One day after President Donald Trump tweeted, “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!” senior health and education officials said at a June 7 White House summit that reopening schools this fall is a necessity. But to do so safely, health and safety precautions eschewed by […]
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced on Tuesday, July 7, that he is leading a multistate lawsuit with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel against U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over the interim rule for how public schools distribute K–12 CARES Act money to […]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on June 30 released new guidance, “Interim Considerations for K-12 School Administrators for SARS-CoV-2 Testing.” The document notes that testing for COVID-19, along with symptom screening and contact tracing, are effective strategies to mitigate the spread of the […]
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday night signed the 2020–21 state budget that leans heavily on deferrals in lieu of cuts to K–12 education funding and counts on significant additional federal funding to bolster schools financially in their monumental task to safely reopen schools. In a […]
While touted by Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders as preserving K–12 funding and positioning schools to reopen this fall, the 2020–21 state budget trailer bill language strips local educational agencies of critical flexibility needed to safely and effectively resume instruction. Distance learning Assembly Bill […]
While learning loss has been at the forefront of concerns about the impacts of school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the shuttering of schools across the country poses additional risks for children who may experience abuse and neglect in their households. The economic crisis […]
The Attendance Playbook — originally released in 2019 by the nonprofit Attendance Works and Georgetown University-based think tank FutureEd — has been updated to account for the challenges posed by transitioning to fully virtual or blended learning models. The resource, Attendance Playbook: Smart Strategies for […]
The overarching theme of a recent U.S. House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee hearing echoed what many in education have been repeating since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic: schools need more money to ensure the safety and high-quality education of all students. Witnesses […]
With local educational agencies equipped with federal, state and county guidance on reopening campuses for the 2020–21 academic year, a June 16 joint Assembly Education Committee hearing cast concerns about the practicality and affordability of welcoming students back to the classroom. A yet-to-be finalized state […]
The Legislature on Monday, June 15, passed a 2020–21 budget bill that staves off immediate and drastic cuts to K–12 education, however, the spending plan is far from final as negotiations with the Governor’s Office continue. The Legislature’s action meets the requirement that lawmakers pass […]
