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  • What you need to know about California’s Prop. 28 arts education initiative | Quick Guide

    What you need to know about California’s Prop. 28 arts education initiative | Quick Guide


    Preschool children learn to express themselves through painting.

    Credit: Courtesy of Daniel Mendoza

    Amid a national reckoning over learning loss and chronic absenteeism deepened by the pandemic, arts education may be one of the keys to boosting children’s engagement in school, research suggests. Like sports, the arts can spark the kind of excitement that makes students, and their families, look forward to coming to school. 

    Devotees of the arts have long argued that art transforms us, but in recent years, neuroscience has shown just how beneficial arts education can be for children. Music, for instance, can buttress the architecture of the growing brain. Theater classes teach empathy, history and literacy all by putting on a show. Creativity, storytelling and the spirit of play ignite learning, effortlessly building the memory and concentration that academic rigor demands.

    Low-income children often see the biggest gains. That’s why making arts education accessible to all is the thrust of Proposition 28, the state’s historic arts mandate, which voters approved in 2022. Spearheaded by former Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner, the initiative began doling out money to schools last year.

    However, the groundbreaking program has run into several significant hurdles during its rollout, including a deep teacher shortage, widespread confusion about spending rules and pointed disagreements about how to interpret the law. Arts advocates are scrutinizing district arts budgets, and some are pushing for a state audit of the Los Angeles Unified School District, which has been accused of misspending funds in an ongoing lawsuit filed by families and Beutner. 

    What do students learn from the arts?

    The lessons of arts education are vast, from creativity to cognitive boosts. That’s why it has always been part of a classical education. From the arts, children learn focus, discipline and teamwork in addition to how to sharpen their own sense of voice and ingenuity, vital skills in a future likely dominated by artificial intelligence (AI). Originality is essentially a human gift, one that machines can only imitate. 

    What is Prop. 28?

    Proposition 28, the Arts and Music in Schools — Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act, sets aside money, roughly $1 billion a year, for arts education programs in TK-12 public and charter schools. Schools must be state-funded to receive Prop. 28 funding: a windfall for arts education, a once-renowned field long eroded by budget cuts. 

    Who is in charge of Prop. 28?

    While each school has been tapped to choose the kind of arts education that best suits its community, the California Department of Education (CDE) is leading the implementation of the initiative. CDE has provided guidance in FAQs and webinars to help districts navigate the rules. Questions can be emailed to Prop28@cde.ca.gov. 

    How much money do schools get?

    Funding, which gets funneled through the district, is variable depending on the size of the school and the number of Title 1, low-income students there. The money is ongoing, and school districts have up to three years to spend each allocation. Disbursements began to land in February 2024.

    What is the money supposed to pay for?

    Arts disciplines are broadly defined, from dance to digital arts, and schools are encouraged to tailor the program to the shifting needs of students over time. However, most of the funding is intended to pay for arts teachers. In general, at least 80% of the funds are for school staffers, certified or classified employees, to provide arts education. Up to 20% is for arts education support, including training, supplies, materials and arts partnerships. No more than 1% of total funds may go to administrative costs.

    Is there a waiver from the spending rules?

    The CDE may provide a waiver to school districts for “good cause” if the 80/20 rule cannot be followed. Waiver requests must include a problem statement, framing the waiver as a proposed solution to the problem. Reasons for a waiver may include a need to purchase costly supplies or equipment, such as buying musical instruments for an orchestra, or the need to contract with an arts partner due to an inability to hire qualified staff. Thus far, 2.4% of school districts have requested a waiver for 2024-25 spending, according to the CDE, down from 8.2% for 2023-24. 

    Can you pay for existing arts programs with the new money?

    No. Prop. 28 money must “supplement” and not “supplant” funding for arts education. For example, if you spent $1 million on arts education in the 2022-23 school year, you were expected to spend $1 million plus your Prop. 28 money in the 2023-24 school year (the first year Prop. 28 funds were available). 

    However, allegations of supplanting funds have arisen across the state as arts teachers watch new Prop. 28 funds being used to pay for existing programs. There are also disagreements on whether the litmus test on spending applies to districts as a whole or school by school. 

    What are the main issues in the Los Angeles Unified lawsuit?

    The core issue is paying for old programs with new money. Beutner, the author of the law, maintains that each individual school should offer more arts than before, while Los Angeles Unified officials have argued that spending is measured at the district level. Student plaintiffs and Beutner have filed a lawsuit against LAUSD, alleging misuse of funds. State education officials have avoided taking sides in the matter, but CDE auditing rules suggest that compliance is determined at the district level. Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, D-Los Angeles, has called for a state audit of LAUSD’s use of Prop. 28 funds. 

    What are the biggest challenges facing Prop. 28?

    The challenges of this rollout are myriad. Thorny issues include finding staff amid a teacher shortage, interpreting complicated rules and finding the time and space to hold extra classes. Schools without a Visual and Performing Arts coordinator often struggle with planning, experts say, and many have put off spending the money due to a lack of clarity on the spending rules and a lack of knowledge about the arts in general. While many school districts have reported they did not use the funds in the first year of Prop. 28 funding, according to some estimates, the window to tap into the funds is three years. Next year will be crunch time on assessing how comprehensively California schools are able to expand arts education. 

    What should parents know?

    Ask your principal how the Prop. 28 money is being spent and share your ideas on what artistic disciplines would best fit your community. Remember that arts education is a very broad landscape, from dance to digital arts. If there has been no increased access to arts education, that could be a red flag.

    Are adults shaped by childhood exposure to arts education?

    Early music training may impart a lifelong neuroplasticity that helps keep the brain sharp even as it ages. A 65-year-old musician has the neural activity of a 25-year-old non-musician, experts say. A 65-year-old who played music as a child but hasn’t touched an instrument in ages has neural responses faster than a peer who never played music.





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  • Community college adjunct professors optimistic as two lawsuits over pay progress

    Community college adjunct professors optimistic as two lawsuits over pay progress


    John Martin is a plaintiff in one lawsuit and is the chairman of the California Part-Time Faculty Association.

    Credit: Andrew Reed / EdSource

    A pair of recent court decisions may bode well for the state’s part-time community college professors, known as adjuncts, who have argued for years that they work unpaid hours to meet students’ needs.

    In Southern California, roughly 1,200 adjuncts who brought a class-action lawsuit against the Long Beach Community College District in 2022 are preparing for mediation to resolve claims of lost pay.

    A judge would have to approve any settlement.

    That the case proceeded to mediation after a judge denied a district motion to throw it out “is having a pretty substantial impact” in California as some districts are “looking at renegotiating their terms by which they’re paying adjunct faculty,” said Eileen Goldsmith, a San Francisco labor lawyer who represents the Long Beach plaintiffs. “Our case really started that process.”

