years as an Ignite fellow, I’ve been able to work with elementary and middle school students across five different schools, which allowed me to connect with underrepresented students who need extra resources. Plus, I have found an inclusive and supportive community of those who want to inspire future generations. I have become a better leader and have gained a new perspective on educational equity. High-dosage tutoring helps students reach their academic goals while also facilitating a sense of belonging and connection with adults who want them to succeed — it’s a win-win.

    ●●●

    Roxane Knorr is a Teach For America Ignite Fellow and a 2022 UCLA alumna.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Teacher uses jazz to explore California history, race and culture

    Teacher uses jazz to explore California history, race and culture


    Guillermo Tejeda and the Neighborhood Orchestra performing at the Venice Beach Jazz Festival.

    Guillermo Tejeda

    The first thing Guillermo Tejeda does when he visits a new school is hunt for the piano. At most schools, the teacher finds a dusty old instrument, out of tune, stashed away in a dark closet. 

    The cobwebs tell him all he needs to know about how little arts education those students have been getting. His go-to technique to get them more jazzed about learning is to tickle the ivories, make that piano come back to life.

    “I’ll bring it out, dust it off. I’ll bring students into the auditorium and I’ll do lessons there,” said Tejeda, a fourth grade teacher at Wadsworth Elementary in hardscrabble South Central Los Angeles. “I’m telling you, when I bring in song, when I bring music and performance into the classroom, the students light up in a way that really creates a meaningful experience for them.”

    A schoolteacher who is also a jazz musician and a member of the Neighborhood Orchestra Collective, Tejeda uses music in general and the narrative of the LA jazz scene in particular, to teach about history, race and culture, as well as to spark joy in the classroom. A father of three currently on parental leave with his 11-month-old daughter Maya, Tejeda started playing the guitar at the age of 6. His grandfather, a migrant farm worker with a love of mariachi and a hand gnarled from picking in the fields, taught him how to play. 

    “I’m from East LA and I became a teacher because I wanted to be the teacher that I never had,” he said. “We come from a marginalized community where it’s hard to be a teacher. A lot of the adults are stressed out. People are not feeling joy. How do we bring more joy? How do we bring more meaning into our lives? I think music is that vehicle.”

    Tejeda takes an expansive view of education that integrates the arts into all the disciplines to bring learning to life for children. His teaching feeds his music, he says, and his music feeds his teaching.

    “I wish I had a teacher like Guillermo when I was in fourth grade,” said Elmo Lovano, the founder of Jammcard: The Music Professionals Network, who developed School Gig, an app that connects artists to schools. “He’s a passionate guy. He’s incredibly talented. It’s important for artists to know you can still be doing your art, but being a teacher could be an amazing opportunity for you to make a living, stay at home, support your family, give back to the kids, the next generation, and also still do you.”

    Music is the prism through which his students become immersed in the history of their city, its politics and culture. He wants his students to be in tune with their heritage.

    “I teach on 41st and Central, which is a historic jazz corridor,” he said. “And when I got to that school site, it surprised me that so few teachers talked about that. The first thing I did was write a lesson plan about it.” 

    Tejeda, whose students call him ‘Mister’ as a nickname, makes sure his class learns about the rich legacy of jazz in Los Angeles. For example, the historic Central Avenue jazz corridor was, for decades a cultural mecca, the heart of the African-American community in the city. At a time when most of the country was rigidly segregated, it was also something of an oasis, a place where people of all races and classes came together over music. There, a pantheon of jazz luminaries, including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Jelly Roll Morton, played to full houses.

    “The giants of Central Avenue may have gone, but their footprints still remain on all of American culture,” as basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once put it. “The jazz musicians and record promoters also gave birth to rock ‘n’ roll, rhythm and blues, hip-hop and rap.”

    Guillermo Tejeda and members of the band Steam Down at the Venice Jazz Festival.
    credit: Luis Hernandez

    Steeping in the often overlooked history of their neighborhood, Tejeda says, can help children sharpen their sense of identity, belonging and pride. 

    “These kids have no idea how special and beautiful their neighborhoods are because all they see on the news is how messed up it is,” said Tejeda, long a champion of culturally relevant pedagogy. “I want them to know this is the place, right here in your hood, this is where a lot of jazz music was born.”

    Music often resonates with children on a deeper level than other forms of instruction. Tejeda is moved to tears remembering one little boy who had trouble engaging at school because of trauma at home. He only opened up when they began to play the piano together at recess. The piano became his sanctuary.

    “I’m shook when I come home because a lot of these kids are dealing with very hard stuff and they’re so resilient,” said Tejeda, his voice thick with emotion. 

    “Yes, math and science is important but the whole child is important, that’s what drives me.”

    Music also enhances both math and reading performance, experts say, perhaps partly because it enhances the neuroplasticity of the brain. Music amplifies learning across subject areas, experts say. 

    “Music and movement in addition to the more common modalities of written and verbal instruction is critical for including all kinds of learners in a well-rounded education,” said Jessica Mele, interim executive director of Create CA, an advocacy group. “It’s particularly beneficial for students whose first language is not English. Using art as a window into culture, race and history can engage students in complex conversations that they might not otherwise engage in.”

    Music can also be healing, research suggests. As a boy, Tejeda suffered from a stutter that only subsided when he sang. 

    “I keep it real with the kids because I see myself in them,” he said. “It’s crazy how impactful music has been for me.”

    It’s also a uniquely social experience that invites children to collaborate with their peers on projects that both require and reward focus and discipline, qualities that fuel academic success, experts say. Children practiced in the arts become accustomed to working collectively toward ambitious long-term goals.

    Perhaps most importantly for Tejeda, children often find their voice through music and the arts. They can gain a sense of confidence, social-emotional well-being and a passion for lifelong learning.

    “The end goals of music and education aren’t to memorize curriculums or key terms,” said Tejeda. “It’s really to find out who you are. It’s about self-determination and growing the full human being. I’m so excited to see this synergy of music and education because they are inextricable.”

