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  • Feds shutter California civil rights office: ‘The students are going to suffer’

    Feds shutter California civil rights office: ‘The students are going to suffer’


    Credit: Carlos Kosienski/Sipa via AP Images

    Este artículo está disponible en Español. Léelo en español.

    TOP TAKEAWAYS
    • The U.S. Department of Education announced that it is reducing its workforce by half, shutting seven of 12 regional branches of its Office for Civil Rights. 
    • California has over 700 pending cases with the Office for Civil Rights. The Trump administration has not provided details on what happens to cases handled by the shuttered regional office in San Francisco.
    • The administration said this dramatic slashing would be followed by “significant reorganization to better serve students, parents, educators and taxpayers.” 
    • Educators and civil rights advocates say that vulnerable students will not have recourse when schools violate their civil rights.

    The announcement of a large-scale effort to reduce the workforce of the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday — or nearly half of the agency’s staff — is raising concerns among California educators and advocates about the future of civil rights enforcement and funding for vulnerable students.

    About 1,300 federal workers will be placed on administrative leave as of March 21 or have accepted a voluntary resignation agreement, according to a news release by U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. 

    Seven of 12 regional offices that handle federal civil rights complaints were shuttered, including the Office for Civil Rights branch in San Francisco, which handles complaints filed in California. 

    “There is no federal presence enforcing civil rights in schools in California,” said Catherine Lhamon, the former assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education. “Our country and California will effectively see an end to a federal backstop of harm in schools.”

    While local and state governments provide the vast majority of funding and governance for TK-12 schools and higher education, the federal government handles key aspects of education in the U.S., including disbursing student loans and Pell Grants; funding programs for students with disabilities as well as schools serving low-income students; and overseeing national research that provides critical data for educators and policymakers.

    The U.S. Department of Education is also tasked with enforcing federal civil rights laws, authorized by Congress, through its Office for Civil Rights in order to protect students from discrimination. California alone has more than 700 pending complaints of civil rights violations.

    “I don’t know what is going to happen to those cases,” said an attorney who works in the San Francisco branch of the Office for Civil Rights. The attorney declined to be identified, citing concerns about retaliation for speaking out. “The students are going to suffer.”

    McMahon said in a statement that the reduction in force reflects a commitment to efficiency and accountability, and that the department will “continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview, including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking.”

    Some conservative groups, such as the Cato Institute, applauded the dramatic slashing of staff.

    “We don’t know how many people are actually needed to execute (the U.S. Department of Education) jobs, and it’s time to find out if it’s been a bloated bureaucracy all along,” said Neal McCluskey, director of Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom.

    But many educators and advocacy groups who work with students forcefully condemned the cuts.

    The Los Angeles Unified School District board passed a resolution Tuesday condemning the cuts to the U.S. Education Department, as well as cuts to other federal funding for school meals and Medicaid. Board member Kelly Gonez called on legislators to “push back against this radical and cruel agenda.”

    “The Trump administration and its allies in Congress are looking to decimate federal funding to schools, including cuts to school meals, MediCal, and education block grants,” Gonez said. “More threats are on the horizon due to Trump’s ongoing efforts to dismantle the Department of Education entirely. We will not stand by while this administration removes essential support for students.”

    ‘These are not minor issues’

    After a student with autism died after being restrained, Davis Joint Unified agreed to change its policies and training related to secluding and restraining students in 2022. That same year, Los Angeles Unified promised to address the concerns of disabled students who said they received little legally required special assistance during the height of the pandemic.

    These are just a few of the high-profile complaints that the Office for Civil Rights investigated and settled in California.

    “These are not minor issues,” said Lhamon, who was then the assistant secretary for civil rights.

    The Biden administration pleaded with Congress for additional funding to staff the Office for Civil Rights, which was facing a mushrooming caseload that reached an all-time high during his presidency, according to the Office for Civil Rights’ annual report. Now staff face the prospect of their caseload doubling from 50 cases per person to 100 cases — an “untenable” number, Lhamon said.

    The increase in cases, combined with an existing staffing shortage has likely created a backlog, extending the wait time for investigations to be completed and findings issued, said Megan Stanton-Trehan, a senior attorney at Disability Rights California who represents students with disabilities.

    “With increasing complaints and an idea that we want to increase efficiency, what we shouldn’t be doing is closing offices and decreasing the workforce, unless what we really want is to not enforce civil rights,” said Stanton-Trehan. 

    The federal government is sending the message that though students are required to attend school, there is no federal agency that will protect them from harm, Lhamon said.

    “That’s dangerous for democracy; it’s dangerous for schools,” she said.

    The U.S. Department of Education has not announced a plan for transferring cases from San Francisco or any other shuttered regional office.

    “We are in this work because we care, and we are compassionate,” said the San Francisco Office for Civil Rights attorney. “We are devastated for our students.”

    The Office for Civil Rights page listed 772 records of pending cases that the office is currently investigating in the state of California, though it does not include any cases filed after Jan. 3. Of those, 597 of the listed cases involved K-12 institutions, while another 175 involved post-secondary education. Many of the complaints — 388 pending cases — involve disability discrimination complaints.

    The cases date back to complaints filed in 2016 on a range of topics, including discrimination on the basis of national origin, religion and English learner status, as well as allegations of sexual violence, racial harassment and retaliation.

    Earlier this week, the Trump administration announced that it had sent letters to 60 universities to inform them that the Office for Civil Rights was investigating them for antisemitic discrimination. That list included Sacramento State, Chapman University, Pomona College, Santa Monica College, Stanford University, UC Davis, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and UC Berkeley.

    Ana Najera-Mendoza, director of education equity and senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Southern California, is concerned that these complaints may take precedence over others. Every complaint filed in the Office for Civil Rights deserves to be considered in good faith, she said.

    Stating that a reduction in force doesn’t equate to a reduction in the department’s responsibilities, Najera-Mendoza said, “No administration should elect to enforce some complaints over others to enforce a specific agenda.”





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  • Dietary restrictions? Here’s what to know about university dining halls | Quick Guide

    Dietary restrictions? Here’s what to know about university dining halls | Quick Guide


    A dining commons at University of California Davis

    Credit: Gregory Urquiaga / UC Davis

    From curriculum to location, there’s so much to weigh when choosing a college or university. 

    And for high school seniors or prospective transfers who have dietary restrictions — particularly for medical reasons, including food allergies and chronic conditions such as celiac disease — picking a school that can accommodate their dietary needs is critical. 

    Before May 1, the official day to commit, here’s what to ask about dining halls, kitchen access and beyond. 

    Who should I reach out to?

    The availability and range of options vary greatly from campus to campus, and the best way to get information is to ask the right people. 

    Reaching out to and scheduling an appointment with a campus dietitian nutritionist can be the easiest way to understand what options are available in the dining halls, and the extent to which the campus can guarantee safe options. 

    Some campuses have made extensive efforts. But others, like Cal Poly Humboldt and San Francisco State, can’t guarantee that meals can be made without cross-contamination. 

    “We understand how serious food allergies, celiac disease, and religious dietary needs can be, and we take those concerns to heart,” Todd Larsen, senior executive director for enterprise services at Cal Poly Humboldt, told EdSource. “While our kitchens are held to high safety and sanitation standards, they are not fully equipped to eliminate the risk of cross-contamination for individuals with severe dietary restrictions.”

    Sometimes, campuses will also allow you to speak with a chef before a student enrolls; the chef can help answer specific questions about how meals are prepared and what kinds of measures they can take to prevent cross-contamination. 

    It’s also worth reaching out to current students or campus organizations focused on certain dietary needs for their perspective on the availability and safety of foods. This can also be helpful if you’re exploring what kinds of kosher or halal options are available. 

    Beyond dining services, it’s worth speaking with campus housing officials about living arrangements that include access to a kitchen.  

    What options are available at dining halls?

    While dedicated kitchens are rare, many campuses throughout the state try to accommodate those with serious dietary needs — including labeling for top allergens and training for kitchen staff — but their approaches vary. 

    At some campuses, the options are more limited, with students being granted access to a common refrigerator stocked with frozen meals, whose labels students should read carefully before consuming. 

    UCLA, for example, takes such an approach, granting students with celiac disease, wheat allergies or gluten intolerance access to rooms with their own microwave, refrigerator, freezer, toaster and gluten-free meals. 