    A spokesperson for the Long Beach district said she could not comment on ongoing litigation.

    Many issues cited in both suits were detailed in EdSource’s 2022 series Gig by Gig at California Community Colleges. Adjuncts routinely claim they are exploited by only being paid for time spent teaching, not for designing syllabi, grading, and answering student emails. Yet they are considered the backbone of the community college system, numbering more than 30,000.

    In Sacramento County, a Superior Court judge ruled in March in a separate 2022 lawsuit that adjuncts working at colleges across the state are employees of the community college system’s board of governors — a decision that could lead to uniformity in pay across the 116-college system, said Dan Galpern, a lawyer for John Martin, the plaintiff in the case. Martin, an adjunct in the Shasta and Butte community college districts, is also chair of the California Part-Time Faculty Association.

    He claims in the lawsuit that the board and districts violated state wage-and-hour laws by not paying for time spent preparing for classes, writing curriculum, grading, and interacting with students outside of class.

    Lawyers for the community college system sought to have the suit thrown out, arguing that adjuncts work for local districts, not the state.

    In a decision rejecting the request for dismissal, Judge Jill H. Talley wrote that because “the statutory scheme of the community colleges” requires the board of governors “to provide oversight, establish minimum employment standards, and to advise local community college districts on the implementation of state laws,” the board has “an obligation that extends to faculty wages.”

    Martin called the judge’s decision to go forward “a big victory.”

    The decision may be appealed.

    California Community Colleges “does not control the wages, hours, and working conditions of part-time professors at local community college districts, which are established through collective bargaining at each individual district,” Melissa Villarin, spokesperson for the chancellor’s office, wrote in an email. 

    “The chancellor’s office is disappointed that it was unable to persuade (Talley) to adopt its motion for summary judgment, and will evaluate its legal options as this litigation moves forward,” she said.

    The favorable ruling in Martin’s case and the mediation in the Long Beach case are building momentum for adjuncts to continue to push for pay for all hours worked, said Karen Roberts, an art history professor for more than 20 years in Long Beach who is one of the lead plaintiffs in the case.

    “I got into academia as an idealist,” Roberts said Tuesday. “Join the professor ranks and we’re all gonna join hands and sing Kumbaya.” But, she said, adjuncts can’t let themselves “be exploited. We live in a capitalist economy. We have a moral obligation to take care of ourselves financially.”

    The lawsuit, should the mediation result in awards for lost pay, should motivate adjuncts to stay active in unions and trade groups, she said.

    The suits are clearly being watched around the state and have the potential to have important impacts, Stephanie Goldman, the executive director of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges, said in an interview Tuesday.

    It’s too soon to know how they might impact college district funding through Proposition 98, the 1988 ballot measure that sets funding levels for K-12 schools and community colleges based on the state general fund. 

    “That’s a really big and heavy question,” Goldman said. “I think ultimately it depends on how the lawsuits turn out and the reasoning behind it.”

    Still, she said, schools across California are carefully watching to see what happens. 

    “I don’t think anybody would be surprised if it had a ripple effect across the state,” she said.





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  • ‘There was a lot of fear’: Central Valley immigration raids drive up absences in schools, study finds

    ‘There was a lot of fear’: Central Valley immigration raids drive up absences in schools, study finds


    Credit: AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File

    Top Takeaways
    • Absentee rates in five districts cumulatively increased 22% after immigration raids in the Central Valley earlier this year.
    • Raids increase stress levels in school communities, making it difficult for students to learn.
    • Fewer students in class means less funding for schools, which rely on average daily attendance to pay for general expenses.

    Immigration raids in California’s Central Valley earlier this year caused enough fear to keep nearly a quarter of the students in five districts home from school, according to a report released Monday by Stanford University. 

    The study evaluated daily student attendance in the districts over three school years and found a 22% increase in absences after immigration raids in the region in January and February.

    Empty seats in classrooms impact student education and reduce districts’ funding for general expenses, which are tied to average daily attendance. The financial losses are especially difficult now because districts are already grappling with lost funding due to declining enrollment.

    “The first and most obvious interpretation of the results is that students are missing school, and that means lost learning opportunities,” said Thomas Dee, a Stanford professor of education and author of the report. “But I think these results are a harbinger of much more than that. I mean, they’re really a leading indicator of the distress that these raids place on families and children.”

    The raids in the Central Valley began in January as part of “Operation Return to Sender.” U.S. Border Patrol agents targeted immigrants at gas stations and restaurants, and pulled over farmworkers traveling to work, observers reported.

    All five districts analyzed in the study — Bakersfield City School District, Southern Kern Unified, Tehachapi Unified, Kerman Unified and Fresno Unified — are in or near agricultural regions that were impacted by the operation. The districts closest to the raids had the highest absentee rates, Dee said.

    It is unclear how many people were actually arrested during the four-day operation. Border Patrol officials have claimed 78 people were arrested, while observers say it was closer to 1,000, according to the study.

    Raids keep kids out of school

    But whatever the number of arrests, fewer students in these districts attended school in the wake of the raids. The results of the study also suggest that absentee rates in California schools could continue to increase if the raids persist.

    In the Stanford report, Dee cited studies, including one he co-wrote, that found that prior instances of immigration enforcement have negatively impacted grade retention, high school completion, test scores and anxiety disorders. The climate of fear and mistrust caused by the raids impacts children even if their parents are not undocumented, according to the report. 

    An estimated 1 in 10, or 1 million, children in California have at least one undocumented parent. And while most of the children of undocumented parents in the United States are U.S. citizens, approximately 133,000 California children are undocumented themselves, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

    Of the more than 112,500 students attending the five districts studied, almost 82,000 are Hispanic, according to state data. 

    Not all districts impacted by the raids were studied, however. Big Local News, a journalism lab at Stanford University, approached multiple districts to request data. These five districts responded, according to Dee.

    The school’s youngest students were the most likely to miss school because of immigration raids, according to the report. That trend is expected to continue because younger children are more likely to have undocumented parents, Dee said. Parents are also more protective of their younger children, he said.

    “I think it just makes sense that if you’re concerned about family separation, it is a uniquely sharp concern if your kids are particularly young,” Dee said. 

    Family separation has been a constant fear since the Central Valley raids, agrees Mario Gonzalez, executive director of the Education & Leadership Foundation. The nonprofit provides immigration support and educational services to the community, including tutoring in 30 Fresno Unified schools. 

    Gonzalez said the foundation saw a decrease in the number of families participating in onsite services, such as legal consultations, beginning with the first reported immigration raids in Bakersfield in January, and a decrease in school attendance. 