    Tejeda’s ambition is to make school so stimulating that children want to go there every day because they are deeply engaged in their studies. At a time of chronic absenteeism and plummeting test scores, he has a transformative vision of arts education as reinvigorating the classroom.

    “I feel a deep calling to help effect change across California classrooms,” he said. “I am never going to stop teaching, because teaching and education is so essential to my soul. It is at the core of who I am,” but this “is a critical time for me to put my work into the next gear and figure out how I’m going to apply my passion and expertise to affect tangible change, more urgently, on a wider scale.” 

    Going forward, he hopes to pursue arts education advocacy on a broader level. He is also developing a new arts-driven curriculum, to “unleash the symphony of learning,” as Proposition 28, the state’s groundbreaking 2022 arts initiative, ramps up.

    “It’s like out of my dreams and into reality,” he said. “We’re going to create a new world for students. This is a revolutionary time.”





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  • How UC is navigating the complicated response to the Israel-Hamas war

    How UC is navigating the complicated response to the Israel-Hamas war


    Student advocates prepare to march outside the UC Board of Regents meeting at UCLA on Nov. 16.

    Credit: Mallika Seshadri / EdSource

    Students on California campuses are fearful and upset six weeks into the Israel-Hamas war, with Islamophobia and antisemitism on the rise at colleges across the country.

    The climate across the University of California system is especially tense and has students feeling unsafe, forcing system officials to navigate a delicate issue that is painful for many on its 10 campuses. 

    Systemwide leaders and campus chancellors have, over the past several weeks, made several statements about the war and what they’re doing to keep students safe, but it’s been a challenging endeavor. Students and other stakeholders have regularly criticized UC officials for both what they have and haven’t said.  

    Earlier this month, UC and California State University officials were criticized by the California Legislative Jewish Caucus for not more forcefully condemning antisemitism on their campuses. Days later, when UCLA Chancellor Gene Block condemned what he labeled antisemitism at an event organized by Palestinian students, his statement was rebuked by those students who denied the charges of antisemitism and accused UC officials of a double standard for ignoring attacks against Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students.

    Now, UC is going beyond words and statements. UC President Michael Drake last week announced that his office is committing $7 million toward addressing antisemitism and Islamophobia on campuses. Drake hopes the effort will tangibly benefit students and ease their anxieties by investing in emergency mental health resources, new educational programs and training for staff, including around free speech. 

    Students march outside last week’s UC board of regents meeting at UCLA.
    Credit: Mallika Seshadri / EdSource

    It’s a start, said Celene Aridin, a UC Davis student and president of the UC Student Association who had appealed to the president’s office for more mental health services, which she said are necessary because students are grieving.

    “It has not been an easy time for students who are impacted. It’s been hard for them really to just go to school and attend classes normally. Their mental health is not OK. They are not OK,”  Aridin said.

    The $7 million investment is a “smart approach,” according to Kristen Shahverdian, senior manager of free expression and education at PEN America, an organization that advocates for free speech on college campuses and in general.

    “I think that they’re looking at some of the areas where there clearly are gaps and need some more robust resources,” Shahverdian said. “That it’s not just one lane I think is really important, that they’re coming at this from a lot of different directions.”

    The Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel killed about 1,200 Israelis, according to officials. The subsequent Israeli military response in Gaza has killed more than 11,000 people there, including at least 4,500 children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. 

    While the war has been ongoing, cases of Islamophobia and antisemitism have increased on U.S. college campuses, including reports of harassment and assaults. It has prompted a federal response, with President Joe Biden’s Department of Education last week announcing it is opening new investigations at six colleges into reports of antisemitism and Islamophobia. 

    Although none of its campuses are the ones being investigated, UC has been no exception to reports of Islamophobia and antisemitism. 

    Bears for Palestine, the UC Berkeley chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, wrote on Instagram that Muslim students have been “assaulted, harassed and spat on” and that “in classrooms, Palestinian and Arab students have been the target of genocidal threats.” In a statement to the campus, UC Berkeley’s chancellor, Carol Christ, cited “harassment, threats and doxing that have targeted our Palestinian students and their supporters.”

    Palestinian students at other campuses, including UCLA, have made similar reports. Mohammad, a UCLA student and spokesperson for the UCLA chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, said Palestinian students at UCLA have been subjected to physical and verbal assaults.

    “By just wearing a keffiyeh, it’s almost like it’s justified to call me a terrorist. By just walking around with a keffiyeh, for my friends, it’s almost justified for them to be pepper sprayed, for them to be jumped,” Mohammad said. He was granted partial anonymity because of concern for his safety. 

    The California Legislative Jewish Caucus, meanwhile, reported several antisemitic incidents in its letter earlier this month to college leaders, calling on them to take action to protect Jewish students. In the letter, the legislators said they heard from Jewish students at UC Berkeley, UC Davis and San Jose State who were attacked physically for supporting Israel. They also said Jewish students at UC San Diego needed a police escort to safely leave a student meeting.

    In that Nov. 7 letter, the caucus members criticized UC and Cal State officials for not doing enough in response to antisemitism on their campuses. The caucus called on them to be “crystal clear in word and in deed that antisemitism — like all other forms of hatred and bigotry — will not be tolerated on our campuses.”

    A Jewish student at UC Berkeley, Hannah Schlacter, said during last week’s board of regents meeting in Los Angeles that a Jewish student at her campus was hit in the head with a water bottle at a protest. She questioned why the university hadn’t labeled the incident a hate crime. 

    UCLA’s chancellor, Block, did make a statement on Nov. 10 condemning what he called “despicable Antisemitic language” and “extremely hateful behavior” at an event on the campus that week. He was presumably referring to a Nov. 8 pro-Palestine rally on the campus, which received national attention after some students beat a piñata of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    Block’s statement angered the students who organized the rally, including Students for Justice in Palestine and UCLA’s chapter of UC Divest. In a statement, UC Divest said reports that antisemitic language was used at the rally were erroneous. The statement cited a New York Post report that quoted a student saying, “beat that f****** Jew” while hitting the piñata. In reality, according to UC Divest, the student said, “Rip that f****** piñata.” 