    Other campuses, like Sacramento State, have a dedicated station at a dining hall that features only allergen-free/friendly options or will allow students to work directly with an individual chef. And some, including UC Davis’s Dietary Support Program, grant students opportunities to order customized meals that are “prepared in a separate area, on separate equipment and by staff who have been trained on the dangers of cross-contact,” according to Emily Ortega, a registered dietitian nutritionist with the UC Davis Dining Services nutrition programs. 

    And if a student isn’t sure if something served in the dining halls is safe, or looks like it could be improperly labeled, it is important to check with the chef and inform the campus nutritionist. 

    Some campuses, like UC Merced, allow students to forgo their dining plan if the university cannot meet their needs. They may use a process that campus spokesperson Alyssa Flores Johansen says “involves multiple conversations, medical certification, and coordination with several campus stakeholders.” 

    What about access to a kitchen?

    In addition to talking with the college or university’s dining program, it’s also important to contact housing to see what accommodations are provided. 

    For example, if a student needs access to an allergen station in a single dining hall, housing officials can sometimes place them in a dorm that’s closer. 

    At some campuses, like Cal State East Bay, all student housing includes a kitchenette. But that’s often not the norm, and housing officials can help explore options that include kitchen access, whether it’s living on the same floor as a communal kitchen where students can cook with their own pots and pans, or being assigned to an on-campus apartment. 

    On a smaller scale, within an individual dorm, it’s sometimes possible to request a separate refrigerator or microwave to help limit cross-contamination. 

    Think beyond the school year

    It’s a good idea to jump on housing accommodations as soon as possible, and make sure a student’s needs will be met at dining halls from their first day of residency. 

    Ask about the hours of any dedicated station, what is provided during orientation, and what options are available during breaks.





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  • Thousands of California educators issued pink slips again this year

    Thousands of California educators issued pink slips again this year


    San Diego Unified teachers attend a school board meeting to protest pink slips last school year.

    San Diego Unified teachers protest pink slips before a school board meeting last year. The district plans to issue 30 preliminary layoff notices this year.

    Courtesy of San Diego Education Association

    San Francisco Unified announced the evening of March 13 that it will not lay off classroom teachers.

    California school districts are again turning to layoffs to shore up budgets shrunk by declining enrollment, expiring federal Covid relief funds and a leveling off of state funding. So far, more than 2,300 school employees have received preliminary layoff notices, and the number is expected to grow.

    More than 2,000 of the pink slips have gone to credentialed school staff — primarily teachers, school nurses and librarians, according to the California Teachers Association, which represents 300,000 school employees.

    State law requires that districts send pink slips by March 15 each year to any employee who could be laid off by the end of the school year. Although many of the layoff notices are withdrawn by May 15 — the last day final layoff notices can be given to tenured teachers — the annual practice is criticized by many for demoralizing school staff and causing disruption to school systems.

    “Layoffs are devastating and chaotic to our school communities and harm student learning conditions,” said CTA President David Goldberg. “This is even happening in communities like Pasadena, where educators and students lost their homes in wildfires. Our union will not stand by. We will demand that every single one of these notices is rescinded in the coming weeks.” 

    Pasadena Unified has issued 117 preliminary layoff notices, including 115 to credentialed staff.

    Districts tried to avoid large layoffs

    Some districts tried to avoid large-scale layoffs by considering other options, including early retirement incentives. San Francisco gave buyouts to 300 veteran teachers and other staff, and Santa Ana Unified gave that option to 166 teachers, but ultimately both districts are still laying off staff.

    In fact, the two districts have issued the largest number of pink slips in the state so far, according to CTA data. San Francisco Unified notified 395 teachers of potential layoffs and Santa Ana Unified sent pink slips to 351 teachers, according to the CTA. Santa Ana Unified Chief Business Officer Ron Hacker says that number has since been reduced to 280.

    San Francisco Unified, the state’s sixth-largest school district, has been struggling to close a $113 million deficit that helped put it on the list of the state’s most financially strapped districts. The district has also sent preliminary layoff notices to 164 teachers’ aides, and to 278 administrators and other staff. 

    Santa Ana Unified is attempting to reduce a $180 million structural deficit, but it also needs to reduce staff, Hacker said. In 2018, the school board decided not to pursue layoffs despite overstaffing and a structural deficit. The overstaffing problem continued through Covid when funding was tied to a state stipulation that districts can’t lay off employees, he said.

    “The Covid relief grant funds are no longer flowing, and they’re expired, so we’re at the point now where we can’t sustain the counseling ratios and the class sizes that we have,” Hacker said.

    The district also plans to make cuts to supplies, services and capital outlay to help balance the budget, Hacker said in an interview last month.

    “That being said, 80% of our budget is salary and benefits, so the only way to tackle that entire structural deficit is to include positions too,” he said.

    Most districts overstaffed

    Some school districts avoided making staffing cuts despite declining enrollment, said Michael Fine, chief executive director of the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team.

     “I think if you were to look at some statewide data on staffing versus enrollment, you’d see that almost everybody’s overstaffed in some fashion, at least on the certificated side, which is where we see that data,” Fine said. 

    Data on support staff, also known as classified staff, is not being collected by the state, he said.

    District offered early warning bonuses

    Santa Rosa Elementary School District and San Ramon Unified issued more than 100 pink slips to teachers and other credentialed staff in recent months, with the districts sending out 151 and 129 pink slips respectively, according to the CTA list.

    Santa Rosa City Schools is trying to trim its budget by $30 million to reduce a structural deficit. The district, which operates 24 schools, has lost 3,000 students over the last decade.

    Instead of offering an early retirement incentive, which wouldn’t save money for the district, Santa Rosa Unified gave employees bonuses if they gave advance notice that they wouldn’t be working at the district next school year, said Lisa August, associate superintendent of business services. Employees who gave notice by Jan. 31 received a $1,000 bonus, $750 if they gave notice by Feb. 15, and $500 if by Feb. 28.

    The CTA list does not include many districts still in the process of issuing layoff notices, or whose unions did not report their numbers. Among them is Berkeley Unified, whose school board voted last week to notify 180 employees, 10 of whom are teachers, that they could lose their jobs, according to Berkeleyside.

    Oakland Unified, which is on the state’s list of most financially strapped districts, also plans to issue 97 pink slips to teachers and central office staff, according to district information. And, Oxnard Union School district projects it will issue 91 pink slips to school staff, including 41 teachers and counselors, according to the Ventura County Star.

    Layoffs can make recruitment harder

    Layoffs can hurt teacher recruitment and make it more difficult to find teachers for hard-to-fill positions teaching special education, science, math, special education and English learners. 

    Teacher layoffs during the Great Recession, between 2007 and 2009, are widely considered to be one of the causes of the current teacher shortage because they discouraged people from entering teacher preparation programs. In recent years, enrollment in teacher preparation programs in the state has declined.

    It’s unclear how many teachers will actually be laid off before next school year, as many pink slips are rescinded after district officials review credentials, expected retirements and projected enrollment numbers at school sites, and hearings with an administrative law judge are held to determine who stays and who goes.

    The annual process can be nerve-wracking for teachers, especially those at the bottom of the seniority list, who could be issued pink slips in consecutive years.

    “More than 2,000 educators have received a notice that they may not have a job next year, and tragically, that number increases each day,” Goldberg said. “These are the people who show up every day to teach and care for students in public schools across California — teachers, school counselors, social workers, instructional aides, custodians, and more. 

    “At a time when our students deserve a stable learning environment, smaller class sizes, and more mental health support, it is unconscionable to even think about laying off public school educators,” Goldberg said.





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  • Moments that defined Covid-19’s impact on education in California

    Moments that defined Covid-19’s impact on education in California





  • California Department of Education and California Department of Public
    Health issue

    joint guidance
    on the coronavirus to school districts.



  • Colleges in California and nationally

    move to
    online instruction in response to the coronavirus. The California
    Department of Education

    receives
    a USDA waiver that enables districts to feed students during
    coronavirus-related closures.



  • Newsom signs

    executive order
    assuring closed schools remain funded as schools throughout the state

    announce     closures and distance learning

    begins    .



  • State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond

    advises districts
    to plan for providing distance learning through the end of the school
    year.







  • Colleges

    begin to announce
    plans not to resume classes in person. CSU, UC later
    announce
    decision to keep most fall classes online.



  • EdSource analysis
    shows wide disparities in how much school districts will receive
    through federal CARES Act.





  • Newsom projects a $54 billion deficit and $19 billion less in
    Proposition 98 funding over two years for schools and community
    colleges. Proposed budget

    slashes     funding for preschool and child care plans, teacher development
    programs.