    High school students told the foundation staff that their friends were afraid to come to school.

    Fresno Unified attendance dipped

    Attendance in Fresno Unified — the state’s third-largest district — dropped immediately after the Jan. 20 inauguration of President Donald Trump, said Noreida Perez, the district’s attendance and social emotional manager. Based on internal calculations, a decline in average daily attendance continued until March, with attendance rates decreasing by more than 4% in one week in February, compared to the same time in 2024.  

    Families reported keeping their children home because they were afraid that immigration enforcement officials would be allowed on campus or that parents would be unsafe traveling to and from school for drop-off and pickup, Perez said.

    “There was a lot of fear during that time,” she said. “There’s a lot of stress that’s associated with the threats of something like this happening.”

    Families concerned about sending their children to school have reached out to the Education & Leadership Foundation to ask how their kids can continue to receive services, including bilingual instruction, reading and math intervention, and mentoring. Some wanted to learn about the district’s virtual academy, which Superintendent Misty Her had promoted during her home visits to address increased absenteeism. 

    The fear of immigration operations has also impacted the students who attend classes.

    “If a student is worried about this happening to their parents or to somebody that they love, it makes it really hard to focus on learning or to be present with their peers or with their teacher,” said Perez, who is also a licensed clinical social worker. “If it feels like I might not be safe at school, or I don’t know what I’m going to come home to, that supersedes my ability to really focus and learn.”

    Compensating schools

    Ongoing declining enrollment is causing financial pressure in many school districts. In the 2024-25 school year, enrollment statewide declined by 31,469 students, or 0.54%, compared to last year. The previous school year, attendance declined by 0.25%, according to state data. Immigration raids could make a bad situation worse.

    The issue is so concerning for school districts that the California Legislature is considering a bill that would allow the state to fund districts for the loss of daily state attendance revenue if parents keep their children at home out of fear of a federal immigration raid in their neighborhood. 

    Assembly Bill 1348, authored by Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, D-Delano, would allow the state to credit a district with the attendance numbers and funding they would have received had there not been immigration enforcement activity in their community.

    To receive compensation, a district will have to provide data attributing a decline in attendance in a school — of at least 10% — to fear of federal immigration enforcement. The district must also provide remote learning as an option to families who keep their children home for this reason.

    “When attendance drops, funding disappears, and when funding disappears, all students suffer — regardless of immigration status,” said Bains in a statement after the Assembly passed the bill 62-13 on June 2.

    John Fensterwald and Emma Gallegos contributed to this report.





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  • The missing element in Cal State’s big investment in AI

    The missing element in Cal State’s big investment in AI


    Credit: Matheus Bertelli / Pexels

    A recent New York Times investigation revealed OpenAI’s ambition to make artificial intelligence the “core infrastructure” of higher education. In California, that vision is already a reality: The California State University system has committed $16.9 million to provide ChatGPT Edu to 460,000 students across its 23 campuses. But this massive investment misses a crucial opportunity to develop the strategic thinking capabilities that make students genuinely valuable in an AI-augmented workplace.

    The irony is striking. OpenAI helped to create the problem of students outsourcing critical thinking to chatbots, and now presents itself as the solution by making that outsourcing even more seamless. Recent research in Psychology Today found a negative correlation between frequent AI use and critical thinking abilities, particularly among younger users. When students delegate decision-making and problem-solving to AI, they bypass the very mental processes that build strategic capabilities.

    California State University’s investment in ChatGPT Edu is significant and potentially transformative. But spending almost $17 million on AI tools without a strategic framework is like buying students calculators without teaching them mathematics. The investment is sound; what’s missing is teaching students how to direct these powerful capabilities strategically rather than becoming dependent on them.

    Students in the CSU system already possess remarkable strategic thinking skills that traditional academic metrics don’t capture. Here are a few examples. Working multiple jobs while attending school requires sophisticated resource optimization. Supporting families demands stakeholder management and priority balancing. Navigating complex bureaucracies develops systems thinking. Translating between different cultural communities builds pattern recognition across domains.

    These aren’t just life experiences — they’re strategic capabilities that, when developed and articulated, become powerful career advantages in an AI-augmented workplace. The goal should be to help students recognize and leverage these skills, not replace them with chatbot dependency.

    European business schools are already proving that the strategy-focused approach works. At Essec Business School, outside of Paris, executive education programs focus on developing “strategically fluent leaders” who use AI as a strategic tool rather than a replacement for thinking. Students learn to maintain strategic direction while leveraging AI capabilities — exactly what CSU students need. When executives can apply strategic frameworks to AI integration, they don’t merely use the technology better; they direct it toward genuine business value.

    A recent University of Chicago Law School study found that even AI systems trained on specific course materials made “significant legal errors” that could be “harmful for learning.” This isn’t about AI’s current limitations; it’s about the fundamental difference between tactical execution and strategic judgment. AI excels at processing information within defined parameters, but strategic thinking requires the uniquely human ability to see patterns across domains, understand complex motivations, and envision new possibilities.

    The democratization of AI tools actually creates unprecedented opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds to translate their strategic insights into career success. But only if we teach strategic frameworks, not just tool usage.

    In my courses at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School — spanning advertising, social media, public relations and political communications — I’m developing approaches that emphasize strategic thinking alongside AI capabilities. Rather than just teaching AI literacy, I focus on helping students develop strategic frameworks for directing these tools effectively. The goal isn’t AI literacy — it’s strategic literacy enhanced by AI capabilities.

    Rather than criticizing CSU’s AI investment, we should help the system maximize its value. Imagine courses that help students identify their strategic thinking patterns from real-world experience, develop frameworks for human-AI collaboration, and practice directing AI capabilities toward strategic goals. Students would graduate not as AI users, but as strategic directors of AI — exactly what employers need, and exactly what justifies CSU’s significant investment.

    This isn’t about rejecting AI in education. It’s about ensuring that as AI handles tactical execution, we develop the strategic thinking capabilities that become more valuable, not less. CSU students bring strategic insights from lived experience that no chatbot can replicate. The question is whether we’ll help them recognize and develop these capabilities, or teach them to depend on tools instead.

    We don’t need AI-native universities. We need strategic-thinking native students who can direct AI capabilities toward human purposes. That’s the transformation worth investing in.

    •••

    Steve Caplan teaches strategic communications at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and is the author of “Strategy First: Thriving in the Face of Technological Disruption.”

    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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  • Trump freezes grant funding, upending school budgets

    Trump freezes grant funding, upending school budgets


    California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond speaks at a press conference Tuesday, July 1, 2025.