    “UC Divest rejects the claims that anti-Semitic actions were perpetrated by individuals at our rally and condemns anti-Semitism,” the UC Divest coalition added in its statement. 

    The group also accused UC of a double standard, saying that “when students ask administration for support in the wake of violent hate crimes” against pro-Palestinian Muslim students and others, “we are ignored, gaslit and invalidated.”

    Students aren’t the only ones who have demanded more from campus leaders. Faculty members have weighed in too. 

    Last month, the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council, which includes faculty in ethnic studies across UC, accused UC leadership of statements “that distort and misrepresent the unfolding genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and thereby contribute to the racist and dehumanizing erasure of Palestinian daily reality.” The council’s letter was condemned by one UC regent, Jay Sures, who said it was “rife with falsehoods about Israel” and specifically took issue with the faculty asking UC to retract charges of terrorism. 

    And this month, a faculty coalition at UCLA criticized campus leadership for not denouncing pro-Palestinian rallies on campus. “The atmosphere on campus results in Jewish students, staff and faculty who are afraid to be on campus, show solidarity with Israel, or practice their freedom of religion in public,” the faculty wrote in the letter, which now has more than 350 signatories. 

    Being met with criticism from students and other stakeholders hasn’t been abnormal for college leaders over the past six weeks, said Michelle Deutchman, the president of UC’s National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement. 

    In Florida, the head of the state’s public university system attempted to ban campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and was subsequently condemned by Palestinian students as well as free speech advocates.

    At Harvard, critics said campus officials didn’t condemn Hamas strongly enough in their response to the Oct. 7 attack. Weeks later, when Harvard President Claudine Gay condemned antisemitism during a speech at a Harvard Hillel Shabbat dinner, she was praised by some students and criticized by others. A spokesperson for Harvard Jews for Liberation took issue with Gay conflating antisemitism with anti-Zionism and said that a “disproportionate focus on antisemitism on college campuses continues to distract from the devastating siege on Gaza,” according to The Harvard Crimson.

    It’s a delicate line that college presidents and chancellors across the country have struggled to balance. 

    “If and when chancellors or presidents spoke, they were met with some kind of critique about what they said, and if they didn’t speak, they were also met with critique. So unfortunately, right now it feels a little bit like a lose-lose situation,” Deutchman said.

    Deutchman added, though, that UC’s decision to invest $7 million into initiatives and programs to address antisemitism and Islamophobia could be a step toward benefiting all students.

    Of the $7 million, $3 million will go toward emergency mental health resources for students and staff. Another $2 million will go toward educational programs, which will aim to improve the public discourse on the issue by focusing on a better understanding of antisemitism and Islamophobia as well as how to recognize and combat extremism. The final $2 million will go toward training of faculty and staff, including in areas such as free speech.

    “It’s really hard to have a conversation about discourse on campus if people don’t have a foundation of what’s allowed and what isn’t,” Deutchman said. “So to the extent that they’re going to have an infusion of resources into education and training and helping all the different stakeholders on campus learn how to respond in the face of challenging speech and events, I think that’s really important.”

    As for the $3 million for mental health resources, Aridin, the UC Student Association president, said she’s optimistic it will help students but she also called on UC officials to consult students at each campus before deciding specifically how to spend the money. What students at one campus need might be different from what would most benefit students at another campus, Aridin said.

    “There are different student populations on each campus that need different things,” she said. “It could look like therapy, it could look like support group counseling, but it could also look like funding for some food or money for a space for students to come talk about their grief with one another. And it just depends on what students on each campus need.”





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  • What is arts integration? Q&A with Mike Stone

    What is arts integration? Q&A with Mike Stone


    Credit: Alison Yin for EdSource Today

    Maverick American maestro Leonard Bernstein once said that “a work of art does not answer questions, it provokes them; and its essential meaning is in the tension between the contradictory answers.”

    That power to cultivate critical thinking is part of why Bernstein was a champion of arts integration, an innovative approach many educators are exploring these days as a creative way to amplify student learning amid an era of steep learning loss.

    Certainly, Mike Stone, a veteran music teacher who cut his teeth on the baritone horn in the fourth grade, is a devotee of the practice. Coordinator of the visual and performing arts with the Bakersfield City School District, Stone is planning to use Proposition 28 funds, which are slated to arrive in schools in February, to bolster his already robust arts education program with 13 new teachers, all devoted to the benefits of art integration. 

    In arts integration, students meet dual learning objectives when they engage in the creative process to explore connections between an art form and another subject, say history or science, to gain a more nuanced understanding of both. Stone, who plays in the quartet Brass A La Carte and is also the president-elect of the National Association for Music Education, Western Division, recently made time to chat about why arts integration can spark deeper learning.

    Brass A La Carte includes Mike Stone, right, on baritone horn.
    Photophoto credit: Ron Christian

    Q: Can you give me an example of arts integration in a classroom?

    A: An arts-integrated lesson might include students listening to “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” a Civil War melody. Students would then learn to play the famous melody on a recorder, followed by a writing assignment on the sacrifices of soldiers who fought in the Civil War. In this example, there could be English language arts, history-social science, and music standards all integrated into the lesson.

    Q: How does this kind of cross-pollination enhance learning? 

    A: Integrating arts standards in instruction enhances student learning by connecting the dots, so to speak. When we play an instrument, sing, dance or draw, we experience the learning by doing. My experience as a teacher is that such an approach connects cognitive and social realms of learning as students experience the learning firsthand.

    It provides a synergetic connection that helps students learn across various content disciplines. Teachers have been using the concepts embedded in integration for many years. As the saying goes, we do not learn in a vacuum.

    Q: What are you most excited about with this expansion of arts ed in your district? 

    A: I am truly inspired by the learning I have observed in our classrooms this fall. The district invested in 13 new arts teachers who are inspiring our students daily through dance, media arts, music, theater and visual arts. I think the fact that we are early adopters has given us a chance to create a model arts education program for California and the nation. Our music education program has been strong for years; now, we have the opportunity to build access and excellence in all the arts-dance, media arts, music, theater and visual arts. The sky’s the limit.