  • Superintendents of urban California districts pen
    open letter to lawmakers saying proposed budget cuts will
    set back restarting school.



  • In historic action, UC

    moves to drop
    SAT/ACT and develop a replacement exam for admissions.





  • College graduates forced to abandon the traditional celebrations and
    ceremonies associated with graduation
    turn to
    families or even video games to mark their accomplishments.



  • In Los Angeles,
    Oakland, West Contra Costa County
    , Sacramento and San Francisco, K-12 officials
    reconsider
    whether police should be in schools and activists urge for their
    removal in the wake of the George Floyd killing.







  • A spike in Covid-19 cases
    prompts
    more districts to plan for online education for the beginning of the
    2020-2021 school year.



  • State
    imposes
    strict regulations for school opening and closing based on counties on
    state’s monitoring list. Establishes
    waiver process
    to allow some elementary schools to reopen.



  • In response to new regulations, many school districts
    abandon plans
    for fall hybrid learning and in-person classes.



  • Los Angeles Unified
    reaches deal
    with teachers over distance learning while other districts struggle to
    finalize plans.



  • State health officials release first health and safety
    guidance
    for how colleges and universities can reopen, but most classes must be
    offered remotely and have other restrictions in place.



  • State-issued
    guidance
    permitting limited openings will apply to districts in counties on the
    coronavirus watch list, where schools are shut down, followed by
    guidance
    allowing small cohorts of 14 students and two adults for special
    education, homeless and foster students.



  • Los Angeles Unified announces
    plan
    to offer coronavirus testing to all students, staff.
    Power outages
    due to a heat wave hit California as school resumes virtually across
    the state.



  • Almost all colleges and universities
    open
    with few in-person classes, but dorms still house students and some
    campuses plan for testing and contact tracing.



  • Newsom
    introduces
    four-tiered color coded county tracking system to replace the previous
    monitoring list for counties. The “Blueprint for a Safer Economy”
    tracks counties by the number of Covid-19 cases recorded each day and
    the percentage of positive cases out of the total number of tests
    administered, both averaged over seven days. The system has had a
    major impact on a school’s ability to reopen for in-person
    instruction.



  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture

    reverses

    earlier plans, allows schools to continue offering free grab-and-go
    meals to any student, regardless of eligibility, as they did over the
    summer.



  • Lucerne Valley Elementary in San Bernardino County is one of the first
    public schools in the state to get approval to

    reopen

    under state’s waiver program.



  • California community colleges see

    drops

    in fall enrollment with some showing double-digit losses.



  • UCLA researchers announce

    research

    showing big jump in homeless students.



  • “Leading school superintendents

    call on Newsom

    to impose a “common standard” for reopening schools in California.”



  • Joe Biden is elected 46th president of the United States, with
    arguably the most ambitious education agenda of any president.
    California voters

    reject

    Proposition 16 to restore affirmative action as well as

    Proposition 15

    to raise commercial property taxes denying schools more revenue from
    this source in the future.



  • As Newsom “sounds the alarm,”

    pandemic surge

    puts 28 more counties in the “purple” tier, putting opening of regular
    classrooms on hold for millions of California students.




  • Impatient with Newsom’s policies on school reopening, California
    Assembly leaders

    press

    for all districts to resume in-school teaching in the spring.



  • Congress

    approves

    $900 billion Covid-19 relief package, including $82 billion for K-12
    and colleges, plus $22 billion for Covid-19 testing that could help to
    reopen schools. Of the $82 billion, $6.5 billion went to California
    for K-12 schools.



  • Newsom announces

    “Safe Schools For All” plan

    , which allowed in-person instruction in counties in “purple” tier
    with daily case rate of less than 25, and a $2 billion

    incentive program

    to bring back in-person instruction for elementary grades and students
    with special needs in prioritized categories by mid-February.



  • Supporters of former President Donald Trump storm the United States
    Capitol in a riot. California educators

    condemn and reflect

    on what many call an “insurrection.”



  • Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes a new state budget increasing funding to
    California colleges to stabilize tuition rates, provide emergency aid,
    and “re-engage” students who have dropped out due to the Covid-19
    pandemic. The budget also proposes $4.6 billion for summer school
    programs.



  • Teachers and other school employees in Mariposa County are among the
    first in the state to be vaccinated against Covid-19.


  • West Contra Costa Unified

    announces plans

    to create a permanent, virtual K-12 academy, citing concerns about the
    pandemic’s impact.



  • Newsom announces the creation of Safe Schools for All Hub, a site
    providing resources to school districts regarding California’s Covid-19
    strategies.


  • Covid-19 death toll passes 400,000 in the U.S., CDC announces.



  • In a news conference, Newsom announces streamlined vaccination efforts,
    including an age-based eligibility system and putting teachers high on
    the state’s priority vaccination list.



  • The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing extends a waiver
    allowing those in preparation programs to continue teaching as they
    finish their credentials, the latest move to combat a teacher shortage
    during the pandemic.



  • Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. surpasses 500,000, CDC announces.



  • The Biden administration confirms all schools must resume annual
    standardized testing, with modifications to protect against Covid. The
    requirement had been suspended in March 2020.



  • The California Department of Public Health reports that infection rates
    have fallen significantly, allowing many elementary schools to begin
    reopening.



  • The California Legislature approves a plan providing $2 billion in
    incentives for districts that reopen for in-person learning beginning
    April 1, starting with the earliest grades first.



  • President Joe Biden signs the $2 trillion

    American Rescue Plan

    allocating about $15 billion to K-12 schools in California to combat the
    pandemic and related recession.



  • One-year anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring
    Covid-19 a global pandemic.



  • The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updates
    guidelines on distancing in schools in elementary schools. Elementary
    schoolers can safely distance from 3 feet, while middle and high schools
    should maintain a distance of 6 feet.



  • U.S. Department of Education announces California is behind on returning
    to in-person instruction.



  • CDC announces that about 80% of K-12 staff, teachers, staff and child
    care workers have received at least their first dose of the Covid
    vaccine.



  • Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second-largest school
    district in the nation,

    reopens for in-person learning

    after facing lawsuits and criticism from a group of parents for not
    reopening sooner.



  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture announces that it will continue
    reimbursing schools and child care centers for free meals, a move
    serving food insecure families during the pandemic.



  • The University of California system announces it will no longer consider
    SAT or ACT scores in scholarship or admissions decisions.



  • California announces a plan to spend $6 billion to expand broadband
    internet access to thousands of students underserved by private internet
    service providers during distance learning.



  • State rescinds mandate requiring schools to send home children who
    refuse to wear a mask, announcing that it will allow schools to decide
    what to do.



  • The University of California system announces that it will require
    students, faculty and staff to show proof of vaccination against Covid.



  • The California State University System announces that all faculty,
    students and staff will be required to show proof of vaccination.



  • CDC updates masking guidance, recommending masking indoors and in high
    transmission areas, amid a surge in the Covid virus’s new delta variant.



  • Several California community colleges, including ones in the Los Angeles
    Community College District and Los Rios Community College District,
    implement vaccine mandates amid surging cases.



  • California becomes the first state in the nation to

    require school staff

    to be vaccinated against Covid or undergo weekly testing.



  • Culver City Unified, in west Los Angeles, announces that it will require
    all students to be vaccinated against and undergo weekly testing,
    becoming the first school district in California to do so.



  • Several rural districts in California close schools, following an
    increase in cases of the delta variant of Covid-19.



  • The Los Angeles Unified school board votes to require all students 12
    and older to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, becoming the largest
    public school district to do so.



  • The chancellor of the California Community College system announces
    student enrollment has dropped below 2 million students for the first
    time in over 30 years due to the pandemic.



  • A judge rules that California students with disabilities can resume
    independent study after Assembly Bill 130 was passed, requiring all
    schools to provide in-person classes. The bill made an exception for
    those who qualified for independent study, but shut out several students
    who had various disabilities preventing them from wearing a mask or
    making them susceptible to Covid.



  • The UC system announces it will stick with test-free admissions and will
    not replace the SAT and ACT with a new exam.


  • CDC announces the death toll in the U.S. has surpassed 800,000.



  • Several school districts, including Los Angeles Unified and West Contra
    Costa Unified, announce plans to delay vaccine mandate deadlines.



  • CDC updates quarantine and isolation guidelines, and California
    announces the state will follow them.



  • CDC reports 1 million active Covid cases in the U.S, the highest daily
    total of any country.