    Credit: Kindra Britt/California County Superintendents

    Top Takeaways
    • The Trump administration announced it would withhold $811 million in grant funding the day before the money was to be released.
    • The grants fund teacher training, migrant education, school enrichment courses, summer school and after-school programs, and support English learners.
    • California education leaders call the funding freeze a political move that hurts the neediest children.

    The Trump administration’s decision to withhold $811 million in grants to California schools is a political move that weaponizes federal funding, California education leaders said at a press conference Tuesday.

    California isn’t the only state in President Donald Trump’s crosshairs. The White House has frozen a total of $6.2 billion in grants that Congress allocated to support English learners, teacher training, after-school programs and migrant education in schools in every state.

    State departments of education were notified of the funding freeze in an email sent on Monday, just a day before the money was scheduled to be released to school districts. The 84-word message said that the federal grants weren’t “in accordance with the President’s priorities,” said California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond at the press conference.

    The president intends to withhold the funding approved in the 2024-25 federal budget while the grants are reviewed, according to Politico. In the meantime, Congress is set to approve a budget for 2025-26 that could eliminate the grants altogether or lump them into a block grant.

    “The president and his administration continue to pick on and bully those who are the least among us — students, those who rely on health care, those who rely on the federal government to have a chance at a great education and a great life,” said Thurmond, flanked by the leaders of various state education organizations. “And we won’t stand for it. It will not happen on our watch.”

    The loss of grant funding will impact students across the state, “in red and blue counties, in rural and urban areas,” said David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association.

    Among the programs at risk are Supporting Effective Instruction grants to improve the quality of the nation’s educators; 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which fund high school extended-learning programs; English language acquisition; migrant education; and Student Support and Academic Enrichment, which funds music, technology and other programs schools can not afford on their own. 

    Although the federal grant funds are only a small portion of the $8 billion in federal funding California receives for education, their sudden loss is a major disruption for school districts that have already budgeted funds for the upcoming school year.

    Freeze unravels school funding plans

    The U.S. Department of Education action will withhold $110 million from Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest school district, said Superintendent Alberto Carvalho on Tuesday.

    “The majority of funds are targeting student populations that have some degree of association with fragile communities, and certainly, immigrant communities,” Carvalho said. “And, all this is happening today, as summer school continues, and (we) have immigration enforcement actions around our schools, spreading fear and intimidation.”

    LAUSD serves the country’s largest population of immigrant children and English learners, including through federally funded programs like the Migrant Education Program, which provides additional support for children of migrant agricultural workers.

    LAUSD recently approved an $18.8 billion budget that includes state and federal funding for the upcoming school year. 

    “The vast majority of districts across the state have already approved budgets, and the (Trump) administration knows very well what they’re doing,” Carvalho said. “They’re creating a disruption to the orderly operation of school districts by imposing a potential reduction after the approval, which would force us to reopen the books.”

    Carvalho said the district has “the reserves necessary to fill the gap in the short term,” caused by the $110 million rescission, and will not make immediate reductions to personnel or programs.

    To prevent long-term cuts, he said the district will join the expected legal action by California Attorney General Rob Bonta in hopes of an injunction and the release of withheld funds. 

    Other districts, such as West Contra Costa Unified in the Bay Area, will have a more difficult time managing without the federal funds. The district was able to approve a balanced budget for the upcoming school year, but only by spending down its reserves, said board President Leslie Reckler.

    The district has relied on the funding provided by the grants for years for a range of services, Reckler said.

    The announcement comes as the district is still digesting the fallout from being informed by the U.S. Department of Education that a five-year $4.2 million federal grant it had been awarded to place mental health interns in several schools would be cut to only one year for $600,000. The department told the district that the grant was no longer “aligned with the current goals” of the administration.

    Migrant education at risk

    The Monterey County Office of Education operates several migrant education programs during the summer break. The programs are for students whose parent or guardian is a migratory worker in the agricultural, dairy, lumber or fishing industries and whose family has moved during the past three years for work.

    The programs include academic intervention programs and tutoring to help students catch up with English, math, or other subjects; health services; family literacy programs for parents and guardians; and exchange programs for teachers from Mexico to support students who travel back and forth between Mexico and the U.S.

    The Trump administration is withholding $121 million in grants for migrant education in California.

    Constantino Silva, senior director of migrant education in Monterey County, said the county superintendent has said these programs will continue through July, even if federal funding does not come through. The county will either use leftover funds from the previous fiscal year or pull them from another source. 

    After July, he does not know how long programs will continue without federal funding, although the outlook is not good, he said.

    State has 1 million English learners

    Withholding $158 million in grants for English language acquisition could have a huge impact on California K-12 schools where 1 in 3 students speak a language other than English at home, Goldberg said.

    Martha Hernandez, executive director of Californians Together, said the announcement that federal funding is being withheld for English language acquisition has districts scrambling to figure out how they will provide legally mandated services to English learners.

    Administrators are frantic about what they’re going to do, particularly about staffing, because state law requires school staff to be notified in March if they are going to be laid off, she said. 

    “So now, having to think about, with declining enrollment and budgets already being tight, how are they going to possibly retain staff that have been paid for out of Title III?” Hernandez said.

    Districts are still required under federal law to provide services to English learners to help them learn English and help them understand their classes, she said.

    “It’s just an unconscionable blow to districts. To cut it on July 1, when the funding was supposed to be disbursed, is just really cruel,” Hernandez said.

    Summer school, teacher training impacted

    Several of the frozen grants could impact over 10,000 after-school and summer programs serving 1.4 million students, said Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance. Many will have to close, leaving more children unsupervised.

    “Parents across the country are counting on these programs to support their kids this summer, this fall, and throughout the school year,” Grant said.

    The largest chunk of funding being frozen is $232 million from the Supporting Effective Instruction grant, which can be used to reform certification programs, support new teachers, provide additional training for existing teachers and principals, and reduce class size by hiring more teachers. 

    In February, the Department of Education threatened to withhold federal funding from schools and colleges that did not abandon “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs.

    Last month, Trump also threatened to withhold federal funding from states or schools that allow transgender students to play sports on teams that align with their gender identity. The state went to court seeking to have the funds restored and won. 

    But even after California won cases against the Trump administration, it has sometimes had trouble drawing down funds from the federal government.

    Thurmond said it may look for legal recourse again to restore the grant funding.

    “We are going to push back on these egregious overreaches by the federal government and what we’re calling an illegal impoundment of federal education dollars,” Thurmond said.

    In the meantime, David Schapira, chief of staff for Thurmond, recommended that school districts consult their legal counsel on how to proceed while the grants are in limbo and make individual decisions about what is best for their communities based on the information available.

    Education leaders at the press conference had strong words about Trump’s actions. The president is willing to punish students in states that refuse to conform to his political ideology, Schapira said.