    Q: What is the biggest challenge? Reward?

    A: Our biggest challenge will be the recruitment and retention of teachers, since California and the nation are competing for teachers in a market where we have a severe shortage. In fact, with the passage of Proposition 28 in California, I estimate that our state could need over 7,000 credentialed arts teachers over the next year. It will mean that school districts must create arts education jobs where infrastructure, instructional support and scheduling promote a positive work environment where arts learning may thrive. 

    The biggest reward? Knowing that our children are getting a top-notch education that will help them succeed in life.

    Q: Are all 13 new teachers you have coming on board in Bakersfield part of the arts integration theme?

    A: Our teachers teach discrete arts standards, and also work to integrate standards, all while the classroom teacher is in the classroom supporting student learning. There is a collaborative spirit with our arts integration approach. We had training the other day, and the energy in that room was incredible.

    Q: What are you doing to boost teacher retainment?

    A: I’m working hard to make the teaching environment and the experience of these 13 new teachers as positive as possible because I know I won’t retain them unless they like coming to school. I really value that in our district. Retention of teachers is going to be as important as recruitment.

    Q: What’s been the biggest hit with the children so far?

    A: I have been in all of those teachers’ classrooms, and the kids are just loving it, especially visual arts. Middle school kids want to be expressive in a safe environment. What I see with our teachers is that they’re getting that opportunity to be expressive and kind of mellow out from a normal, hectic school day. They get to create at their own pace and follow the teacher’s lessons. That’s been very popular. 

    Q:What’s it like for you, visiting those new classes?

    A: I enjoy visiting our primary classrooms more than any others. Learning is so new to these students, and they are very excited. Their smiles make all the work worth it. I look forward to seeing our young children move through the grade levels over the next few years. I even suspect that our students will do better in school because they are so motivated by their arts teachers. After all, kids who are learning the arts are happy to be at school.





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  • All kids need access to after-school programming

    All kids need access to after-school programming


    Students work together during an after-school tutoring club.

    Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education

    Last week, as one of Los Angeles’ major freeways was closed indefinitely and rainstorms hit the city, to top it all off, school was also out early in the Los Angeles Unified School District for parent-teacher conferences. These conferences provide valuable individualized feedback — but even with optimal weather and traffic conditions, shortened school days also mean that families scramble for child care and to ensure students continue learning.

    Fortunately, we have a way to support families in weeks like this and in other weeks when school still gets out well before the work day ends — effective after-school programming. It’s high time that enrichment, social, and academic support during the hours after school get the attention and investments they deserve.

    No matter what time that final bell rings, there is no doubt that after-school programming has become a vital supplement to a well-rounded public school education. By bridging the gap between school and home, after-school programs extend the academic support students receive during the day, ultimately leading to improved educational outcomes, social-emotional skills and more enriched lives. One national study showed that half of students regularly attending these programs made gains in their math and reading grades — and more than 60% improved their homework completion, classroom participation and behavior. 

    After-school programs also offer a safe and supportive environment for students, reducing crime and juvenile delinquency. When students have a constructive, nurturing place to spend their time after school, studies show they are less likely to engage in risky or harmful behaviors. According to a 2005 study from the Rose Institute at Claremont McKenna College, every dollar invested in afterschool programs saves at least $3 by increasing youths’ earning potential, improving their performance at school and reducing crime and juvenile delinquency. This not only benefits individual students but also offers working parents and guardians peace of mind by providing a reliable, quality child care option.

    The vast majority of parents believe that after-school opportunities are important to support their children’s safety and development—however, for every student enrolled in one of these programs, there are two students who would participate if given access. This disparity often falls predictably along socio-economic lines, widening the very achievement gap that it has the power to help close. And with a patchwork of funding and service models, we don’t always know which programs serve students best.   

    While the list of proven benefits is seemingly endless, the funding and resources needed to make high-quality programs equitably accessible to more families are not. The Expanded Learning Opportunities Program funding that Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced two years ago is a great start. At the same time, we need to ensure that this funding is ongoing, coherent with other funding streams, and remains flexible enough to make the most of these dollars and meet the needs of local students.

    That is why I brought forth a resolution that my board colleagues passed unanimously this week, calling on LA Unified to do more to study, fund and advocate for after-school programming and expanded learning opportunities to be available to all our students. We must collectively imagine what we can do for children all day long, including during the hours from when the bell rings until dinner. This will require expanded and flexible state funding, research and data analysis from our school systems and institutions of higher education, and collaboration with nonprofits and local entities who have been doing this work in silos for decades. We also need to find ways to ensure that we can staff after-school positions, which historically have been part-time jobs, with the caring adults we know our students need to thrive.

    As we continue to address the learning gaps and emotional hurdles facing students after the pandemic, we cannot afford to go back to business as before. If time is one of the most significant things that our students missed during the pandemic, then I’ve found a few hours every day where we can make up lost ground and prepare our kids to be the best versions of themselves — after school.

    •••

    Nick Melvoin is a member of the Los Angeles Unified school board, representing the Westside and West San Fernando Valley, and is currently running for Congress.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the authors. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • The science of reading also applies to students learning English as a second language

    The science of reading also applies to students learning English as a second language


    Credit: Andrew Reed / EdSource

    As California pushes schools to adopt research-based approaches to teaching children how to read, often called the “science of reading,” some teachers and advocates for English learners have expressed concerns that techniques used to teach reading in English to native speakers may not work for students who are learning English as a second language.

    But an in-depth look at the science behind how language is developed reveals an interesting parallel between the science of reading and second language learning. In fact, the science of reading can actually provide support when it comes to teaching students whose native language is not English.

    The science of reading and the science of language learning both require an explicit and structured approach to literacy that can actually help answer the longstanding question of: How can I teach English academic skills to a student who has no English oral ones?