  • About 900 teachers and aides stage a “sickout” to protest the lack of
    Covid-19 protections in San Francisco public schools in the midst of a
    surge of cases.



  • Gov. Gavin Newsom announces that funding for schools and community
    colleges will increase to over $100 million in the midst of a pandemic
    affecting state revenue.



  • Newsom signs an executive order loosening state regulations for
    substitute teachers to combat staffing shortages.


  • Following a

    “sickout”

    protest by several teachers at a West Contra Costa Unified middle
    school, over half of Stege Elementary school’s teachers call out to
    protest Covid-19 policies.



  • Oakland-based research group Children Now releases report card detailing
    the effects of the pandemic, wildfires and racial injustice on
    children’s education and mental health.



  • Several CSU and UC campuses suspend in-person classes following a surge
    of cases.



  • San Diego State University sees a record number of fall 2022 applicants,
    indicating a bounce back to pre-pandemic levels.



  • The chancellor of the CSU system announces tuition will not increase for
    the 2022-23 school year as many students continue to face financial
    struggles due to the pandemic.



  • A panel for the CSU system recommends eliminating SAT and ACT exams for
    admission, following several colleges across the nation during the
    pandemic.



  • EdSource reports that graduation rates held steady during the pandemic.



  • CDC issues new rating system allowing most students in K-12 schools to
    remove masks indoors.




  • Covid-19 deaths worldwide surpass 6 million.



  • Two year anniversary of when the World Health Organization declared the
    coronavirus a global pandemic.



  • California ends school mask mandate.



  • President Joe Biden proposes $88.3 billion dollars in new discretionary
    funds for American colleges, a 16% increase from the previous year.


  • Almost 1 million Covid deaths have been reported in the U.S.



  • The National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers announces
    state-based preschool programs suffered from massive pandemic-related
    losses, including enrollment decline and loss of state funding.



  • Biden and the Department of Education announce an extension of the
    student loan payment pause until Aug. 31. The pandemic-era policy
    assisted millions of borrowers nationwide.



  • College students introduce a bill to add a 24-hour mental health hotline
    number on student ID cards due to the growing mental health crisis
    associated with the pandemic and other social justice issues.


  • U.S. Covid deaths top 1 million.



  • Newsom announces a revised state budget allocating $128 billion to
    schools and community colleges in the state, $20 billion more than
    initially proposed. The new budget is slated to provide $3.3 billion for
    districts affected by inconsistent attendance due to new Covid variants.



  • The Public Policy Institute of California reveals that science
    instruction decreased in K-12 schools across the state during the
    pandemic. More than 200 districts were surveyed, citing teacher burnout
    related to the pandemic and a lack of funding for science, technology,
    engineering and math programs.



  • California to provide free lunch to all K-12 students, expanding on the
    USDA’s pandemic-era universal meal program.



  • Several public universities and colleges begin in-person instructions
    with few Covid restrictions.





  • As educators worry about the pandemic’s effect on students, the state
    Department of Education announces it will delay release of standardized
    test scores from the previous year, prompting a public outcry.



  • California Department of Education

    announces it will release

    standardized test scores projected to show declines related to global
    pandemic. This is a contrast from the initial announcement indicating a
    delay.



  • EdSource reports that California students have performed significantly
    worse on state standardized states, highlighting another one of the
    pandemic’s impacts on education.



  • CSU board of trustees abandons a plan to require a fourth year of math
    for admission, citing pandemic-related concerns.





  • Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes a budget decrease for California Community
    Colleges and K-12 schools, while continuing to allocate funding for
    “learning recovery from Covid.”



  • Officials from the Department of Public Health announce plans to end the
    Covid vaccine mandate for school children.



  • Several elementary schools in Marin County institute a temporary mask
    mandate following an uptick in cases.



  • CDC adds Covid-19 vaccine to recommended immunization schedule for
    children ages 6-17.



  • CalFresh announces it will end two temporary exceptions allowing more
    students to qualify for CalFresh during the pandemic.



  • Despite hopes of return to a “pre-pandemic normalcy,” state data reports
    a decline in TK-12 enrollment.



  • Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers,
    testifies in front of Congress regarding Covid-related closures at
    schools.



  • World Health Organization announces that Covid-19 is no longer
    considered a global pandemic.



  • CalMatters reports that the Golden State Education and Training Grant
    Program, which allows those affected by job loss due to Covid to enroll
    in a college program, is set to end by June 15 in order to combat
    ongoing budget deficit.



  • School officials and union leaders for Los Angeles Unified reach
    agreement to extend winter breaks. If ratified, the measure will extend
    the school year in hopes of combating Covid-related learning loss.



  • State Legislature mandates a change in literacy standards, hoping to
    combat reading loss.



  • In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rules President Joe Biden
    lacked the authority to implement a plan erasing $400 billion in college
    student debt, leaving millions of people affected by financial woes
    during the pandemic in a limbo.



  • The Legislature announces two bills to combat a teacher shortage
    exacerbated by the pandemic, including one set to pay student teachers
    for their required 600 hours of instruction.


  • The state Department of Education

    plans to sue Stanford researchers

    to prevent them from testifying in a suit alleging that the state failed
    to prevent learning loss for low-income and other high-risk groups. Some
    professors from the university planned to testify regarding the effects
    of the pandemic on chronic absenteeism and student engagement/enrollment
    measures.



  • Reversing course, the department announces it will not pursue a lawsuit
    against the Stanford researchers.



  • Chancellor for California Community Colleges announces enrollment has
    increased, bouncing back after years of pandemic-related declines.



  • Los Angeles Unified School District announces it will no longer require
    employees be vaccinated against the coronavirus. The mandate was under
    controversy as many claimed it was discriminatory.



  • CAASPP Smarter Balanced assessments reveal that districts have done
    little to reverse learning loss due to the pandemic. The learning loss
    disproportionately affected Black, Latino and economically disadvantaged
    students.



  • Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes a rainy day fund to protect California
    colleges from expected budget shortfalls.



  • Los Angeles Unified loosens Covid restrictions, allowing children and
    school to return to school if symptoms are mild.



  • A study published by the New England Journal of Medicine finds that long
    Covid will have lasting effects on IQ levels and cognitive ability of
    schoolchildren.



  • California Community Colleges reports that the system has lost more than
    $5 million due to fraudulent registrations, a trend that has seen an
    increase since the pandemic.



  • Trump-appointed judge in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules
    that Los Angeles Unified employees can sue the district over expired
    Covid policies. The suit had been thrown out by a lower court as the
    rules were no longer in effect.



  • The New York Times reports that $190 billion given to schools to help
    students recover from pandemic-related learning loss did little to
    improve test scores.



  • Toddlers and babies born during the pandemic suffered from significant
    developmental delays due to its effects, the New York Times reports.



  • Los Angeles Unified superintendent announces that the district has
    recovered from some learning loss during the pandemic, with reading
    scores showing English proficiency increasing from 41% to 43%. Math
    scores also rose by 2 percentage points.



  • Study by Northwest Evaluation Association reports that a significant
    number of eighth graders are approximately a year behind in learning
    progress due to the pandemic.



  • EdWeek reports that district administrators have until Sept. 30 to claim
    share of Covid-related federal aid set aside to assist homeless
    students.



  • CSU system announces 461,000 enrolled students, the largest number since
    the beginning of the pandemic.



  • State data indicates improving scores on standardized tests, but not to
    pre-pandemic levels. Government officials say the scores show that
    districts are making up for learning loss.



  • The Center on Reinventing Public Education gives California a D grade on
    its reporting of the effects of Covid on students.



  • EdSource reports that several schools and colleges around California
    will receive over $45 billion in bonds for construction in a “post-Covid
    vote of confidence.”



  • West Contra Costa district announces it will cut several administrative
    and staff positions due to a budget deficit, citing declining enrollment
    and expiration of Covid-relief grants as causes.





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  • It’s time to prioritize our youngest Californians

    It’s time to prioritize our youngest Californians


    Credit: Courtesy of Kidango

    California is home to more than 1.7 million children under the age of 3 — our future doctors, teachers, engineers, and leaders. These youngest Californians represent about 4% of our state’s population and are from diverse backgrounds, with nearly 60% speaking a language other than English at home. Yet, for too long, they have been left behind in policy discussions and funding decisions.

    The science is clear: 80% of brain growth happens by the age of 3, laying the foundation for a child’s cognitive, social, and emotional development. Every moment in which we do not invest in babies’ development is a critical missed opportunity to lay the foundation for our future.