    “The taxpayers entrusted their elected representatives in Congress to appropriate dollars that are meant to serve students across this country. Those should not be held hostage by the priorities of one person,” Schapira said.

    Lasherica Thorton and Louis Freedberg contributed to this report.





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  • Advocacy group leader talks about the challenges of transitional kindergarten

    Advocacy group leader talks about the challenges of transitional kindergarten


    Credit: Randall Benton / EdSource

    Michael Olenick has spent his life pondering the preschool years. His mother, a childhood development professor, was one of the first Head Start teachers back in the 1960s, so he started preschool at age 3.

    credit: CCRC

    In some ways, he has never left that space. Olenick, a lifelong advocate for children and families and president of the Child Care Resource Center, a California-based advocacy organization, has long been a champion of early childhood education, having seen its power to uplift lives firsthand. But he worries that the educational system often pits the needs of one age group of children against another. 

    For instance, he worries that the rollout of transitional kindergarten, or TK, not only has undermined the preschool sector by stealing away some of its 4-year-olds. He also notes that TK is poised to run into a number of speed bumps ahead, including a lack of facilities and the need for more child developmental training, as it reaches full implementation in the fall. 

    Olenick, who received his Ph.D. from UCLA in educational psychology and has shaped the field with influential research on the importance of quality child care, recently made time to chat about his passion for early education and what he sees as the key challenges facing TK.

    What fascinates you most about early ed?

    My mother said that I always liked kids because I always had to be there in her classrooms. To me, it’s the most hopeful period of time, the opportunity to change kids’ trajectories the most. It’s the most hopeful time in life.

    What are the biggest challenges in the expansion of TK? Do you worry about too much academic rigor, potty training incidents, the need for nap time?

    All of those issues. In the ’80s I evaluated hundreds of preschool programs and kept running into large numbers that were drilling children on colors, numbers and letters for inordinate amounts of time. Boys had a harder time with this than girls. In looking at teacher qualifications, I saw lots of certificated teachers who were doing the drilling. I realize that’s a long time ago, but I keep hearing from colleagues seeing the same thing now. That’s why we pushed for early childhood education units for TK teachers. The other issue that comes up is many schools are designed for children to go to the bathroom unescorted. Four-year-olds can get lost there.

    What do you think is the root source of the problem? A lack of understanding of child development, like the realities of potty training?

    I don’t think most current teachers understand early development. Over time, this may right itself if they get the education they need. But principals have to have the expectation that TK is not first grade. Also, teachers do not generally handle toileting issues, and schools are not designed for 4-year-olds.

    Is the academic pressure too high today? 

    I recently got an email from my first adviser at UCLA saying she went to half a dozen TK classrooms, and it looked like first grade. I wrote her back and I said, I told you so. We don’t have enough people yet that understand that kids learn differently. People learn at different rates, and we try to put them all into the same box and have them all learn stuff at the same time. Some of them are just not ready yet. You have to individualize instruction. 

    Why do you think the TK take-up rate has been more sluggish than expected?

    Some of the biggest challenges are in rural districts, where they can’t get a very large number to attend, and the lack of child-sized facilities, especially easily accessible bathrooms. Also, I don’t buy the part about this helping all lower-income children because their parents need a full-day, full-year solution, not just three hours. For families who have a predictable schedule, a 9-to-5 job, TK with aftercare probably works pretty well, but some families need more flexibility.

    Why are small ratios so important?

    There has always been the rationale for safety. But more recent literature focuses on individual interactions between adults and children, and the fewer children per adult increases interactions, learning and attachment.

    Why is play so key in TK?

    Play is so important. I’ve heard from several TK program directors who said it took their administrators five years to recognize that play was learning. It’s not just the teachers that need to be trained on what’s developmentally appropriate; it’s important for principals, too. You know, a principal comes into a classroom and expects to see that teacher up in front of that class teaching. So if you go in and you see all these kids are playing, you may not realize they are being taught. It’s all about how you structure things in the classroom because you can get the same results in a play environment. You don’t have to drill kids. 

    Do you think we focus on setting a solid preschool foundation too much when financial stability may be more important for families?

    It’s at least as important. We do a lot of work with families that are below the federal poverty line, the poorest of the poor. There are classrooms where there are kids who seem to be defiant. There was one kid who, it turns out, was deaf, and it took a long time to get him checked. He wasn’t being defiant; he just couldn’t read our lips. We have to work to give families what they need. 





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  • Building sustainable STEM pathways requires trust, collaboration 

    Building sustainable STEM pathways requires trust, collaboration 


    Bianca Alvarado debriefs the San Diego STEM Advisory Community Committee during a meeting at the Elementary Institute of Science.

    Credit: Courtesy Digital Promise

    In sunny San Diego, opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields are steering the city’s economic growth more than ever before — presenting a future bright with possibilities.

    Yet too many students are missing out on opportunities to access the STEM careers that advance the region’s prosperity. 

    According to San Diego’s 2030 Inclusive Growth Framework, 65% of low-income jobs in San Diego are “predominantly held by people of color.” In the technology, biotech and clean tech sectors, Hispanic and Latino communities are underrepresented, despite the projection that they will constitute nearly half of San Diego County’s future workforce. At the same time, talent scarcity has become a new normal in San Diego.

    But we can reverse those trends by investing in cross-sector partnerships and community-driven collaborations to help students access more opportunities in STEM fields.

    That’s why we launched the San Diego STEM Pathways initiative, which involves a wide range of community partners working to guide more than 100,000 students toward well-paying STEM careers in San Diego’s high-impact industries. This bold ambition reflects a statewide opportunity to align local innovation with California’s broader economic and impact goals.

    To bring everyone together, we engaged different industries through a collaborative design process that ultimately laid the groundwork for our efforts in the region. A 14-member committee of regional leaders representing early childhood education, K-12, postsecondary, workforce development, community-based organizations, and philanthropy reflected on why prior collaborations failed and identified some key factors missing. 

    To achieve our shared vision of building STEM pathways rooted in community co-design and shaped by the innovation and talent already present in the region, connection, trust and co-creation are essential. Our goal is to build upon existing efforts by fostering alignment across systems, thereby expanding access to opportunities for all students. Achieving meaningful collaboration also requires creating an environment where participants can openly address challenges.

    The cross-sector team devoted months to listening, learning and documenting insights. Key emerging themes included the need for: 

    • Clear communication and a deep understanding of partners’ motivations and aspirations.
    • Aligning efforts through early and ongoing conversations with community members, students, industry leaders and local partners to co-design well-rounded STEM pathways. 

    With support from Digital Promise through dedicated staff to help facilitate the advisory committee and track progress, we have created space to foster relationships and trust. (Digital Promise is a global nonprofit that works with educators, researchers, technology leaders, and communities to design, investigate, and scale up innovations that empower learners.)