    A key strength of the science of reading approach is its focus on the development on both language (speaking) and literacy (reading) within the same instructional space. Gone are the days of encouraging separate subject blocks within English language arts, where literacy and oral fluency are taught as separate entities. Science-based approaches encourage teaching language and literacy hand-in-hand, complementing and building off one another based on each child’s development and progression. This focus is effective for all students, but especially for English learners who must learn oral skills at the same time as they are learning academic ones. As they are sounding out the word, they are also learning what that word means.

    The traditional separation of oral language and literacy skills in English leads to an increase of “scaffolding” support for native English speakers — and even more so for non-native English speakers. Already pressed for time, teachers often find themselves supporting needed oral skills within literacy instruction, only to turn around and add needed literacy skills within oral language instruction. By teaching the two skills separately, teachers end up taking more time for each skill that is developmentally intertwined with the other.

    The science of reading approaches these skills as interwoven, giving equal importance to both oral language and literacy instruction within the same space. This immediately reduces the need for scaffolds and emphasizes looking at language and literacy through a lens of cognition and development, instead of repetition and memorization.

    Teaching oral, comprehension and vocabulary skills alongside language structure and syntax is something that has been much-needed for teaching English learners. Take Marco, an English learner, for example. Marco might sound out the word “net” correctly and might recognize a sight word (a commonly used word such as “she,” “be” or “had”) when reading. But does he know what those words mean, or how to apply them in context? Is he even given the opportunity to find out? Too often, Marco has no idea. He simply gets a “high five” for decoding one word correctly and recognizing another with no comprehension because that was the skill focus for that lesson. Marco continues in his learning process, only learning certain skills in a limited sense and not a fully comprehensive and applicable one.

    This not only limits Marco’s literacy skills in the other language, but his language proficiency skills as well. He misses out on the opportunity for comprehension, vocabulary expansion, and active skill application of the language being learned because of this compartmentalized approach.

    Marco needs both the functional application and the comprehensive skills to be taught purposefully and in combination. He also needs this done within the same learning period while the concepts are still fresh and relatable.

    It’s an important step forward that this combined approach of language and literacy is now encouraged in whole-group and small-group instructional settings through the science of reading.

    Looking at reading and the science behind it from a cognitive standpoint can provide us with a more equitable approach to teaching because it is based on what constitutes — and makes sense functionally — in the brain’s processing of information, something that is universal. How vocabulary is developed, alongside its symbols and sounds in reading and writing, is simultaneously developed in all language and literacy learning.

     The science of reading challenges teachers to look beyond the surface of the language spoken and more deeply into how it functions. On the surface, it is easy for teachers to fear they cannot help or support English learners if they do not speak the student’s language. However, by applying the science of reading’s explicit language and literacy approach, teachers will be reminded of how they themselves made meaning and developed English literacy. Yes, they spoke English, but they still had to learn the structure and written form and how to read English in the classroom, just as their English learner students will. A key difference is that the English learner may not have any pre-existing English oral skills, but these skills, now more than ever, are encouraged and can be taught as they are developed, alongside literacy instruction.         

    Simply applying the science of reading won’t provide all the solutions to the complexities of teaching English learners, but it can provide teachers with a purposeful starting point through its explicit focus on, and the equal importance given, to both language and literacy development.

    ●●●

    Rachel Hawthorne has a background in linguistics and taught for several years as a bilingual teacher for grades preK-5. She now works as an English learner product developer for Really Great Reading, a company that provides literacy instruction support to educators. 

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • California faces big challenges to implement new math guidelines

    California faces big challenges to implement new math guidelines


    Credit: Allison Shelley / EDUimages

    After a contentious road to approve a new set of statewide guidelines on teaching students math, California officials must still figure out how to support school districts with implementation.

    The 2023 Math Framework, which the State Board of Education passed in July, is a 1,000-page document that details what many state and education officials accept as the best practices to teach mathematics. Although not everyone agreed and controversies arose during the four years of work it took to reach approval, math experts and organizations across the state are beginning to have conversations about what a statewide rollout could look like.

    The state hasn’t provided funding for implementation, which is typical, said Mike Torres, director of curriculum frameworks and instructional resources for the Department of Education. Historically, any framework rollout isn’t funded and is implemented with outside collaborators who are experts in the topic. For the most part, district officials must find ways to fund professional development on their own.

    “This situation with the mathematics framework is not different,” Torres said. “There isn’t any specific funding where we can pay experts to help us participate in webinars … or put on events.”

    It’s unclear why California historically hasn’t set aside money to help districts with implementation once new guidelines are passed. But that could change. 

    During a press conference last month, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond said he intends to introduce legislation for funding for professional development for those teaching math and reading. The funds could be up to $500 million, he said. 

    Torres said the California Department of Education would need to find other ways to offset costs if events will be held. It’s too early to know what kind of rollout could or will happen. Torres and his team have had three meetings with groups they work with to talk about a framework rollout, he said. 

    There are many organizations collaborating with the California Department of Education on implementing the math framework, including the California Mathematics Project, California County Superintendents Curricular and Improvement Support Community (CISC), California Math Council, California Teachers Association, and County Offices of Education. 

    During other framework rollouts, districts have sent teams of teachers and administrators to training and then had them relay information to the rest of the staff, said Kyndall Brown, one of the framework authors and executive director of the California Mathematics Project – one of the state’s partners. It’s something that could be replicated during a math framework rollout. 

    Even if there are conferences teachers can attend, one professor says she isn’t a huge fan. 

    “One day of hearing these ideas doesn’t necessarily translate into having a balanced curriculum – at all,” said Karajean Hyde, co-director of the UC Irvine Math Project. “It doesn’t necessarily create change in the classroom.”

    To create changes that will increase students’ proficiency in math, teachers need trainers who will work with them in and outside of classrooms on a consistent basis, Hyde said, which is work she does with her colleguues. 

    School districts do have pots of funding that could be used toward professional development, Brown said, such as special education funds or funds from the Local Control Funding Formula.

