Santa Clara County Education Digest

The Silicon Valley Pain Index is produced by the San Jose State University Human Rights Institute. The annual study focuses on racial discrimination and wealth inequality.

Last year, California created a $500 million program to help prepare students for careers. With the state facing a $31.5 billion budget deficit, lawmakers want to claw back $400 million of the program.

The school board voted this week to formally approve an ethnic studies course for all freshmen starting this fall, but the decision was not without controversy and disagreement among the elected trustees.

On the cusp of Palo Alto Superintendent Don Austin’s annual evaluation, two groups—those who want him out of the job and those who support him—have both written letters to the Palo Alto Unified school board.

Like thousands of 14-year-olds, Kairan Quazi graduates this month — but not from middle school. He’ll be getting his bachelor’s degree at Santa Clara University and will head to SpaceX to become a software engineer.

Officials in the California State University system recently reported college revenues account for only 86% of operational costs, leaving a gap of $1.5 billion. San Jose State University students can expect to see a tuition hike to make up for the shortfall.

The Palo Alto Unified School District is expediting plans to address student violence and other harmful behaviors, Superintendent Don Austin said in a statement on May 26.

With a conservative Supreme Court expected to rule this summer in favor of ending or restricting affirmative action in college admissions, California’s private universities are worried about the potential impact on campus diversity. College administrators are revamping admissions and doing more high school outreach, while student activists are campaigning against a potential ban.

Workers who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic and are enrolling in a college program have until June 15 to apply for a California relief grant to receive up to $2,500 as state lawmakers seek to cut programs to plug a budget hole.

Proposed cuts stemming from California’s budget deficit mean community colleges may be unable to improve AC and heating, make safety upgrades or follow through on major programs and infrastructure projects.

Palo Alto Unified School District’s decision to close two classrooms for students with moderate-to-severe disabilities and move the students to other school campuses has triggered an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

Lee Lambert will replace Judy Miner, who has led the district for eight years and plans to retire on Sept. 5. The plan is for Lambert—currently the chancellor of Pima Community College in Arizona—to start Aug. 1.

Responding to complaints swirling about an advanced math class, Palo Alto Unified School District stated definitively what it would and wouldn’t offer with respect to multivariable calculus.

Tracey Runeare has been selected to succeed Wynne Satterwhite as the principal of Los Altos High School starting this fall, marking the first time in nearly two decades that the school has had a new leader.

As more housing gets built locally, the Mountain View Whisman School District is considering redrawing school attendance boundaries to spread out the new students who are expected to move into the area.

The UC Student Association is calling for California to spend millions more on disability services at the university, as disabled students report long wait times to access the academic accommodations they say they need to succeed.

Monica Yeung Arima became aware of gaps in her son's elementary school history curriculum when a reading selection talked about the transcontinental railroad—but didn’t include any mention of the Chinese workers who built it.

As the state moves to require dyslexia screening in public schools, experts say teachers need to embrace the “science of reading” approach that emphasizes phonics.

Newsom is closing and downsizing prisons across the state, putting the future of over a thousand incarcerated students at risk. College administrators say they have few resources to help.

Abrupt changes to Mountain View High School's journalism program have some students and community members questioning whether administrators are attempting to exert greater control over students' news stories.

Teachers and parents of John Muir Middle School want their school to provide wrap-around services for students in the hopes of addressing rising discipline issues, teacher burnout and lack of communication with parents. San Jose Unified School District educators and parents are pushing for the campus to convert to a community school model.

After seeing city revenues—and services—oscillate wildly during the pandemic, Palo Alto is hoping for a little stability as it prepares to adopt a budget that will add traffic enforcement and expand library hours.

Nearly 600 community members signed an online petition within days of its launching to oppose the hiring of a non-Native instructor for Evergreen Valley College's first full-time Native American studies teaching position.

With thousands of homeless and food-insecure students, state legislators funded new programs to offer support to community colleges. CalMatters explores how it’s going.

Stanford Provost Persis Drell plans to step down later this year once a successor is in place, the university announced.

The Foothill-De Anza Community College District's board of trustees revealed the four candidates, who are slated to participate in open forums at Foothill College.

Since 1987, the San Jose Conservation Corps has enlisted thousands of young adults in job training programs, but nothing prepared them for what they uncovered while cleaning up parks and trails. A recent city audit found that some of young adults weren't trained to handle used needles, broken glass and other dangerous materials.

The Santa Clara Unified School District Board of Trustees approved three hires: Alissa Meltzer as the executive director of schools, Nathan Ramazane as principal at Ponderosa Elementary School and Angie Scott as assistant principal at Wilson High School.

Mountain View is readying for hundreds of new homes to come online in the next decade. What remains an open question is how local school districts will accommodate the expected influx of students.

San Jose Unified School District estimates it needs to hire 202 teachers for the 2023-24 school year, according to the California Department of Education.

The West Valley-Mission Community College District is releasing a survey to garner ideas on how to make higher education attractive to an older demographic.

A state bill could end suspensions for students who defy teachers’ orders, disrupt school activities, or engage in other types of “willful defiance”—requiring teachers to de-escalate such incidents instead of forcing a child from the classroom.