Posts Tagged: schools

News

Recall election a stew of politics, absurdity and uncertainty

A sign in Yorba Linda advocating Gov. Gavin Newsom's recall. (Photo: Matt Gush.)

Deeply divided California voters will go to the polls on Sept. 14 — earlier, if they vote by mail — to decide whether Gov. Gavin Newsom should be recalled and who should replace him. The polls are tight. A July 24-27 poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies has 47 percent of those most likely to vote wanting to boot Newsom out of office, while 50 percent want to retain him. So what helps Newsom and what doesn’t?

Opinion

Historic budget: CA leads in library modernization. Will Feds follow?

A sign beckons library users with a compelling message. (Photo: Becky Ruppel, via California State Library)

OPINION: This year’s state budget contains an unprecedented investment in California’s public libraries. The $439 million earmarked by Gov. Newsom and the Legislature for renovating and modernizing local libraries will provide decades of ongoing benefits to millions of Californians and the communities in which they live. 

News

Survey: Eight in 10 say children falling behind academically

A student in class during the pandemic. (Photo: Siday Productions, via Shutterstock)

PPIC: One year after the state’s schools halted in-person learning due to COVID-19, more than eight in ten Californians think children are falling behind academically during the pandemic. Most Californians approve of how Gov. Newsom is handling the state’s K–12 public education system, though six in ten are concerned that California’s K–12 schools will not be open for full-time in-person instruction this fall.

Opinion

A battle against unfairness in education funding

Students in a classroom receiving instruction, pre-pandemic. (Photo: Monkey Business Images, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Over the past year, the need for equity has risen to the forefront of public discourse. As calls for racial equity and health equity have rightfully become more prominent, unfortunately education equity has shifted in the wrong direction. One of the most egregious acts of education inequity is seen in the fine print of AB 1316.

Opinion

Reopen our schools, start COVID testing now

A normally bustling playground in Victorville is devoid of students due to COVID-19. (Photo: Felipe Sanchez, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Now is the time to take action. There are less than four months left in the current school year and we should not let the final bell ring before getting kids back into their classrooms. Of course, we cannot and should not sacrifice school, teacher or student safety in doing so. And we don’t have to because we have all the necessary tools to reopen campuses sooner rather than later.

News

Forty-two years later, the ghost of Prop. 13 haunts voters

An aerial view of a neighborhood in Fremont, California. (Photo: Sundry Photography, via Shutterstock)

Once again, Californians are being asked to decide on the merits of a ballot measure that roiled the political scene when many of them were in grammar  school — or not even born yet. The ballot measure under challenge is Proposition 13, a constitutional amendment written by anti-tax crusader Howard Jarvis and approved nearly 2-to-1 by voters in 1978.

Opinion

Strong schools mean healthy recovery from current crises

Illustration of school children, education and the pandemic. (Photo: Felipe Sanchez, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: California is dealing with cascading crises the likes of which have never been experienced before. Between February 2020 and today, California’s unemployment rate rose from a record low of 3.9% to 13.3%. Nearly two million Californians who were working then aren’t working now.  And California’s clean energy economy — which employed 3% of the state’s workforce before COVID-19 — has also taken a hit. 

Opinion

Labor Day: Time to recommit to the American Dream

Flying the flag on Labor Day. (Photo: Deborah Kolb, via Shutterstock))

OPINION: We all could use a day off this Labor Day. The past six months have felt like six years, as Americans endure an intersection of crises that threaten our health, endanger our safety, injure our collective soul and tear at the very fabric of our democracy. We are all very tired.

Opinion

Despite growth, online charter schools get short shrift

Youngsters receiving instruction online during the pandemic. (Photo: adriaticfoto, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Back to school time typically comes with its own host of challenges, from making sure you’ve purchased all of the required school supplies to helping your child readjust to an early morning wake-up call. But this year is different. Many Californians are continuing to adapt to the “new normal,” and that means the way they are choosing to educate their children is changing too.

Analysis

Exiting shutdown? Hire an army of public health workers

The Third Street Promenade, an open-air mall in Santa Monica, is completely deserted during the shutdown. (Photo: MSPhotographic, via Shutterstock)

Last month, facing the prospect of overwhelmed hospitals and unchecked spread of the novel coronavirus, seven Bay Area county and city health departments joined forces to become the first region in the nation to pass sweeping regulations ordering millions of people indoors and shuttering the local economy.

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