    Building trust involves planning, consistency and taking actions that contribute to a larger goal. Demonstrating a long-term vision through smaller, incremental actions helps maintain momentum. Given that our advisers are high-level executives, flexibility and a collaborative space where their contributions are valued and not burdensome are crucial for their input to flourish. This requires ongoing nurturing, especially as we move toward a collective regional collaboration. 

    When communities feel seen, heard and valued, they become co-architects of change. They readily contribute when we engage with them on their terms and at their capacity, rather than expecting them to adapt to our requirements. By accommodating their needs and meeting them where they are — whether they are ready to collaborate, learn, stay informed, or actively participate — we uplift collaborators to become co-creators of change and engage at their desired level. 

    That’s how we’re building durable systems that truly reflect and serve the needs of all learners across the state of California. 

    Advisory members began developing their solution concept ideas earlier this year and are now moving toward launching a mini-pilot. Their innovative, community-driven concepts include: 

    • An effort to support preschool and elementary educators with real-world training that inspires young students in math and science and sets them on a path toward future success through partnerships with local colleges, experts and community partners.
    • A program that will work closely with students and families — especially those experiencing housing insecurity — to expand access to STEM through after-school activities, college visits and campus stays that build excitement and readiness for higher education.
    • A South Bay initiative that helps students grow their interest and confidence in STEM from middle school through college by combining hands-on learning, career exploration and local partnerships to prepare them for real-world success.
    • An easy-to-use online hub where families, educators and partners can find local STEM programs, support services, and ways to work together to create opportunities for all students.

    “Building Bridges: Cultivating Interconnectedness for STEM Pathways in San Diego,” a new report produced by the initiative, provides additional information about each of the concept ideas. 

    As this work continues to gain momentum, the path forward demands deeper engagement with those most impacted — parents, community members and local leaders. But authentic collaboration doesn’t begin with action plans; it begins with trust. As we continue to deepen our partnership, we are constantly reminded that investing in trust-building isn’t a detour from progress; it is progress.

    •••

    Bianca Alvarado is the director of the San Diego STEM Pathways Initiative at Digital Promise, where she spearheads a collaborative effort to ensure access to STEM education and career pathways in San Diego County.

    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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  • California retires RICA; new teacher test to focus on phonics

    California retires RICA; new teacher test to focus on phonics


    During small group reading instruction, AmeriCorps member Valerie Caballero reminds third graders in Porterville Unified to use their fingers to follow along as they read a passage.

    Credit: Lasherica Thornton/ EdSource

    Top Takeaways
    • On July 1, the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment will be replaced by a literacy performance assessment.
    • The licensure test puts a sharpened focus on foundational reading skills.
    • The new test is one of many new changes California leaders have made to improve literacy instruction.

    Next week, the unpopular teacher licensure test, the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment, will be officially retired and replaced with a literacy performance assessment to ensure educators are prepared to teach students to read.

    The Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (RICA) has been a major hurdle for teacher candidates for years. About a third of all the teacher candidates who took the test failed the first time, according to state data collected between 2012 and 2017.  Critics have also said that the test is outdated and has added to the state’s teacher shortage.

    The literacy performance assessment that replaces the RICA reflects an increased focus on foundational reading skills, including phonics. California, and many other states, are moving from teaching children to recognize words by sight to teaching them to decode words by sounding them out in an effort to boost literacy.

    Mandated by Senate Bill 488, the literacy assessment reflects new standards that include support for struggling readers, English learners and pupils with exceptional needs, incorporating the California Dyslexia Guidelines for the first time.

    “We believe the literacy TPA will help ensure that new teachers demonstrate a strong grasp of evidence-based literacy instruction — an essential step toward improving reading outcomes for California’s students,” said Marshall Tuck, CEO of EdVoice, a nonprofit education advocacy organization.

    Literacy test on schedule

    Erin Sullivan, director of the Professional Services Division of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, said the literacy performance assessment is ready for its July 1 launch.

    “We’ve been field-testing literacy performance assessments with, obviously, the multiple- and the single-subject candidates, but also the various specialist candidates, including visual impairment and deaf and hard of hearing,” Sullivan said. 

    California teacher candidates must pass one of three performance assessments approved by the commission before earning a preliminary credential: the California Teaching Performance Assessment (CalTPA), the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), or the Fresno Assessment of Student Teachers (FAST).

    A performance assessment allows teachers to demonstrate their competence by submitting evidence of their instructional practice through video clips and written reflections on their practice. 

    “It’s very different,” said Kathy Futterman, an adjunct professor in teacher education at California State University, East Bay. “The RICA is an online test that has multiple-choice questions, versus the LPA — the performance assessment — which has candidates design and create three to five lesson plans. Then, they have to videotape portions of those lesson plans, and then they have to analyze and reflect on how those lessons went.”

    Field tests went well

    This week, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing board is expected to hear a report on the field test results, approve the passing score standards for the literacy cycle of the performance assessment and formally adopt the new test.

    All but one of the 280 teacher candidates who took the new CalTPA literacy assessment during field testing passed, according to the report. Passing rates were lower on the FAST, with 51 of 59 passing on the first attempt, and on the edTPA with 192 of 242 passing.

     Cal State East Bay was one of the universities that piloted the test over the last two years. 

    “It’s more hands-on and obviously with real students, so in that regard I think it was very helpful,” Futterman said.

    State could offer flexibility

    Upcoming budget trailer bills are expected to offer some flexibility to teacher candidates who haven’t yet passed the RICA, Sullivan said. 

    The commission is asking state leaders to allow candidates who have passed the CalTPA and other required assessments, except the RICA, to be allowed to continue taking the test through October, when the state contract for the RICA expires, she said.

    “We are looking forward to putting RICA to bed and moving on to the literacy performance assessment, but … we don’t want to leave anybody stranded on RICA island,” Sullivan said.

    The commission has approved the Foundations of Reading examination as an alternative for a small group of teachers with special circumstances, including those who would have completed all credential requirements except the RICA by June 30, but the test may not be the best option for them, Sullivan said.

    “It’s just a very different exam,” Sullivan said. “It’s a national exam. And while the commission looked at it and said, ‘We think this will work for our California candidates,’ it’s not the best-case scenario. So, trying to get these folks to pass the RICA and giving them every opportunity to do that until really it just goes away, that’s kind of what we’re looking at.”

    The Foundations of Reading exam, by Pearson, is used by 13 other states. It assesses whether a teacher is proficient in literacy instruction, including developing phonics and decoding skills, as well as offering a strong literature, language and comprehension component with a balance of oral and written language, according to the commission’s website.