    That’s why babies urgently need high-quality, affordable early learning and care from birth. Unfortunately, for many families, this is either too expensive or unavailable, forcing parents into impossible choices between their careers and raising their children.

    This dire shortage of care options affects more than just parents. When families can’t find high-quality, affordable care, the ripple effects are felt across workplaces, classrooms, and communities. Parents — and, in most cases, mothers — are often forced to leave the workforce, creating financial instability for their families, reducing career opportunities for women and decreasing the overall productivity in our economy.

    To expand access and make early learning and care available to all of California’s children, our educators and caregivers need our support. These professionals, the majority of whom are women of color, are among the lowest-paid workers in the state. This chronic underinvestment has pushed many of them to leave the field, worsening an already extreme shortage of care.

    We must expand the workforce because, while 36% of infants and toddlers qualify for subsidized care, only 14% have access to a space. But California — which has led the nation in taking bold action by creating access to universal preschool through the expansion of Transitional Kindergarten (TK) for all 4-year-old children and expanding access to state preschool to 3-year-olds — can close this gap. 

    It’s time to put solutions into action. Scaling successful models across early learning and care settings means expanding proven, high-quality programs to reach more children, especially those who live in communities that are under-resourced. By adapting these models to child care programs of all sizes — from home-based providers to large early learning centers — we can ensure more children have access to the education and support they need to thrive.

    Here’s how we can act now:

    • Continue to support reforms to child care reimbursement rates to reflect the true cost of care. The goal is to develop policies to give caregivers a just and livable wage. 
    • The Legislature and governor should move ahead with their plans to expand child care access to thousands more children of working-class families through the commitment to funding 200,000 new subsidized child care slots by the 2027-28 state budget, but they should target this access to infants and toddlers, because that is what families need the most.
    • We must remove the roadblocks to opening new child care centers and home-based providers, such as: allowing new early learning and care teachers to obtain their required college courses while working, as well as speeding up the time it takes for state child care licensing to approve new facilities, as we are currently advocating for at the legislative level. 

    Let’s Do This, Together

    By listening to families; supporting early learning educators and providers; and working collaboratively with our governor, the Legislature, state leaders, and our partners, we can build a system that works for everyone. The future of our state depends on the decisions we make today.

    Our babies can’t wait. Let’s act now to ensure they get the support they need to thrive.

    •••

    Patricia Lozano is the executive director of Early Edge California, a nonprofit organization that advocates for accessible, high-quality early learning and care for communities that are under-resourced, with a primary focus on babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.
    Scott Moore is the CEO of Kidango, a leading early childhood non-profit that serves thousands of low-income children and families.

    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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  • Scenes of loss – and resilience – at a Cal State campus facing drastic cuts

    Scenes of loss – and resilience – at a Cal State campus facing drastic cuts


    The Sonoma State University men’s soccer team practices in the rain recently on the campus in Rohnert Park. Division II sports are on the chopping block to save money.

    Credit: Amy DiPierro / EdSource

    On the soccer pitch, in the physics classroom and in the office of a trusted professor, students at Sonoma State University are confronting a demoralizing challenge: What happens if my program gets cut? 

    The Rohnert Park campus, 50 miles north of San Francisco, has announced a contentious proposal to close a $24 million budget deficit by nixing six academic departments entirely, eliminating about two dozen major degree programs and cutting all NCAA Division II sports, among other measures.

    Sonoma State’s experience is the most dire example of the cost reductions at many of the 23 Cal State campuses, which in total serve more than 450,000 students around the state. The university system’s leaders say cuts are prompted by an anticipated decrease in state funding, rising costs and, on some campuses, slumping enrollment figures. The number of students at Sonoma State has plunged dramatically, from 9,400 students in 2015 to a nadir of about 5,800 in 2024.

    On a recent visit to the campus, an EdSource reporter spent time with students, faculty and coaches directly impacted by the expected cuts. The most defiant promised to fight for reprieves or backed state legislators’ demands for a turnaround plan. This month, some students sued to try to block proposed cuts. 

    But mostly, students and faculty expressed worry that this could be the last time a Sonoma State undergraduate sees the advanced math explaining why light moves more slowly in air than in a vacuum, ponders the differences between second and third wave feminism or masters the subtle finesse of playing one-touch soccer in the rain.

    Geology: ‘All of that will be gone’

    Jackson Kaiser grew up at the foot of Mount Konocti in Lake County, part of a volcanic field three hours north of San Francisco that feeds what is reckoned to be the largest geothermal complex in the world. “I had a lot of questions that I didn’t know how to answer,” he said. And that’s why he majored in geology at Sonoma State University.

    But the department that has turned Kaiser’s curiosity into a promising career may soon disappear. Kaiser could be among the last 40 or so Sonoma State geology majors, according to a professor in the department, if the university goes ahead with plans to eliminate the department. Sonoma State spokesperson Jeff Keating confirmed that all tenured and tenure-track geology faculty have received layoff notices, though several may be asked to teach temporarily.

    On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Kaiser reverently held his favorite rock samples in the classroom where geology majors take most of their classes. “The idea that that place won’t be here to come back to, that I won’t have an alma mater — it feels like our administration doesn’t want me to be a proud Seawolf,” he said, referring to the campus mascot. 

    Student Jackson Kaiser, who grew up fascinated by a volcanic field near a large geothermal complex north of San Francisco, laments that he may be among the last geology majors at Sonoma State.
    Amy DiPierro

    Kaiser, 36, was working in the produce department of a Safeway grocery store when he found himself researching the chemical formulas of minerals. He marveled at their straight lines and geometric forms, so elegant they appear unnatural. He wanted to know more.

    So around 2022, Kaiser, his partner and their two children, now 4 and 6, started commuting an hour and half or more every weekday from Lake County to Sonoma State, sending the kids to the Children’s School on campus while both parents took undergraduate classes. These days, Kaiser bunks with classmates from Monday to Friday, returning home to his family on weekends. “It’s not great,” he said. “But I’m working towards a better future, where I’ll have a real career and not just be working in a grocery store.” 

    His chosen career can have high stakes. After all, Kaiser said, it was a careful geological study in the 1960s that ultimately blocked a plan to build a nuclear power plant just 30 minutes from campus on a site traversed by the San Andreas Fault. A geological assessment is often a necessity for construction projects, especially in a region where debris flows can follow climate change-fueled wildfires. But geologists worry their numbers are waning despite growing demand for their skills.

    A geology classroom on the campus of Sonoma State University on Feb. 12,
    Amy DiPierro

    Kaiser, who will graduate at the end of the summer, has been collecting business cards from potential employers like geologic consulting firms. Thanks to the department’s frequent field trips, he’s had opportunities to practice skills like mapping, sample collection and paleontology.

    He’s also taken part in department traditions, like feasting on watermelon at the summit after mountainous hikes or visiting the mammoth fossil that Sonoma State students excavated in 1981. “I hate the thought,” he said, “that all of that will be gone.”

    Soccer: ‘Play all the way through’

    The weather was lousy, but there they were in the rain at 9:15 a.m., the Sonoma State University men’s soccer team, lacing up their boots and stowing their belongings in white garbage bags to keep them dry. They had come from nearby Santa Rosa and far away Kapolei, Hawaii, to attend the university. Together, they navigated the difficult reality that this could be their team’s last season, no matter how well they played.

    There was Carson Sterling, a freshman center back from 18 miles north in Windsor, whose father and mother played soccer for Sonoma State before him. There was defender Cameron Fisk, a junior from Los Angeles studying business marketing, who had rebounded from injuries to play this fall. And, of course, there was head coach Marcus Ziemer, leading the Seawolves for the 34th year. 

    Ziemer watched the players warm up, his eyes shielded from the drizzle under a black baseball cap and glasses. Since he started as head coach in 1991, the men’s soccer team has won eight conference championships and earned its first and only national title in 2002. 

    But now things are grim. The university announced on Jan. 22 that it planned to eliminate men’s soccer along with the school’s other NCAA sports, among other austerities.

    “It’s a very difficult kind of limbo right now,” he said. “We’re fighting hard to try and save the program and some of the other majors as well, trying to get them to reconsider.” 

    The Sonoma State University men’s soccer team practices recently in Rohnert Park. With the school’s whole Division II sports program potentially being cut, some team players are looking to transfer through the NCAA portal.
    Amy DiPierro

    Ziemer himself is in limbo, too. Unless efforts to save the Sonoma State Division II sports programs succeed, his contract will end on June 30. He would probably retire rather than seek another coaching job.

