Placer County Education Digest

Assembly Bill 1096, taking effect Jan. 1, will let community colleges in the state provide courses in non-English languages, regardless if a student is also taking ESL. Previously, a student had to sign up for the latter to qualify for the former.

California’s community colleges are seeing enrollment gains for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Older students—those over 50—are some of the first to return.

Young people are stuck earning low wages, working long hours—often while going to school—and often without benefits or work protections. Their hardships may hamper the state’s economy for years to come, researchers say.

UC Berkeley, Stanford and UC Davis are among the schools that have had incidents related to the Israel-Hamas war. Schools are working to keep students safe and prevent disputes escalating to violence.

Tribes like the Muwekma Ohlone have been asking UC Berkeley for decades to give back ancestral remains from burial sites around the Bay Area. The school is in the process of repatriating 4,400 remains and 25,000 tribal items.

Women are nearly twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, but among boys and girls, the likelihood is the same.

State law requires community colleges to spend at least half their general fund on instructors. But administrators say they want more flexibility to pay for the growing need for student services.

Some advocates believe the state should expand the Cal Grant program for low-income students next year, even if that means pulling money from a financial aid program that benefits middle class students.

Signed by the governor in September 2022, AB 2881 aims to help student parents in California by offering them priority registration. Advocates are optimistic the law will formalize data collection, allowing them to better serve this student population that represents 1 in 5 students nationally.

Despite an influx of money to counter learning loss during the pandemic, English language arts and math test scores remain low.

With the growing use of AI, campus officials are trying to set clear guidelines for college application essays.

Capital Public Radio’s board of directors voted to hire a new general manager on Oct. 3, but Sacramento State said it opposes the move for the financially troubled broadcaster and will not fund the position.

Student workers at the 23-campus system say their pay is low, their hours are restricted and they get no sick pay. They are hoping to join the employees union to fix that.

To qualify for financial aid, students must maintain a certain grade-point-average, but many don’t. A bill on Gov. Newsom’s desk would make it easier for students to keep their aid and stay in college.

After a historic decline in community college enrollment during the pandemic, students are returning to school again, according to the state’s most recent data. But students between the ages of 20 and 30 are lagging behind.

Fall 2023 semester instruction at Sierra College began on August 21st with increased enrollment and a new instructional building, Building Q, made possible by the community’s support for Measure E.

The UC Davis MIND Institute’s popular Distinguished Lecturer Series returns next month with a stellar lineup of experts who will discuss a variety of topics including research, interventions and social issues surrounding autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and more.

The tuition increases were forecast earlier this year, when a Cal State task force concluded the system needs at least $1.5 billion annually in new revenue to afford student services and bolster its academic offerings.

Eight community colleges in California are testing out a new education model, one that defines success by the skills a student learns, not the time they spend in a classroom. But changing the traditional education system isn’t easy.

The plan, if approved, would begin at UCLA, with other campuses added later. But not everyone is on board with the latest version of this bill.

More than 100 people spoke for and against the measure during the six-hour meeting of the Rocklin Unified School Board, which voted to approve a policy requiring teachers to tell parents if their child asks to be identified as a gender other than their assigned sex at birth.

Nearly a third of K-12 students statewide were chronically absent in 2020-21, more than three times the pre-pandemic rate. Some school officials fear that pattern is becoming the new normal.

A June budget deal required community colleges to raise their own money to build affordable student housing. Some campuses said that plan prevented them from building the dorms, even with help from the state to pay the debt.

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks proposed legislation to help get around a court's rejection of a UC Berkeley housing plan. But even if the law is approved, its fate is in the hands of the state Supreme Court.

The federal student loan payment pause is coming to an end. Here’s how to get ready to make payments again.

A new law allows community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees, an option for students unable to attend a four-year institution. But California State University officials are objecting to many of those proposed programs.

Last year California began providing free school lunches to all TK-12 students, regardless of family income. Now, with an influx of state and federal money, school districts are revamping kitchens and training staff so they can provide freshly made, healthy meals.

More than 70% of people have been exposed to medical or health-related misinformation, according to a GoodRx Health study. This means many people are struggling to tell the difference between factual information and false information.

Two recent reports on sexual harassment complaints filed against Cal State employees conclude inconsistent data collection makes it difficult to determine a reliable number.

Ashley Serin has been named interim principal at Roseville High School, where she previously served as the school’s assistant principal, where she will be taking over for Dr. Nicholas Richter.

President of the Douglas County school board Susan Jansen admitted she used profanity in response to public comment during the July 19 special board meeting.

Center Joint Unified School District unveiled the new Rex Fortune Elementary School—the first school to open in the district since 2005. It’s the brainchild of former superintendent Rex Fortune.