    Teacher candidates who were allowed to earn a preliminary credential without passing the RICA during the Covid-19 pandemic; teachers with single-subject credentials, who want to earn a multiple-subject credential; and educators who completed teacher preparation in another country and/or as a part of the Peace Corps are also eligible to take the Foundations of Reading examination.

    The Foundations of Reading test has been rated as strong by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

    State focus on phonics

    SB 488 was followed by a revision of the Literacy Standard and Teaching Performance Expectations for teachers, which outlined effective literacy instruction for students.

    California state leaders have recently taken additional steps to ensure foundational reading skills are being taught in classrooms. On June 5, Gov. Gavin Newsom confirmed that the state budget will include hundreds of millions of dollars to fund legislation needed to achieve a comprehensive statewide approach to early literacy.

    Assembly Bill 1454, which passed the Assembly with a unanimous 75-0 vote that same day, would move the state’s schools toward adopting evidence-based literacy instruction, also known as the science of reading or structured literacy. 





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  • California’s Education Code is smothering innovation

    California’s Education Code is smothering innovation


    Credit: Alison Yin / EdSource

    In 2008, when I served as a deputy superintendent at the California Department of Education, two district superintendents approached me with a simple ask: permission to innovate.

    They had a plan to partner on student improvement and needed clarity — not funding or new mandates, just flexibility to act. 
     
    They submitted a waiver request, believing state law blocked their approach. Three months later, the department’s legal review found they didn’t need a waiver after all. It turned out they had the authority to do everything they wanted to do. 
     
    That sounds like a win, but it’s the opposite. If it takes a team of state experts three months to determine what’s allowed, how are district leaders and classroom teachers supposed to navigate this system in real time? 
     
    Since then, California’s Education Code has only grown. It now exceeds 3,000 pages. What was once rigid has become nearly impenetrable, and the weight of that complexity falls squarely on educators and students. When every decision is shaped by compliance, teachers have less space to use their professional judgment or respond to student needs. School leaders spend countless hours managing regulatory requirements instead of building responsive, student-centered programs. We need a system that trusts educators to lead.

    This isn’t just an administrative issue. It’s a design flaw. Years and years of well-meaning regulations that may have made sense at the time, many of which I played a role in creating, have created a patchwork of incoherence, too often equating oversight with accountability. As Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson write in their book “Abundance,” government “needs to justify itself not through the rules it follows but through the outcomes it delivers.” Jennifer Pahlka drives the point home in her “Recoding America”: We’ve become better at writing rules than achieving outcomes. 

    And still, outcomes lag. California has one of the most complex education codes in the country, but that complexity hasn’t translated into better results. Interestingly, the states with the largest education codes aren’t the ones with the strongest student outcomes. Take Massachusetts. It consistently outperforms California on national benchmarks, yet it operates without a formal education code, relying instead on a set of general laws and streamlined regulations.

    Meanwhile, California’s code still includes Cold War-era relics like a ban on teaching communism “with the intent to indoctrinate” (§51530) and mandates around toilet paper stock in restrooms (§35292.5) and requirements that school plans include strategies for providing shade (§35294.6). These aren’t metaphors — they’re actual statutes. In trying to regulate everything, we’ve built a system that too often enables nothing. 

    This isn’t just about outdated rules — it’s about outdated infrastructure and governance. Over the last several decades, as California took on a greater role in funding and overseeing schools, it never fully built the governance system needed to support that shift. Instead of redesigning, we layered. To provide support for districts, we created the California Department of Education (CDE), then county offices, and then the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE). Each was created to fill a gap the last one couldn’t. None were really designed to work together. And now, we’re stuck with a 1950s-era structure trying to serve 21st century needs.  

    There’s a way forward. In the 1990s, while I was working in the Clinton administration, Congress faced a similar problem: Everyone agreed the U.S. had too many outdated military bases, but no member of Congress would vote to close their own. The solution was the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) — an independent, time-limited body created by Congress that recommended a package of closures back to Congress for an up-or-down vote. It worked. BRAC cut 21% of domestic bases, streamlined operations and is widely regarded as a major success. 
     
    California should create an Education Code Review Commission modeled on the BRAC approach. A diverse group of educators, parents, students, and experts would review the full code, incorporate best practices from research and other states, and recommend a new governance structure and streamlined replacement. The Legislature would retain authority but vote on the whole package rather than amending it piece by piece. 

    This isn’t about trimming at the margins. It’s a reset. One that gives educators clarity, restores professional trust, and builds a framework for student success. Governance is about choices. In trying to solve every societal problem — many of them important — California’s Education Code has lost sight of its core purpose: helping schools teach and students learn. 
     
    This is a call for coherence — not to abandon standards and accountability. Teachers and students deserve a system that encourages bold, thoughtful leadership — and California should deliver. 

    •••

    Rick Miller is a partner with Capitol Impact, a consulting firm that partners with educational institutions, governments and other entities to achieve meaningful impact in the social sector. He served as a deputy state superintendent at the California Department of Education from 2002-2010 and as the press secretary at the U.S. Department of Education from 1993-1998. 

    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.

    The first sentence was updated to correct the year mentioned. It was 2008, not 2015.





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  • How to help kids cope with ongoing ICE raids, deportations | Quick Guide

    How to help kids cope with ongoing ICE raids, deportations | Quick Guide


    Los estudiantes de Las Positas College en Livermore participaron en una huelga en el campus en protesta por las políticas de inmigración de la administración actual.

    Crédito: Ian Kapsalis/The Express

    Este artículo está disponible en Español. Léelo en español.

    Top Takeaways
    • Families should have truthful conversations with children to help process feelings related to ongoing immigration raids.
    • Students who are afraid to go outside due to encounters with immigration agents can use remote, free mental health services in California.
    • During the summer, unstructured routine, social isolation and increased social media use can exacerbate feelings of sadness and fear.

    With school out for the summer, some students may no longer have access to crucial support and services available during the academic school year, as fear and anxiety rise in their communities from ongoing immigration raids.

    California schools are still safe havens for students attending summer school, meaning federal immigration officers are prohibited from entering them and child care facilities without proper legal authorization. But fears remain unabated for both children of immigrants and their friends, as federal immigration agents in California continue to detain, arrest and deport residents, in what community members say has become an indefinite fixture of the Trump administration. 

    Research shows that students are six times more likely to access mental health care during the school year than in the summer months, and that the absence of school-based services often leads to worsening mental health for students during the summer.

    School social workers are unable to offer routine check-ins and on-campus counseling for students during the summer break, but families can take steps to support their child’s mental health and prepare for what experts are calling a child welfare and human rights crisis. 

