Santa Clara County Education Digest

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

After years of declining enrollment due to the pandemic, community colleges are considering a new approach—enrolling students before they even graduate high school.

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.

Parents in San Jose’s largest school district are stepping up to take responsibility for school safety. Helmed by Trudi McCanna, San Jose Unified School District parents have formed a school safety group, the Why Wait Project.

One of the hidden gems of the summer curriculum in the Santa Clara Unified School District is the Farm to Table Camp, a program on the district’s farm behind Peterson Middle School.

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

California is preparing to overhaul math instruction with new guidelines that reignite a years-old debate about the best way to teach math and how to balance the needs of students with different skill levels.

East San Jose is primed to help its youngest residents with a new center to shape their academic future as the Cesar Chavez Early Learning Center opens its doors.

Student interns enter San Jose City Hall year-round with dreams of launching their political careers, but only some leave with a paycheck. On the 18th floor of city hall, there are currently 66 student interns who work for councilmembers or the mayor—and about 60% are paid for their time.

The San Jose-Evergreen Community College District has selected a new interim chancellor, unanimously appointing Beatriz Chaidez to the position.

A Maryland-based legal group is suing the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District to obtain records related to its ethnic studies program.

After several high-profile sexual harassment cases, Cal State needs more training, staff and outreach to students and employees, an outside firm concludes.

Santa Clara County has partnered with the College of Adaptive Arts to provide access to the CAA’s apprenticeship program. The CAA is based at West Valley College and serves nearly 200 students, most of whom are living with an intellectual or developmental disability.

Gilbert Wong, a board member of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District and former Cupertino councilmember, is suing the district and his colleagues after they censured him for allegedly making racist remarks to an African American college president.

Mildred García will take over a system confronting a budget shortfall, declining enrollment and complaints about how Cal State officials have handled sexual misconduct allegations.

Sacramento State is one of the most diverse colleges in all of California—a state that stopped allowing race to be a criteria for admission in its public academic institutions in 1996 with the passage of Proposition 209.

Three people are vying in a November special election to fill an open seat on the board of the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District: Diego Barragán, Lisanna Dominguez and Clay Hale.

A proposal to set up degree completion funds for California student athletes has met with stiff opposition from universities and the NCAA. College athletes could earn a share of the revenue they generate under the bill — as much as $25,000 for each year that they played their sport. But the bill’s author has delayed it until 2024 after opponents charged the fund would draw money away from less lucrative sports like gymnastics and swimming.

Many California colleges and universities define “first-generation college student” differently, creating a confusing situation for students to navigate.

Graduate-student workers at Stanford University have unionized, the result of an April vote that saw 94% of ballots cast in favoring the move, the Stanford Graduate Workers Union announced.

A budget deal between lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newson includes $227 million more for the state’s Middle Class Scholarship, part of a commitment to eventually remove any reason for public university students to go into debt. The revised program debuted last year, sending an average of nearly $2,000 to 300,000 students.

Back in 2021, a group of 13 students embarked into unchartered territory.  They entered Milpitas Middle College High School, an innovative program run by the Milpitas Unified School District that allows students to take college courses while pursuing their high school diploma.

Los Altos High Assistant Principal Galen Rosenberg retired this summer after nearly 40 years at the school and is being replaced by longtime social studies teacher Derek Miyahara.

Breaking from over a decade of traditionally not raising tuition for its students, Cal State leaders on Thursday released a proposal that would start annual increases in fall 2024. They say it’s the only way to make up a shortfall between operating costs and revenues.

A San Jose private school run by Mayor Matt Mahan’s wife is receiving a $862,000 city grant, which has raised questions about favoritism due to the school's close connections to the former mayor and other city hires.

Advocates supporting a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a right to a high-quality education say they want to hold schools accountable. But critics fear its vague language could unleash a barrage of lawsuits.

A pro-Israel law firm has sued the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District for allegedly withholding records related to a pro-Palestinian consultant who was hired to train teachers on ethnic studies.

In a staffing shakeup, the Mountain View Whisman School District announced several new administrators across five schools in the district for the 2023-24 school year.

Months after a petition was created to protect LGBTQ+ students in the San Jose Unified School District, the community is still frustrated with the district's lack of response, claiming it has ignored their requests for a more inclusive environment.

The arguments made by the Los Angeles Unified School District to fight a 2021 lawsuit attempting to reopen schools sparked a campaign to enshrine a constitutional right to a high-quality education. Let the politics begin.