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
CPC Launches Local Fiscal Health Dashboard for California’s Cities, Counties and School Districts
CPC Launches Local Fiscal Health Dashboard for California’s Cities, Counties and School Districts
Interactive Database Reveals which Local Governments are Fiscally Sound or at High-Risk of Fiscal Crisis Sacramento — California Policy Center today released a new Local Fiscal Health Dashboard that tracks the financial health of California cities, counties and school districts. The interactive database allows users to track how elected officials are managing local budgets, support ongoing budget...
By California Policy Center
Ballot-O-Rama: A Guide to California’s 2024 Ballot Propositions
Ballot-O-Rama: A Guide to California’s 2024 Ballot Propositions
As spectator sports go, November’s ballot propositions have everything – drama, intrigue, the manipulation of language. But for California, this is no mere entertainment: the stakes are very high, indeed. The ballot includes 10 important propositions, few of which are likely to be the source of more smoke, light and heat than Proposition 36, which...
By California Policy Center
CPC Submits Amicus Letter to State Supreme Court in Support of Fresno Business Challenging Newsom’s COVID Shutdown Orders
CPC Submits Amicus Letter to State Supreme Court in Support of Fresno Business Challenging Newsom’s COVID Shutdown Orders
In 2018, Daryn Coleman and his wife invested their life savings into launching Ghost Golf, an indoor miniature golf venue. But, in 2020, their California business was shut down for more than a year due to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statewide business shutdown orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the governor’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy,”...
By California Policy Center
California Policy Center Files Amicus Brief Defending Free Speech Rights of Students and Teachers in California Schools
California Policy Center Files Amicus Brief Defending Free Speech Rights of Students and Teachers in California Schools
San Francisco — California Policy Center filed an amicus curiae brief Monday in support of the First Amendment rights of a California first grader who was punished by her school after she drew a picture containing the words “Black Lives Mater [sic]… any life.” The school principal disciplined the student by depriving her of recess for...
By California Policy Center
CLEO Director Mari Barke Testifies before Congress
CLEO Director Mari Barke Testifies before Congress
On June 4, 2024, the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education held a hearing on “The Consequences of Biden’s Border Chaos for K-12 Schools.” Mari Barke, Director of CPC’s California Local Elected Officials, testified before the Subcommittee on the impact of illegal immigration on California’s K-12...
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
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
The Free Speech Case against L.A. County Hosted by CLEO
The Free Speech Case against L.A. County Hosted by CLEO
Please join us for a special virtual event, The Free Speech Case against L.A. County, on Tuesday, January 23, 2024 from 12:00-1:00pm. Our special guest is attorney and Palos Verdes School Board trustee Julie Hamill, founder of the Alliance of Los Angeles County Parents. Julie represents the Alliance in their ongoing lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health for its campaign...
By California Policy Center
Bounty Hunter Provision Drives CA Civil Rights Dept. Strategy that Hurts Workers & Drives Businesses Out of State
Bounty Hunter Provision Drives CA Civil Rights Dept. Strategy that Hurts Workers & Drives Businesses Out of State
SACRAMENTO — A California Policy Center report released today reveals that financial incentives allowing California’s Civil Rights Department (CRD) to fund its budget through attorney fees has created a monster. Today’s CRD has turned into a litigious bully that steps over plaintiff workers and strong arms companies for the department’s own financial gain — and civil...
By California Policy Center
Unions’ Strike Hurts L.A. Students and Families
Unions’ Strike Hurts L.A. Students and Families
Two employee unions in Los Angeles Unified are poised to strike this week, shutting down schools and leaving many parents angry that students are — once again — being used as leverage by the unions in contract negotiations. The unions are demanding huge pay raises despite financial reports showing LAUSD is already upside down $16.4...
By California Policy Center
SB 292: Is California Ready for School Choice?
SB 292: Is California Ready for School Choice?
You can add Arkansas to the list of states that have enacted universal school choice legislation this year. In just three months, Republican governors in Iowa and Utah, and now newly-elected Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, have signed laws creating statewide Education Savings Account (ESA) programs that empower parents to use state education dollars to...
By California Policy Center
How to Save Your School District From the Coming Financial Crisis
How to Save Your School District From the Coming Financial Crisis
The teachers-union-backed California School Boards Association (CSBA) is warning school officials that a financial crisis is coming for the state’s hundreds of school districts. CSBA’s advice: Beg for a handout. “At a time when 25 cents of every dollar received by local schools goes toward pension obligations, districts and county offices of education need more...
By California Policy Center
California’s Government Unions Continue Steady Decline
California’s Government Unions Continue Steady Decline
Boosted by Covid emergency funding, California governments have gone on a hiring frenzy, but membership in California’s government unions has hit a 20-year low, documents obtained by California Policy Center show. State and local government payroll records, obtained by CPC under the state’s Public Records Act, reveal that governments have added some 200,000 new employees after four...
By California Policy Center