    However, a $50 million math, science, and computer science professional learning grant the governor allocated in the 2022 budget could help to fund professional development. Some allocations have been given to the County Offices of Education, Torres said, and the offices handle how the money is used.

    The timing of the grant worked out perfectly with the beginning of a math framework rollout, said Ellen Barger, an associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction at the Santa Barbara County Office of Education. Other grant funds are being used to support rural school districts in particular and the most recent grant will help to continue building coherence across all counties and to fill gaps. 

    “The framework is one of the tools that’s helping us achieve a vision of high-quality 

    mathematics for every California student, and we are building structures to bring people together to build knowledge and skills to operationalize that vision in every county, district, and community,” Barger said.

    Equity in implementation

    As of this school year, there will be 939 school districts in the state that will have to find resources to support educators in teaching under the new guidelines, which align with the California Common Core State Standards for Mathematics that were passed a decade ago. 

    How to make that equitable will be a difficult task. 

    Each school district has different needs, unique populations, and different levels of resources. For example, a district with more than 50,000 students will typically have more resources and staff to support professional development. A district with less than 50 kids might just have one staffer who is taking on multiple roles.

    There are some school districts that haven’t yet finished implementing the common core standards, Brown said. The common core standards detail what students in each grade level need to master.

    “There was no rollout of the 2013 framework (common core standards),” Brown said. “You had county offices and math project sites doing what we could, but we’re running into teachers who still don’t know about the elements of the common core standards.”

    There are also always new teachers coming into schools who will need to be trained, Brown said. “We have years and years worth of content.”

    But at least some colleges of education at California universities have had many aspects of the math framework already embedded in their curricula for the last decade. Professors at UC Davis, UC Irvine, and UC Riverside all spoke about how ideas in the framework have been used in their classrooms and the long history of controversy over how to teach math.

    Karajean Hyde, co-director of the UC Irvine Math Project, works with districts to train teachers on how to teach math and students in the credential program. For years, she said, the focus has been on student engagement, understanding motivation, including student identities in lessons, and building healthy classrooms – all included in the math framework. 

    Most teachers teach the way they were taught, Hyde said, and learned shortcuts to solving math problems. It results in current and future teachers not understanding the mathematics behind what they’re teaching. 

    During professional development training, Hyde and other Irvine professors make sure educators begin to understand the concepts behind what they are teaching, she said. They spend time co-planning lessons, observing lessons being taught, and relating what they are teaching back to the common core standards.

    “We need to make sure teachers understand the math and how to teach the math first and then it’s easier to help them consider – ‘How do I make this more engaging? How do I connect this back to the kid’s prior experience?’” Hyde said. 

    If teachers don’t understand the content “I fear they will just have a series of super fun, engaging lessons that kids feel super good about but they’re not actually mastering mathematics,” Hyde said. “I feel in turn is going to really increase the achievement gaps that we already have that are horrible in California.”

    The professional development work UC Irvine is doing has helped the two dozen districts they work with, but there are still many districts that don’t have this kind of support in place. 

    It will take years until every student in California is exposed to a way of learning math that follows the guidelines in the framework and Brown says, “Something needs to change.”

    Only about 35% of California students met or exceeded math standards this year, only about 1% higher than the previous year. Smarter Balanced Assessment results were lower for Black and brown students. 

    About 17% of African-American students and nearly 23% of Hispanic students in the state

    met or exceeded math standards in 2023, which was only about a 1% increase from the prior year. Brown called the results “horrendous.” 

    “It’s more than obvious the current system is failing too many people,” Brown said. “It’s long overdue – time to make some changes so we can see some different outcomes.”

    A Long Way to Go

    The final version of the framework was posted last month on the California Department of Education website. Officials are still working on a professionally edited version of the framework, which can take about a year, Torres said.

    Although school districts have access to the final version of the framework, it will still take up to two more years to have math materials that are vetted and approved by the state board that align with the framework, Torres said. Some publishers have likely started to write new materials. 

    The earliest the State Board of Education will kick off an adoption of math instructional materials is January – when the board approves a schedule of hearings. Districts aren’t required to use the materials approved by the state board, Torres said, but it’s helpful for implementation. 

    School districts also don’t have deadlines for when the framework needs to be implemented, Brown said. Every district is on its own timeline.

    Barger said a rollout isn’t an event, but an ongoing process of continuous improvement that could take the next six or seven years.





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  • What Trump’s budget and tax law means for California students

    What Trump’s budget and tax law means for California students


    Students at Wilson Elementary School in Selma participate in mental health awareness activities on May 24, 2023. Students are seen trying toys that can be used as coping mechanisms.

    Credit: Kristy Rangel

    Top Takeaways
    • Cuts to social safety net programs for the United States’ poorest will partly offset the $4.5 trillion in tax cuts weighted toward the wealthy.
    • $170 billion to immigration enforcement likely to harm student mental health, research shows.
    • Up to 151,000 children could lose health care in California, though advocates say the number is likely higher, as cuts may impact school-based health services.

    Hundreds of thousands of California’s low-income children and their families will likely see federally funded food support and health care shrink or vanish in the coming years under the mammoth budget and tax law that President Donald Trump rammed through a divided Congress and signed last week.

    Education cuts to come

    The $12 billion in cuts to K-12 schools and colleges that Trump proposed in May and the related $6.2 billion in federal funding that he ordered withheld from schools last week are not connected to the tax and budget bill that Congress just passed. They are the next target of Trump’s plan to hollow out funding for public education.

    The $12 billion cut — about 15% of what the U.S. Department of Education last appropriated for schools and universities — would take effect on Oct. 1, the start of the 2026 federal fiscal year. Trump’s plan would kill funding for educating migrant children and English learners, and end grants to attract candidates to become teachers, while maintaining current funding levels for Title I aid for poor children and students with disabilities.

    Because the forthcoming budget bill will require 60 votes in the Senate to pass, unlike the simple majority that Trump squeezed by last week with the budget and tax bill, opponents are optimistic they’ll be able to blunt some of the proposed cuts. They also believe they’ll get courts to reinstate the $6.2 billion that Trump withheld as of July 1. Congress already appropriated that money for states last February, in effect, to tide them over, since their fiscal year starts earlier, on July 1.

