Education Reform

California Student Test Scores Fall Short but Education Officials Ignore Root Causes

California Student Test Scores Fall Short but Education Officials Ignore Root Causes

The California Department of Education released its annual student test scores this week and the news is sobering. The state’s California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) results for the 2023-24 school year show the percentage of students who have met or exceeded state standards for English language arts, math and science has increased only slightly...

By California Policy Center

Dolores Huerta Foundation vs. Bakersfield’s first charter school

Dolores Huerta Foundation vs. Bakersfield’s first charter school

Bakersfield’s first charter school opened its doors to hundreds of students last week in a victory for students and parents. The local teachers union brought in the big guns to fight against the charter — 94-year-old Dolores Huerta herself. Thankfully, Huerta lost. There are nine charter schools spread throughout the most remote parts of Kern...

By Abby Lehnig

Opening Doors: How Charter Schools Can Elevate Kern County Education

Opening Doors: How Charter Schools Can Elevate Kern County Education

The diverse student population of Kern County deserves a public school system with equally diverse educational options and opportunities to meet their needs. Unfortunately, Kern County ranks in the bottom 10 percent of all California counties by public school performance – number 54 of 58 – and the vast majority of K-12 students are trapped...

By Abby Lehnig

Newsom Signs AB 1955 and Okays Schools Lying to Parents, Opening the Door to Lawsuits and Child Exploitation

Newsom Signs AB 1955 and Okays Schools Lying to Parents, Opening the Door to Lawsuits and Child Exploitation

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed into law Assembly Bill 1955, a bill that takes the unprecedented and outrageous step of instructing school districts to lie to and keep secrets from parents about their own children.  Introduced by Assemblyman Chris Ward (D-San Diego), AB 1955 was pushed through the legislature as a “gut and...

By California Policy Center

Higher Education Doesn’t Have to Happen on a College Campus

Higher Education Doesn’t Have to Happen on a College Campus

With my children slowly matriculating through K-12 schools, my wife and I have wrestled with the wisdom of sending them to college. We’re both college graduates, but we are concerned by the inflated costs, diminished value of degrees, and institutions surrendering to radical ideologies. Many jobs no longer require a four-year degree, and online education...

By Lance Christensen

California Lawmakers Sacrifice Education for Politics with AB 1955

California Lawmakers Sacrifice Education for Politics with AB 1955

While California faces a significant decline in educational outcomes, student enrollment, and a fiscal crisis, progressives in the state legislature are more concerned with targeting parents than improving schools. Assembly Bill 1955, introduced by Assemblyman Chris Ward (D-San Diego), aims to ban parental notification policies passed by a growing number of California school districts over...

By Andrew Davenport

Special Book Signing Event with Author Dr. Corey DeAngelis

Special Book Signing Event with Author Dr. Corey DeAngelis

Join California Policy Center for a special book signing event with author Dr. Corey DeAngelis on Wednesday, June 5th from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in Orange County. DeAngelis’s new book, The Parent Revolution: Rescuing Your Kids from the Radicals Ruining Our Schools, takes readers inside the parent movement like no one else can. DeAngelis has traveled from state to state, leading one of the most effective...

By California Policy Center

AB 1955’s assault on parental rights and local school boards

AB 1955’s assault on parental rights and local school boards

Just when you think California legislators can’t thumb their noses at parents any harder, Assemblyman Christopher Ward (D-San Diego) introduced a bill this week that aims to strip control from local school boards. Ward’s AB 1955 — the Orwellian-named SAFETY Act — is an attempt to override the parental notification policies passed by a growing number of...

By California Policy Center

Three Wins for Common Sense

Three Wins for Common Sense

In a significant win for parental rights this week, the Jurupa Unified School Board agreed to pay California teacher Jessica Tapia $360,000 to settle her lawsuit for wrongful termination. The case has drawn national attention to the plight of teachers being illegally directed by California education officials to keep secrets from parents when their child...

By California Policy Center

How California’s College System Lost Its Way: Revisiting the State’s Master Plan for Higher Education

How California’s College System Lost Its Way: Revisiting the State’s Master Plan for Higher Education

Once the envy of the world, California’s public college and university networks have been plagued by mission creep, confusing and diluting their ability to achieve the purpose for which they were originally designed. Incremental state legislation over the years has reduced the once independent and robust tiered system — California Community Colleges (CCC), California State...

By Peter Constant

Parents—The Ultimate Education Reform

Parents—The Ultimate Education Reform

Grant Allen once lamented, “What a misfortune it is that we should thus be compelled to let our boys’ schooling interfere with their education!” These words, often attributed to Mark Twain, encapsulate a sentiment that education transcends the walls of a schoolhouse, echoing the belief that learning should not be confined to a classroom. Increasingly,...

By Lance Christensen

CPC Parent Union’s Third Annual Parents, Not Partisans Summit

CPC Parent Union’s Third Annual Parents, Not Partisans Summit

  More than 150 parent advocates, school board members and school board candidates from 28 counties across California attended CPC’s Parents, Not Partisans Summit in Sacramento in March for two days of training, networking and advocacy at the State Capitol with our allies at Protection for the Educational Rights of Kids (PERK). The third annual...

By California Policy Center