MCGRAW HILL

New Survey Indicates Social and Emotional Learning is Key in Post-Pandemic Education
We surveyed educators, administrators, and parents to better understand their opinions about the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL), the effects of COVID-19 on children’s wellbeing, and how schools can support kids as they return for the 2021-22 school year. Here’s what we learned.
Read the report.

STATE NEWS

California districts anticipate major hits to their 2022-23 budgets

Despite this year’s return to in-person learning, districts throughout California are seeing major declines in both enrollment and average daily attendance and fear the reductions could result in significant funding cuts next school year. Without state intervention, many districts face substantial cuts in state funding and could be forced to make significant budget cuts in the 2022-23 school year due to a fall in enrollment and attendance to which funding is tied. Districts’ baseline funding depends on the number of students enrolled, minus the daily average number of absent students. Statewide, enrollment in K-12 public schools in California fell by almost 3%, or 160,000 students, in 2020-21, according to annual data released in April by the California Department of Education. On October 6th, districts filed their “census day enrollment” figures, which is the enrollment figure used in the state funding formula. Those figures likely won’t be made public until early next year. West Contra Costa USD, a district of about 26,000 students serving Richmond and surrounding areas, anticipates a loss of around $30m in the 2022-23 school year barring no change in the funding formula, said Tony Wold, the district’s associate superintendent of business services. He recommends that average daily attendance be taken out of the equation for districts’ baseline state funding. The clock is ticking for legislative action on any change to the district funding formula. Districts will begin filing their interim budget reports on November 15th and April 18th, and they will adopt their budgets by June 30th. Those reports must reflect the funding formulas currently in place. If the budget recommendation reflects a $30mshortfall by March 15th, layoff notices will have to be sent out.

EdSource 

DISTRICTS

97% of LA teachers, administrators meet vaccination deadline

About 97% of Los Angeles USD teachers and 97% of administrators met the school district’s Friday deadline to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a level of compliance that officials hoped would result in minimal disruption to classroom teaching in the sprawling district, according to information released Friday by officials. The vaccine requirement applies to all LAUSD employees  as well as parent volunteers and district contractors who work on campus. Employees of district-authorized charter schools also must comply. Officials would not disclose information about how many of the remaining 3% of teachers union members or other school employees have received vaccine exemptions for medical or religious reasons. Anyone without at least one vaccine dose will be prohibited from campuses from today, potentially disrupting the continuity of classroom education in the nation’s second-largest school system.

Los Angeles Times 

Pleasanton teacher union green-lights strike action

More than 98% of members of the Pleasanton USD teachers union voted this month to authorize a strike after nearly two years of bargaining. The union argued that its teachers are among the county's lowest-paid and that the district refuses "to invest in students by prioritizing teaching and learning in their budget," according to its statement. The district has pushed to increase high school teachers' work time without additional compensation and remove a 30-minute work-free lunch for teachers — even though it has benefited from a 5% funding increase amid "the largest funding increase to public education in a generation," according to the union.

The Patch 

Rialto breaks ground on International Healing Garden

Rialto USD and Assembly Majority Leader Eloise Gomez Reyes have broken ground on the district’s forthcoming International Healing Garden. The garden, the first of its kind in the region, will provide students, staff, and families a facility for the education of environmental studies, water conservation, climate resiliency, as well as support physical, social and emotional health outcomes. It will  feature a large teaching area, dock walkway, a bridge, wastewater treatment demonstration space, drip irrigation demonstration, an amphitheater, Japanese garden, citrus trees, eating areas, and a waterfall.

Inland Empire Community News 

CLASSROOM

Higher student morale linked to in-person instruction

Student morale is up, especially in schools that have held more in-person learning, according to the perceptions of educators in the EdWeek Research Center’s latest monthly survey focusing on the impact of COVID-19 on K-12 education. Educator perceptions of student morale ticked upward over the summer, tying an all-time high since the EdWeek Research Center first started tracking this metric in March 2020. Fifty-eight percent of teachers and district leaders still say student morale today is lower than it was pre-pandemic. In April, 67% of district leaders and teachers perceived that student morale was worse than it was prior to the pandemic. Perceptions of student morale are more positive among teachers, principals, and district leaders in districts that provided more in-person instruction last school year. In districts that spent most of 2020-21 doing in-person instruction, 49% of teachers, principals, and district leaders said that student morale was lower than pre-pandemic. That perception was worse (63%) among teachers and administrators in districts where students spent most of last school year learning from home

Education Week 

HIGHER EDUCATION

UC San Diego enrollment shatters record

Fall enrollment at UC San Diego has hit 42,875, smashing the university’s record by 2,392 and contributing to a campus housing shortage and crowding problems that have frustrated many students. These are preliminary numbers. But the increase is the largest in the institution’s 61-year history and means that UCSD has reached its planned capacity of 42,400 almost 15 years early. The school now has roughly 7,300 more students than San Diego State and nearly 26,000 more than Stanford.

Los Angeles Times 

SECURITY

Research suggests school police reduce campus violence - but at a cost

School-based police effectively combat some forms of campus violence including fights, according to a working paper released by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. However, their presence increases the number of students facing suspensions, expulsions and arrests, particularly if they are Black. In addition to making it more likely that students will face exclusionary discipline, such as suspension and expulsion, students are chronically absent more when campuses are staffed by cops, with researchers identifying a marked spike in missed school days among youth with disabilities. The report, which awaits peer review, found that the effects of school police on discipline and arrests were “consistently over two times larger for Black students” than their white classmates.

The 74 

OTHER

College of Adaptive Arts named Nonprofit of the Year

The College of Adaptive Arts, a Silicon Valley-based nonprofit that helps provide education to adults with special needs, was named the Nonprofit of the Year by the Mission City Community Fund. It was selected based on criteria that included reputation for leadership excellence and consistent performance and high ethical standards for management.

The Patch 

Students and teachers reflect on Hispanic Heritage Month

Chalkbeat speaks to Hispanic and Latino teachers and students around the nation about how they are celebrating their cultures, and how they have negotiated the challenges of the pandemic.  Hispanic and Latino populations across the nation have made up a disproportionate number of deaths from COVID-19, and the pandemic exacerbated existing inequities for Hispanic and Latino students, widening education gaps and spurring drops in college enrollment.

Chalkbeat