Carolyn Jones
CalMattersCarolyn Jones covers K-12 education forCalMatters, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics, and a JPR news partner.
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Special education is shifting to a different federal agency. Advocates fear the loss of expertise will harm students. -
Schools had until March 2026 to spend remaining COVID relief money. The U.S. Department of Education cut those funds, amounting to about $200 million for California K-12 schools. -
Nearly 60% of third graders aren’t reading at grade level. A new bill would require schools to use a phonics-based approach to teach students -
Last year California passed a law that prohibits schools from requiring staff to notify parents if a student identifies as transgender. The U.S. Department of Education alleges the law violates parents’ rights. -
For the last century, the money has gone to counties with large amounts of federal land that can’t be taxed. Congress failed to include it in the upcoming budget. -
Despite Trump’s plans, federal funding is a small part of California’s education budget and the state oversees curriculum. -
Federal funding for rural schools goes to 39 California counties. School districts in those communities consider the money a lifeline. -
California legislators want to limit deportation actions at schools, but they can’t ban immigration officials. -
New California law prevents schools from requiring staff to notify parents if a student identifies as LGBTQ. It’s in response to some districts requiring staff to notify parents when students identify as a gender other than what’s in their official files. -
More than 115,000 children in California were undocumented in the most recent census count, and it’s estimated almost half of California children have at least one immigrant parent. -
A new state law bans private colleges from considering an applicant’s ties to family members who are alumni or donors. California’s public universities don’t use legacy admissions. -
The Smarter Balanced scores show improvement for both math and English language arts. Black, Latino and low-income student scores climbed more than the state average, although they still had lower scores overall.