    In the meantime, Ziemer and his four assistant coaches have advised players who wish to continue their collegiate soccer careers to enter the NCAA transfer portal, expressing interest in moving to other schools. A few already have offers.

    “I’m just grateful that with everything going on, we have coaches like them that are willing to help us and see other opportunities,” said Fisk, who has entered the transfer portal while the Sonoma State team’s status is uncertain.

    But for now, the team’s focus was on preparing the Seawolves for a challenging spring season, including matchups against NCAA Division I and semi-professional sides. Practice started with dynamic stretches, then a frenetic game of keep-away and a shooting drill to loosen quads grown stiff in the damp.

    “The energy is still really high,” said Sterling, who is in talks with soccer programs at other schools. “Obviously, it’s a kind of bad situation, and we’re just hoping for the best. But we’re going to play all the way through no matter what, and we’re going to play hard for each other.” 

    The squad split into teams for a scrimmage, an assistant coach barking urgent encouragement as they played. He called a time-out. “What does it take? Communication. Thinking one pass, two passes, three passes ahead. Moving, adjusting, being aware,” he yelled, his voice booming over the slick turf. “So because we’re struggling, should we say, ‘Ehh, f— it, move on.’? Or should we grow through it? Let’s grow through it — let’s grow through it together!”

    The Sonoma State University men’s soccer team practices in the rain recently in Rohnert Park.
    Amy DiPierro

    Women’s and gender studies: ‘I didn’t get that anywhere else’

    Under the fluorescent lights of a windowless basement classroom, Xochilt Martinez Balladares and about 20 other students eagerly awaited a discussion on queer and trans theory. But before they could unpack works by critical heavyweights like Adrienne Rich, they trained their attention on an issue closer at hand: the plan to dismantle the Sonoma State University Women’s and Gender Studies Department.

    If the proposal goes forward, Sonoma State will offer the last women’s and gender studies classes in ​​spring 2026. That could mark the end of a more than 50-year run that started with the founding of the program in the early 1970s and evolved into the Women’s and Gender Studies Department in 2001. Several students said the plan compounds their feeling that historically marginalized groups are under attack as the Trump administration seeks to end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

    Martinez and her classmates also argued that the department teaches skills central to future careers, while providing community when they need it most. For Martinez, a women’s and gender studies major and Chicano and Latino studies minor, the long-term goal is to go into immigration law. In the short-term, she is considering a social work degree so she can work with at-risk youth and families.

    “I almost dropped out twice because I felt very out of place,” said Martinez, 32. But she persevered thanks to a women’s and gender studies instructor who “talked to me on a personal level and made sure that I could continue my education. I didn’t get that anywhere else.”

    The department typically attracts 25 to 35 majors a year, said Don Romesburg, the professor who teaches the theory course, but many more students who aren’t majors take its classes. Campus spokesperson Keating confirmed that all the department’s professors have been laid off, but said the university “will continue to support and encourage the teaching of courses that support women’s rights and the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community.”

    Janis Phillips, 46, an education graduate student, said the loss of the department makes her question whether the university shares her commitment to students’ social and emotional learning.

    “When students feel safe and seen and heard on campuses, that is one of the best predictors of academic success,” she said, facing her classmates around the circle of desks. “So to take a bunch of students and make them feel like they are not seen and not heard will be detrimental to their academic success.”

    Students said the major prepares them for careers as psychologists, marriage and family therapists or health care providers. Because majors have to complete a community service requirement, students work with local organizations that help unhoused families, prevent sexual assault and support LGBTQ youth. “We’ve really taken seriously this question that parents often ask their students, which is, ‘What would you do with that degree?’” Romesburg said. 

    Despite the uncertain future of the department, students are doing the reading, Romesburg said, mindful that those who come behind them might not get the same opportunity. “They’re ready to roll up their sleeves and do project-based work, where they’re really generating ideas and reflections and engaging with the material,” he said.

    A flier is posted to a bulletin board on the campus of Sonoma State University.

    Physics: ‘Watching something that you love die’

    The physics students filing into Scott Severson’s 9:30 a.m. optics class brightened with the wide-eyed surprise of children peeking at a gift: a sturdy wooden crate.

    “It’s Christmas in our labs,” Severson said, gesturing toward the crate, which was filled with professional-grade laboratory hardware. “We ordered this in better days,” he added, and a few students chuckled.

    The Sonoma State Physics and Astronomy Department has indeed seen better days. Its alumni have gone on to lead companies, earn advanced degrees and become professors themselves. One of the department’s proudest moments came in 2016, when professor Lynn Cominsky was part of the team that documented a phenomenon called gravitational waves, an achievement that won three of her collaborators the Nobel Prize. Cominsky said she has raised more than $43 million in grants for Sonoma State. 

    Such prestige has not shielded the Physics and Astronomy Department from cost-cutting plans. Though the department will avoid total elimination, Sonoma State plans to phase out its physics major. It is giving 30 majors two years to graduate and leaving 10 first-year students to find another degree or transfer, Severson said. After that, physics faculty members will only teach physics courses for students in other programs, like biology or engineering. 

    Already, one of the department’s lecturers has received a layoff notice, according to the university. Severson said he and three other remaining tenured faculty will cover the teaching load as the physics degree winds down. He doesn’t anticipate that tenured faculty will lose their jobs, but said some may seek work elsewhere or retire.

    Troy Wilson and Jeffery Reedy at Sonoma State University demonstrate an experiment created as part of a program aimed at introducing middle and high school students to STEM fields on Feb. 12.
    Amy DiPierro

    Ending the physics major also could reverberate at Cominsky’s EdEon STEM Learning program, which creates educational materials aimed at inspiring middle and high school students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

    EdEon’s work depends on Sonoma State undergraduates, Cominsky said, and currently employs between 15 and 20 students in fields including physics. “None of the research grants I write would have been possible without physics majors,” she said.

    Meanwhile, the students in Severson’s optics class watched as he played them a video illustrating the spiral of two black holes. 

    “I want you to notice the colors of this,” said Severson, who has taught at the university since 2007. “The brighter the red, the greater the distortion of spacetime as this is happening.”

    Among the optics students was Madison Ambriz, who plans to graduate at the end of fall 2025. Ambriz spent the summer learning to assemble circuit boards as part of a collaboration to upgrade the Large Hadron Collider, a famed particle accelerator used to test physicists’ theoretical predictions. “I had such a blast with it,” she said, but her enthusiasm has been tempered by the feeling that it’s too late to save the major.  

    “It doesn’t matter what we say, doesn’t matter how heartbroken we are, doesn’t matter what the numbers say, they’re still going to cut the [major],” Ambriz said. “And it’s just watching something that you love die, and it’s horrible.”





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  • Why California must champion community college bachelor’s degrees

    Why California must champion community college bachelor’s degrees


    Cerritos College students honing their skills in ironworking during hands-on training.

    Credit: Courtesy Cerritos College

    A college degree or certificate is a proven pathway to higher earnings, job stability and economic mobility. Yet, nearly half of California’s adults have not pursued higher education due to barriers like cost, rigid schedules and a lack of local options.

    California set an ambitious goal: By 2030, 70% of working-age adults should hold a college degree or certificate. However, instead of making it easier to achieve this, public universities are blocking one of the most promising solutions — community college bachelor’s degree programs.

    Cerritos College is leading the way with its first-of-its-kind field ironworker supervisor bachelor’s degree, which was developed with the California Field Ironworkers. The program creates a direct path from apprenticeship to high-paying supervisory roles. Designed for working professionals, it offers flexible online coursework that fits the schedules of full-time ironworkers.

    With over 1,300 supervisor job openings annually in Los Angeles County alone, this program helps close critical workforce gaps while fostering regional social and economic mobility. First-line supervisors with a bachelor’s degree earn an average of $34,000 more in their annual salary than those with a high school diploma or associate degree. At under $11,000 in total tuition costs — less than half the price of even the most affordable public universities, our students can recoup their investment in as little as four months, making this program a powerful tool for upward mobility.

    Beyond the numbers, programs like these change lives. Rocio Campos, an ironworker and mother, defied societal expectations to pursue a career in construction. While balancing work, family and education, Rocio gained the training and resources to grow her career in ironworks through the field ironworker apprenticeship program at Cerritos College. She aims to earn a bachelor’s degree in ironworker supervision once the program receives full approval, giving her a chance to advance into a supervisory role.