    “The bill will put young people and families at significant risk,” said Dave Gordon, Sacramento County superintendent of schools. “There’s nothing good about any of that. It’s cruel and it’s mean-spirited.”

    Immigrant families are bracing for ramped-up immigration enforcement as those efforts are now infused with an additional $170 billion. Those billions will be pulled in part from the $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid — known as Medi-Cal in California — and $186 billion cut from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides monthly payments for food to about 5 million Californians, including nearly 2 million under 18.

    State legislators did not set aside funds to account for cuts before approving the state budget, potentially leaving school districts to “absorb the shortfall,” as Visalia Unified stated it is prepared to do.

    Each district is facing a different reality. Some might have enough reserves to maintain current programming, while small and rural districts often heavily rely on federal dollars just to maintain basic educational infrastructure and services, said Fresno County’s schools Superintendent Michele Cantwell-Copher.

    Reduced spending on the poorest Americans will partly offset the $4.5 trillion in tax cuts weighted toward the wealthy, along with other features like a small increase in the $2,000 child tax credit. But the remaining $3 trillion will add to the federal deficit and be piled onto a record national debt to become a burden for the next generation of Americans. The higher interest payments on the debt they’ll pay as a portion of the federal budget will crowd out new spending options, including education and child care.

    What follows is a summary of what’s in the 2026 budget law, which will be phased in over several years, and its implications for families and children.

    Cuts to food assistance

    Around $186 billion is cut from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, also known as CalFresh in California, where over 55% of participants are families with children.

    An estimated 735,000 people are expected to lose their benefits, mainly because of new work requirements, according to the governor’s office.

    “Work requirements do not increase employment, it increases the red tape for vulnerable populations, causing more strain on hospitals with uninsured patients,” said Clarissa Doutherd, executive director of Parent Voices Oakland and a commissioner with First 5 Alameda County.

    The bill extends work requirements to a greater number of people, including those aged 55 to 64 and parents whose children are 14 or older.

    “Schools don’t exist in a vacuum. Cutbacks that impact the health and welfare of families create additional challenges for student support and academic success,” said Troy Flint, chief communications officer with the California School Boards Association.

    Since SNAP participation also determines eligibility for school lunch programs, a drop in enrollment could cut federal meal subsidies and raise state costs for meeting all students’ daily nutritional needs.

    Under the newly signed bill, states will also be required to front a greater amount of the program’s cost.

    States may need to cover between 5% and 15% of the benefits cost starting in 2028 if they have an error rate over 6% for recipients. This is a threshold that data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows only eight states met last year. California was not one of those states.

    It remains unclear what impact the cuts will have on schools, but the state has not provided any additional funding to backfill the cuts.

    Medi-Cal cuts

    Over half of all children in California are enrolled in Medi-Cal, as Medicaid is called in the state. An analysis of the House bill found that up to 151,000 children in California would lose health care coverage, largely due to changes in work requirements and eligibility.

    Mike Odeh, senior director of health policy at Children Now, said the number will likely be higher. The final bill exempts parents of children age 13 and under from meeting work requirements. Odeh said families with children over the age of 14 who do not report monthly work hours will likely lose coverage.

    Medicaid is the fourth-largest federal funding source for K-12 schools nationwide, providing roughly $7.5 billion in school-based health services every year. California is one of 25 states that bill Medi-Cal for school-based health services, including vision and hearing screenings, nursing services, school counseling services and environmental support for special education students.

    If local clinics shut down as a result of Medicaid cuts, more kids are likely to turn to school-based health services for care, Odeh said. “So there will be less resources available for school-based medical services as there’s also more demand for them,” Odeh added.

    Medi-Cal billing is also a core source of sustainable funding for nearly 300 school-based health centers statewide, offering services such as mental health counseling, primary care and speech or occupational therapy.

    School-based health centers are funded by a combination of grant funding and Medi-Cal reimbursements, with no state-funded grants to rely on, according to a spokesperson from the California School-Based Health Alliance.

    The bill also cuts the provider tax, a key source of funding for rural community hospitals, and prohibits the use of Medicaid dollars toward reproductive care at Planned Parenthood clinics, two main sites of health care used by young people in rural, high-poverty communities.

    In recent years, California has expanded efforts to include school-based mental health support in Medi-Cal reimbursement, including support for mental health clinicians, wellness coaches and peer support programs that were initially funded by the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative. Newly hired school-based mental health providers may lose a critical portion of funding when some students are no longer eligible to have those services reimbursed by Medi-Cal, according to the California School-Based Health Alliance.

    “We know that kids who are enrolled in Medicaid do better in school,” said Odeh. “They miss fewer school days, they’re more likely to graduate high school and less likely to drop out, they’re more likely to go to college and have fewer emergency room visits and hospitalizations as adults.”

    School choice for states that want it

    The budget law will establish the first big federally funded program granting tax credits to underwrite private school tuition. If it proves popular, the program would potentially divert billions of dollars in federal tax revenue that opponents argue would be better spent supporting public schools.

    All but the wealthiest parents would be eligible to receive up to $1,700 in direct tax credits to defray tuition to private schools or potentially use it for homeschooling. Other taxpayers could receive the same tax credit by donating to “Scholarship Granting Organizations,” which would award scholarships to attend private or religious schools in states that take on the program and manage the scholarships. The number and size of the scholarships would depend on the number of Americans who make tax-deductible contributions and the states that offer the program.

    That’s the catch: Congress included an opt-in provision, and California is one of 20 states that currently don’t have a private school choice program. Gov. Gavin Newsom has shown no interest in signing up, and a state Senate committee in March killed a bill that proposed a statewide education savings account. Teachers unions are unalterably opposed, charging that it will primarily subsidize parents who already send their kids to private schools.

