San Benito County Education Digest

A program for low-income, first-generation STEM students at community colleges is receiving millions of dollars to expand across the state.

Small and low-income school officials say the bond measure deal is unfair. The money is allocated through matching grants, so wealthier districts that can raise more local funds will get more money from the state.

The two-day CalMatters Ideas Festival wrapped on June 6 with more than a dozen events examining critical policy issues impacting the lives of millions of Californians.

A panel of labor experts at the CalMatters Ideas Festival say California workers should have more access to more apprenticeships that pay more. Barriers still exist, especially for women and low-income Californians.

EdSource reports that police are dispatched thousands of times per school day across California.

The state is directly investing money for low-income students and all newborns to attend college. After two years, the program is still not widely known by the students who need the most financial assistance.

After University of California students were arrested or suspended for protests, student workers are striking at three campuses. The Office of President says the strike violates the union contract.

Two major forces are at play: Gov. Gavin Newsom scaled back his promise of increased financial support for Cal State, while university officials agreed to 5% salary increases earlier this year.

The job action starting today at UC Santa Cruz isn’t about pay, but instead is in response to how UC deployed police to clear pro-Palestinian encampments on campuses.

Gov. Gavin Newsom launched the community school initiative with $4.1 billion in grants to connect students and their families to medical care, counseling and other services.

In response to new housing developments, the Hollister School District is reconfiguring area schools to serve a shifting population.

Nine counties located more than an hour away from universities with teacher preparation programs face particular difficulties.

In its April 9 meeting, the San Benito High School District approved a financier and is moving forward to purchase land on Wright Road in Hollister as the site of a second high school.

Heiress Paris Hilton is on a mission to shine a light on the "troubled teen industry," a largely unregulated multibillion-dollar industry that is gaining public scrutiny for alleged abuse of vulnerable youths.

The move puts the fate of AB 2222 in question, but supporters insist that there is room to negotiate changes that can help tackle the state's literacy crisis.

After bringing his story all the way to the University of California Board of Regents, a disabled UC Berkeley student has prompted the UC to ensure emergency evacuation chairs are in every multi-storied building in the 10-university system.

In the midst of a library expansion and an FBI investigation, San Benito County is considering the hiring of a new head librarian.

The board approved paying $2.23 million for the 49.68-acre Pura Vida property on Wright Road.

An interview with Lucinda Lee Katz, the first grade teacher of the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Lau vs. Nichols.

200 laptop computers were donated to Youth Alliance by AT&T, Monterey Peninsula Foundation and Human-I-T, for distribution to Hollister and Gilroy residents lacking "digital basics".

California’s public schools depend on state aid for the lion’s share of their operational income. Two trends – declining enrollment and high absenteeism – are creating financial headaches.

The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources advisors has published a new website with information resources for small acreage landowners raising livestock.

California schools got $23.4 billion in federal pandemic relief money. Low-income schools that got the most may be hardest hit when the funds expire this year.

The Barragan family has funded more than $1.2 million for campus projects, with the latest donation going towards new bleachers, a press box and a custom sound system for the Ray Barragan Softball Stadium.

EdSource asked students at California colleges and universities why they are choosing between online or in-person options.

On one side: Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ advocacy group. On the other side: Protect Kids California, a parents rights organization.

Lawyers representing organizations in property-poor school districts are pressing Gavin Newsom and legislators over a school bond for the November ballot.

Members of the California Faculty Association approve a two-year agreement that the union and administration hammered out after a strike last month that lasted one day.

Immigration enforcement lowers students’ ability to succeed academically and negatively affects their overall learning experience.

Teachers and students tap into a native tradition in which art and nature have always been inextricably linked.

By reframing them as mutually reinforcing rather than mutually exclusive, we can transform education for every child.

The state is to implement long-awaited new guidelines in 2025 despite some calls for a year’s delay.