    Community college bachelor’s degrees are game-changers, especially for underrepresented communities. At Cerritos College, 73% of students in the ironworker apprenticeship program come from diverse backgrounds, and active recruitment efforts are bringing more women into this historically male-dominated field. These programs don’t just increase wages; they provide economic mobility by helping workers build stability, advance their careers, and lift their families into greater financial security.

    Several community colleges have received provisional approval to launch bachelor’s degree programs in health care, technology and public safety — fields where California urgently needs skilled professionals. However, many of these proposals remain under review because of objections from public universities, particularly within the CSU system. Despite meeting workforce demands and serving students who might not otherwise pursue a four-year degree, these programs face unnecessary roadblocks. The final approval ultimately rests with the California Community Colleges board of governors, but these initiatives risk being delayed indefinitely without broader policy support.

    California cannot rely on four-year universities alone to meet its growing workforce needs. Expanding community college bachelor’s degree programs will strengthen industries, create more opportunities and solidify California’s leadership in workforce innovation. It’s time for policymakers, industry leaders and educators to support these programs and invest in the future of our state.

    •••

    Jose Fierro is the president/superintendent of Cerritos College in Norwalk. Cerritos College serves as a comprehensive community college for southeastern Los Angeles County.

    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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  • After the fire: Former foster youth attributes recovery to unconditional support

    After the fire: Former foster youth attributes recovery to unconditional support


    Wildfire smoke fills the air over the 110 freeway in Los Angeles.

    Credit: AP Photo / Etienne Laurent

    Before the Eaton fire this January, Alexander Ballantyne lived in Altadena, just a few minutes away from his Pasadena City College campus.

    That all changed on Jan. 7 when the fire reached the home he’d lived in the past three years with his aunt and uncle, forcing them to quickly evacuate. He left with only the clothes he was wearing and the school backpack he had left in his car.

    The home burned down later that day, and he was suddenly homeless, a situation he’d been in just a few years prior.

    Among the people who lost their homes, livelihoods, and lives in the fires that ravaged Los Angeles early this year is a subset of young people who are in the foster care system and already knew the trauma of losing a home.

    Ballantyne’s recovery from the devastation of the fire has not been easy, but it has been remarkably quick, a feat that highlights how imperative it is to pair stable housing with consistent, individualized support.

    “I had stable housing with my legal guardians (in high school) and I had stable housing with my aunt. If it was just the stability, theoretically, I should have gotten through all of high school amazingly, flying colors,” he said. “I think it’s more so the type of support you get — you know it’s unconditional.”

    Ballantyne, 25, was in the final stretch of transfer applications as the Eaton fire started. He was preparing the supplemental application for UC Berkeley’s business school, a highly competitive program. Less than 24 hours after it became available, however, he was fleeing from his family’s home, pushing finishing the application down his list of priorities.

    Alex Ballantyne is a student at Pasadena City College, where he’s finishing his last semester before transferring to a four-year university.

    “I almost felt like I was in my element, in the sense that it really wasn’t the first time I had nothing,” Ballantyne said in a recent interview. “And even though I say it feels pretty similar to how it was when I was homeless at 18, just having the support of my family … I feel like I landed on my feet.”

    As soon as his friends and network found out that he had lost his home, they stepped in to help him rebuild. A friend started a GoFundMe donation page for him, and it quickly reached its goal. One Simple Wish — an organization that directly funds any need or want a foster youth might have — crowdfunded additional money to replace the school and office supplies he’d lost.

    This quick support came from networks that Ballantyne had built over the years. He’s been part of organizations like First Star, a college readiness program for foster youth, where he met people like the founder of Jenni’s Flower, an LA-based organization that organizes events to empower foster youth. He is part of the foster youth programs at Pasadena City College, and he’s on the board of two nonprofits.

    What mattered to Ballantyne, more than anything else, was that the support he received came with no strings attached and from people he knew truly cared for him.

    “It’s really not the money that will get a foster kid through school or training or whatever they want to do,” Ballantyne said. “It’s the support, it’s the human connection, and it’s the feeling like they have somebody to lean on. That’s the most important part.”

    In the months since the fires, One Simple Wish has provided thousands in funding to 12 foster youth in Los Angeles alone, including Ballantyne.

    “Especially for minor children moving through the system, there’s not a lot of choice. You don’t often get to choose the neighborhood or the church you go to, the school you go to, the friendships that you can or can’t maintain, whether or not you get to stay with siblings; there’s just so much choice already being removed,” said Danielle Gletow, founder of One Simple Wish.

    Her organization’s mission is to fill the gaps that other groups might leave: Instead of asking someone if they need a backpack, her team leaves the question open-ended, asking, “What would you like to put your belongings in?”

    “Our goal is to just make sure that … what an individual needs in a time of crisis or challenging times, we put that power back in their hands,” said Gletow, who said the majority of funds come in as donations from supporters across the country.

    Ballantyne knows that lack of choice firsthand. He entered the foster system during middle school after an unstable childhood, andmoved through four placements during his freshman year of high school, before being placed with a family who became his legal guardians until the age of 18. He said that despite having housing stability through most of high school, he earned a 2.9 GPA.

    Today, weeks after his home burned down along with all of his belongings, coupled with the stress of waiting to hear back from colleges he applied to as he finishes his spring semester, he has maintained a 3.6 GPA.

    It’s all in the support

    At 18, shortly after graduating from high school, Ballantyne said he was kicked out of his foster home of three years and was homeless, couch surfing and working four jobs to get by, until he landed in transitional housing.

    He enrolled in community college shortly after, but left before the semester was over, right as the Covid-19 pandemic was starting. He fell into a deep, long-lasting depression, and for the next three years, he spent most days playing video games, drinking, smoking weed and taking pills, he said.

    His “wake-up call,” as he calls it, came in March 2021, when he received a text notifying him his grandmother was dying in the hospital. “I just remember feeling so helpless. I didn’t have the money to get an Uber to go see her,” he said. “I didn’t drive. I was doing nothing with myself.”

    Ballantyne’s grandmother had been like his mother, he said, and she’d just died in the same hospital he’d been born in about two decades earlier. She was his champion, always reminding him how much she loved him.

    While in the foster system, he had been estranged from his family for years, but as he helped his aunt prepare his grandmother’s home for sale, he told her about his living condition.

    It was around this time that Ballantyne’s life started turning around. His decision to get a job at a Best Buy “changed everything.” He initially wanted the job just for the discounts on video games, but he came away with companionship, which he needed after having been isolated in his depression for years.

    His aunt soon invited him to move in with her rent-free as long as he worked or attended school full-time and helped out around the house. He grabbed the opportunity and enrolled at Pasadena City College, where he is now just months from transferring to a four-year college.

    He learned what it was like to receive unconditional support when he moved in with his biological family as an adult.

    “I don’t think I was ever dumb,” he said, referring to the many years in which he didn’t excel academically. “I just don’t think I ever was in a situation where I truly, 100% felt comfortable and secure with where I was at.”

    Ballantyne is currently living in Burbank, renting a room in a classmate’s apartment, while his uncle and aunt are staying with family farther north in Los Angeles County.

    He’ll be there through the end of the summer, at which point he’ll be moving to whichever university he chooses among the four that accepted him so far. His rent is paid through August, thanks to the funding he received after the fires.

    The network of friends and resources that stepped up to support Ballantyne is there for all other foster youth, both he and Gletow emphasized.

    “We really do stress the importance of making connections wherever you can because it will matter as you get older. And as you become an adult, you have less and less of a network or safety net,” said Gletow, whose organization also has an educational wish fund where school staff can submit requests for flexible funding to use as needed.

    Ballantyne did eventually submit his supplemental application to UC Berkeley’s business school on time when he was sheltering at a family member’s home. The application had a video component requiring applicants to record themselves answering prompt questions, but the desk in the room he was staying in was inside a closet — not an ideal setting for such an important video.

    But Ballantyne knew he had everything he needed, including a newly replaced laptop, thanks to his friends and network, so he hit the record button and got to work making his goals a reality.





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  • Covid recovery funds are gone; what now for California students?

    Covid recovery funds are gone; what now for California students?


    Credit: Pexels / Mikhail Nilov

    California’s most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores revealed troubling trends in student achievement. Despite significant financial investments, student performance continues to struggle to reach full academic recovery. Worse, achievement gaps between the highest- and lowest-performing students widened even further.