    Lance Christensen, a longtime advocate of school choice and a former candidate for state superintendent of public construction, criticized Newsom and state leaders for locking California out of a program “providing billions of dollars in K-12 scholarships to poor and middle-class families in other states so their kids can get an education tailored for their needs.”

    California proponents of school choice, however, are hopeful that the federal tax credits could enhance passage of their own Children’s Educational Opportunity Act, establishing a state-controlled Education Savings Account. Supporters are collecting signatures to place the initiative on the 2026 statewide ballot. It would provide parents with $17,000 — the equivalent of public school funding per student — to enroll their children in a private school or cover expenses such as tutoring or special education services.

    Billions to Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    The massive infusion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, will likely increase anxiety among immigrant families, lead to more absences from schools and harm children’s mental health, according to research.

    “The children of immigrants, any time they’re away from their families, we hear examples that they’re worried at school about what might happen to their parents. That’s a huge mental toll that we’re asking every one of these kids that is an immigrant or lives in a mixed-status family to carry with them every day, 24 hours a day,” said Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez, deputy director of Californians Together and co-chair of the National Newcomer Network.

    The funding is aimed at expanding detention centers to hold adults and families with children while their immigration cases are pending, and increasing the number of ICE agents.

    Immigration raids in California increased significantly toward the end of the latest school year, causing upheaval and fear among students whose family members — and sometimes themselves — were detained or deported.

    ICE’s methods in the state have included arresting U.S. citizens, detaining toddlers and elementary school students, and arresting immigrants with active legal asylum cases at their scheduled court appointments.

    “We already see families keeping their kids home from school and keeping their kids home from summer activities because they’re fearful to leave their houses,” Cruz-Gonzalez said.





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  • As ethnic studies mandate withers, it’s clear state leaders misled districts

    As ethnic studies mandate withers, it’s clear state leaders misled districts


    Credit: Alison Yin / EdSource

    Last week, the California Legislature let its widely heralded 2021 high school ethnic studies bill, AB 101, silently lapse after it and Gov. Gavin Newsom passed a 2025-26 state budget that did not appropriate funds for it. Without that funding, school districts will not be bound by AB 101’s Fall 2025 deadline to offer students an ethnic studies course. 

    Ethnic studies’ popularity has been built on a false narrative: that California requires high school students to pass an ethnic studies course to earn a diploma. What’s been omitted from this narrative is that shortly before AB 101’s passage the Legislature added a barely noticed but hugely consequential sentence to AB 101 — that the ethnic studies graduation requirement will become “operative only upon an appropriation of funds” in separate legislation.

    In other words, from its inception, AB 101 was, and remains, aspirational. 

    Upon learning this surprising news, Mountain View-Los Altos High School District Superintendent Eric Volta dubbed the state’s ruse “a hot mess” (view recording hour 3:37). “Everyone was moving in one direction until December,” he said, scrambling with limited resources to meet the state’s pressing deadline.

    The Senate Appropriations Committee estimated that an ethnic studies requirement would cost taxpayers a staggering $276 million a year — for a subject rife with controversy and concern.

    California’s decision not to trigger AB 101 was undoubtedly made easier given the turmoil wracking school districts that had already prepared this coursework, including Newsom’s alma mater, Tamalpais Union. Heated school board meetings extended into the night when ethnic studies landed on board agendas. Parents statewide were distraught to see their districts selecting “liberated” ethnic studies like in Tamalpais, centered on race-based resentment that seemed to encourage armed militancy.

    Attorney General Bonta, in a rare Legal Alert sent to all local superintendents and school board members, obliquely signaled the state’s hesitation to move forward. This public alarm and skittishness followed state leaders’ receipt of a detailed June 2023 policy paper from the non-partisan Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, cc’d to 3,000 school board superintendents and trustees, alerting them that the California Legislature did not appear to require ethnic studies after all. The Los Angeles Times and EdSource confirmed it, EdSource reporting that state officials agreed — “no money, no requirement to develop or offer classes.”

    The California Department of Education’s (CDE) years of silence on this funding caveat, pertaining to the first change in the state’s graduation requirements in decades, is not what local education leaders and taxpaying parents should expect from a state agency with a $300 million annual administrative budget and a duty to help districts operate their schools. 

    This silence was not just consequential for California’s 430 school districts with high schools. It became a recurring issue for the University of California’s Academic Senate and its governing bodies as they contemplated making passing an ethnic studies course a UC admissions requirement, grounded largely in the mistaken belief that the state requires high school students to enroll in it. The Academic Senate rejected that proposal in April after a letter signed by hundreds of UC faculty members pointed out its many flaws, including this faulty premise.

    It appears that CDE’s silence about this funding caveat was intentional. Believing for years that ethnic studies was mandated, school districts developed courses expecting the state to cover their expenses. Neither the CDE nor the State Board of Education advised school districts differently. In fact, CDE’s website states that students must take ethnic studies to graduate. The state board’s comment that ethnic studies is not required was in 2025, and directed only to the University of California’s Academic Senate. 

    Over one-quarter of California school districts with high schools now offer ethnic studies, 85% employing the controversial liberated ethnic studies framework according to my recent sampling. Liberated Ethnic Studies is political education, teaching students to view the world through the narrow lenses of skin color and oppression, often so they will try to change it with anti-Western activism.

    School districts just now learning about this reprieve are reversing course or pausing their ethnic studies work. In January, San Dieguito Union turned its new required 9th-grade Ethnic Studies English course into an elective, only to discover that student interest in the course was so low that it might not offer the class at all its high schools. This spring, Ramona Unified, Glendora Unified, Chino Valley Unified, and others paused their work mid-stream. Parents in San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Newsom’s Tamalpais Union are pressing their school boards to do the same.

    The lesson here for local school leaders: verify narratives before acting, including those advanced by California state education officials.

    •••

    Lauren Janov is a California lawyer, education policy analyst, and political strategist. She is a legal consultant for the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, advised the University of California faculty team which opposed a proposed Ethnic Studies admissions requirement, and co-founded the Palo Alto Parent Alliance. The opinions expressed are her own.

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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