    Talk through your child’s feelings

    During the summer, children are much more likely to internalize traumatic events like raids on social media or outside of school, often in isolation and lacking the safe environment of a classroom to talk through their feelings about the day’s news.  

    To help them feel safe, school counselors and child psychologists recommend that families have truthful, open conversations about sweeps, rather than trying to shield them. Ahmanise Sanati, a school social worker in Los Angeles who works with children from immigrant communities as well as those unhoused, said families should start by asking children: “What have you heard?” and “How are you feeling?” They should then validate their child’s feelings of confusion, anxiety, grief or concern in developmentally appropriate ways, she said. 

    Both young and older children should understand their family’s risk profile — whether a family member could realistically be detained or deported by ICE, or whether they can be exposed to ICE agents in public spaces, for example. Families should spare younger children graphic or unnecessary details and limit or schedule older children’s social media use, Sanati said. Parents can assure their children that they’ll be OK, but not by telling them, “don’t be afraid” — because fear is a natural reaction. 

    Sanati says parents should center a child’s feelings, regardless of age, and that when feelings are repressed or minimized, witnessing raids, detentions and deportations, especially in childhood, can exacerbate risks of long-term mental illness.

    “Children are already seeing masked individuals with weapons coming into the communities, tackling people and taking them away and putting them into vehicles,” Sanati said. “We have to acknowledge that some very scary things are happening in all of our communities — by lying about the magnitude of this, we may be risking our trust with our children in the future.” 

    Prepare for emergencies 

    If a loved one is at risk of being detained or deported, families should prepare and rehearse a step-by-step emergency plan with their child. 

    Students age 12 and over can role-play scenarios in which they might have to call for legal assistance or help build their legal defense, such as by taking pictures and recording names, badge numbers and descriptions of encounters with immigration agents, if possible. If a family member is detained by ICE, they should ensure other family members, including children, and emergency contacts have a copy of their A-Number, which is assigned to an undocumented person by the Department of Homeland Security, if they have one. Older children and family members should also know how to use the ICE detainee locator to find someone in custody. 

    “One way to validate a child who is afraid is by letting them know that their family will be ready for a worst-case scenario,” said Marta Melendez, a social worker with LAUSD. “If you don’t feel safe picking up groceries, for example, we have volunteers doing that for families. It’s OK for parents to feel afraid — that should not keep them from seeking support.”

    Create a child care plan

    Since children are spending more time at home and less time on protected school grounds during the summer, families should also create a child care plan in case a child is left unsupervised due to detention or deportation. 

    They can arrange for their child to be under the care of another trusted adult, such as a relative, family friend or neighbor, through a verbal agreement. Since this option is an informal arrangement, families should note that the chosen caregiver will not have legal authority to make medical or school-related decisions for their child. 

    Alternatively, families can have a trusted caregiver complete a Caregiver’s Authorization Affidavit, which would give them legal authority to make medical and school-related decisions on their child’s behalf. The CAA can only be used in California. It does not affect existing custody or parental rights. 

    Families can also have a state court appoint a guardian for their child, which, unlike a CAA, would grant the new guardian full legal and physical custody of the child. While guardianship does not terminate parental rights, it temporarily suspends them while the guardianship is in place. Families should seek legal counsel before considering this route.

    If a child is a U.S. citizen, they should have their passports with them. They should also have important medical documents on file, including a list of medical conditions and medications, when applicable. Importantly, families should walk children through their child care plan and assure them that they will be cared for. 

    If families are unable to create a child care plan in case of an emergency, or if they become unhoused, they can go to any school that is open during the summer and ask to speak with their Pupil Services and Attendance counselor. Even if a child is not enrolled in summer school or programming, they have a right to stay on campus if there is no other safe location for them to go. PSA counselors can help families find long-term care for their child if necessary. 

    Families can follow Informed Immigrant steps, which provide guidance on protecting children and how to explain an emergency plan to them. 

    Find remote mental health support for your child 

    Families with undocumented or legal status have become increasingly afraid of stepping out — even for doctor’s appointments.

    With the risks of seeking in-person care, combined with a lack of on-campus counseling during the summer, students can utilize various remote mental health services and asynchronous resources available for free. 

    BrightLife Kids, a part of California’s CalHOPE program, provides online behavioral health support through one-on-one coaching with licensed wellness coaches, educational and self-help tools and peer communities. Children age 0 to 12, parents and caregivers can use the program’s remote services to help kids manage worries, express feelings like sadness, anger and frustration, and learn resilience, problem-solving and communication. Coaching services are offered in both English and Spanish. Kids, parents or caregivers do not need to be U.S. citizens, nor do they have to have health insurance. Families can sign up on the BrightLife Kids website here.  

    Soluna, which is also a part of the CalHOPE program, offers free, confidential mental health support for people 13–25 years old in California. The app allows young Californians to select coaches based on 30 areas of focus, including anxiety, loneliness, substance misuse and demographic preferences such as ethnicity and gender. Users can also join peer support groups in carefully moderated, confidential environments. The app download is available on the Soluna website here. 

    School-based wellness centers often have year-round mental health intervention and support services available for students. Many offer psychiatric social workers who provide services like trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy and programs for children and families who have experienced adverse events or traumatic stress. A full list of wellness centers in California is available here. 

    Los Angeles Unified students and families can call 213-241-3840 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to get access to mental health services. Families can also directly refer their children to in-person or telehealth counseling through a referral form for the School Mental Health Clinics and Wellness Centers.  

    Practice healthy coping skills as a family 

    According to Melendez, families can prepare for scenarios like an ICE raid, detention or deportation by preemptively building their and their child’s mental health tool kit, similar to an emergency plan. Research shows that even basic mindfulness interventions can mitigate the short- and long-term negative effects of stress and trauma, and these techniques, when taught bilingually, are especially effective for populations such as the Latino community. 

    To start, Melendez recommends learning mindfulness practices such as box breathing, butterfly hug, guided meditation and positive affirmation, which are common techniques known to help children regulate their nervous system, cope with symptoms of anxiety or depression and perform better in school. Parents and caregivers should practice these techniques with their child to model calming rituals and build emotional resilience as a family unit, Melendez said. 

    “You should also prioritize something that is a positive outlet for the child,” Melendez said. “Whether they like to play sports, to write about their feelings, draw about their feelings, sing about their feelings, if they want to dance about their feelings — make sure that they have a way of processing all the emotions that they are experiencing.” 

    Data indicate a spike in both substance use and feelings of sadness among adolescents during the summer, which worsens in part due to unstructured routine, increased isolation and increased social media use. 

    To create a sense of normalcy for children, Melendez said families should do their best to maintain healthy routines and hobbies during the summer, especially those that promote social connection with their peers.





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