    The timing of these results couldn’t be worse. With California districts spending the last of their $23 billion in federal relief funds last year, schools are now facing a critical juncture. With declining enrollment reducing their budgets and only modest new state investments coming this year, it will be tough for districts to dramatically scale up promising initiatives like high-dosage tutoring or extensive summer programming.

    So, what levers do state and local policymakers have at their disposal? By looking at the data and learning from other successful low-cost interventions, the state has an opportunity to reverse its slide and drive student gains.

    First, kids have to be in school to learn. In California, chronic absenteeism rates have come down significantly from their pandemic levels, but they’re still nearly twice as high as they were five years ago. Black students, English learners, students with disabilities, and other marginalized groups are missing too much school. 

    Fortunately, there are low-cost, high-impact strategies that schools can adopt to ensure students are present and engaged. For example, a research study looking at a large California district found that missing a part of the school day — for referrals for in-school discipline or participation in extracurricular activities — predicted short- and long-run outcomes for students. Many school districts are already tracking these measures; the next step is using them to inform and implement interventions such as parent notifications or individualized support.

    Second, once kids are back in school, the next step is ensuring that classroom time is used well. This is especially critical in California, given that it ranks in the bottom 10 states in terms of total instructional hours per school year. Last year’s law to ban or limit the use of cell phones during school hours should help reduce digital distractions, but the research on attention is clear that humans are not good at multitasking and can take a long time to refocus when our thinking is interrupted.

    For schools, that means that every little interruption counts. Students being pulled out of class for special interventions or testing, outdoor noise and intercom announcements are all important in their own way, but they also add up. One study found that a typical classroom might be interrupted 2,000 times per year and that these disruptions can result in the loss of 10 to 20 days of instructional time. School district leaders could conduct attention audits to maximize and better understand how schools are using time and all of their technological tools.

    Last but not least is the question of what students are (and are not) learning. California’s test results suggest that reading is a particular problem area. Since 2019, California’s reading scores on NAEP are down 4 points in fourth grade and 5 points in eighth grade. But those are averages. Last year, just 7% of California’s Black students met the “Proficient” benchmark and 72% fell below “Basic” in fourth grade reading.

    When students lack foundational reading skills, the impact compounds across subjects. All students need and deserve evidence-based literacy instruction, with sustained focus on the relationships between sound and print, exposure to rich text, thought-provoking content, and both general and domain-specific vocabulary that builds knowledge of the world.

    Improving reading scores is hard work, and other states are dealing with similar challenges. But California — unlike many other states — has not yet passed a comprehensive reading bill.

    This is where California could stand to learn from some of the higher-performing states on NAEP, sometimes called “the nation’s report card.” Specifically, it might surprise some readers to learn that Mississippi made the largest reading gains over the last 10 years. Last year, Mississippi ranked seventh overall but third for Black students and first for low-income students. California, in contrast, came in 37th, 33rd and 28th, respectively.

    How did Mississippi make this turnaround? It took a long-term, systematic approach to its literacy efforts. It invested in teacher development and coaching, identified and supported struggling readers as early as possible and equipped teachers with high-quality instructional materials.

    This combination of high-quality instructional materials with diagnostic data and student supports has the potential to improve outcomes for California’s most vulnerable students, and to create a more equitable education system for all. By leveraging data it already tracks and focusing on the delivery of core instruction, California can build a stronger foundation for student success.

    •••

    Lindsay Dworkin is senior vice president of policy and government affairs at NWEA, a K-12 assessment and research organization.

    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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  • Hiring freeze at UC sparks fears of far-reaching impacts

    Hiring freeze at UC sparks fears of far-reaching impacts


    UC Davis scientists Marcelo Prado and Katie Zegarski load samples onto trays to test for the coronavirus in 2020. UC officials say cutting-edge research will be threatened if federal funds are reduced.

    Courtesy of UC Davis Health

    More crowding in undergraduate classes. Worse patient care at health centers. Harm to academic and scientific research.

    Those are some of the impacts officials fear will result from an across-the-board hiring freeze announced Wednesday by the 10-campus University of California in response to threatened cuts in federal funding and worries about state budget support. But given those uncertainties, UC leaders said they had no choice but to act now to conserve funds.

    The potential decline in federal contracts and grants would “threaten our ability to deliver on our core missions, education, research, patient care, and student support services, and our work to expand educational access for all Californians,” UC President Michael Drake said in announcing the freeze and other austerities. 

    Thousands of vacancies that already exist across UC would remain unfilled under the new policy. In addition to the hiring freeze across all UC campuses, six academic health centers and 20 health professional schools, Drake directed every UC location to implement additional cost-saving measures, such as delaying maintenance and reducing business travel when possible. All that would “help the university manage its costs and conserve funds,” Drake said, also noting a cut in state financial support for UC.

    UC receives about $6 billion annually in federal funds for research and other program supports, with the National Institutes of Health being the largest source. That does not include more than $8 billion the university gets through Medicare and Medicaid for patient care, funding that Drake noted Wednesday is also at risk. Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, he said, “would have significant impacts on the UC Health enterprise and on the patients we serve.”

    UC is the latest of a growing number of universities nationwide to pause hiring in the wake of new policies and threats to funding from the Trump administration. Other institutions that have taken similar steps in recent weeks include Harvard, Stanford and North Carolina State University.

    President Donald Trump’s administration has threatened to slash university research funding and other money for what he says is needed streamlining and in response to what he has labeled illegal race-based programs, such as cultural graduation ceremonies or racially themed dormitory floors. UC Berkeley is among three California campuses, along with Cal Poly Humboldt and Cal State San Bernardino, that are currently being investigated for running programs that the administration alleges hurt white and Asian students. 

    Trump has also threatened campuses over the handling of pro-Palestinian protests last year. His administration has sent letters to 10 California colleges, including four UC campuses, threatening to pull funding if they weren’t doing enough to protect Jewish students on their campuses. The four UC campuses were Berkeley, Davis, San Diego and Santa Barbara. 

    Potential federal funding cuts would be especially consequential for research-heavy institutions like UC. 

    Jesse Rothstein, director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education, said he had been expecting the hiring freeze because the Trump administration has “dramatically threatened the kind of funding” on which research universities depend.

    The ramifications of the hiring freeze and possible funding cuts could be felt for decades to come, Rothstein said. “It’s going to be harder to persuade people to be scientists in the future if they know that their careers can be upended at any moment,” he said. “It’s going to create problems in terms of attracting the best researchers from around the world. All of that is going to damage the scientific enterprise in this country.”

    Further complicating the matter is that UC is separately facing a nearly 8% cut to its state funding as part of this year’s budget process. In a typical year, that level of funding reduction would be “alarming,” said Drake, the UC president. Pairing it with the prospect of federal funding cuts makes it even more worrisome, he said.

    Leaving vacancies unfilled for service and health care workers will have far-reaching consequences on UC campuses and hospitals, said Todd Stenhouse, a spokesperson for AFSCME 3299. That union represents tens of thousands of workers across UC, including patient care technical employees, security guards, parking attendants, custodians, food service workers and others. 

    Even before Wednesday’s announcement, union leaders were already irritated by the growing number of vacancies across the system and blamed UC for not investing in those employees. The hiring freeze will exacerbate the problem, Stenhouse said. UC hospital patients, for example, will face longer wait times when they press their call buttons and need a worker to come to their aid, Stenhouse said.

    “UC is a world-class institution, but you have to have enough staff to deliver the services,” he added. “Our members are what make it run.”

    The announcement of the hiring freeze was disappointing to Constance Penley, a professor of film studies at UC Santa Barbara and president of the Council of UC Faculty Associations.

    Penley said she sees the hiring freeze as part of a “wave of capitulation” on the part of universities toward the Trump administration. She noted, for example, that Columbia University was reportedly planning to yield to the Trump administration’s demands to change, among other things, the handling of student protests and discipline to get $400 million in federal funding restored.

    “If there were a hiring freeze or other tactics within some kind of overall plan, then I could understand it,” she said “But this seems to just be totally defensive.”

    During his remarks Wednesday, Drake said that groundbreaking advancements in medicine, such as learning to diagnose and treat HIV, is in “large part due to research discoveries made at universities,” including UC. That kind of work, he said, “is at risk today.”

    “I recognize that this is frightening for many people in our UC community, and these feelings can make it hard to study and to work and to teach,” Drake said. “But still, I can say unequivocally that the University of California will be here. At the end of the day, the rules of engagement may have changed, but our foundational values have not.”

    The UC Student Association and the faculty’s Academic Senate leaders did not return requests for comment Wednesday. 





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