The Democratic candidates for governor must be ignorant of California's election rules: Only the top two primary vote-getters will be on the November ballot. All Democratic candidates should thrash out who is the best candidate, otherwise it is possible that no Democrat will be on the November ballot. And the November ballot will have a huge conservative turnout because of the constitutional initiative circulating to suppress the vote of low-income/minority/youth/women voters by requiring unnecessary certified, documented proof of citizenship in order to vote, ending online voter registration. Stop and think, Betty Yee, Xavier Becerra, Matt Mahan, Katie Porter, Tom Steyer and Eric Swalwell: What if there were no Democrats on the November ballot because of your egotism? Idiocy.
California lawmakers have been told over the past two decades that it needs to improve how it oversees charter schools, but the state has not yet made significant changes to its laws and policies about how to hold a charter school accountable while it's operating. Those shortfalls have cost the state, which has seen recent cases of fraud and other improper spending by certain charter school networks.
Almost 90% of the state's school districts recorded enrollment declines from 2013-14 to 2023-24, as total K-12 enrollment dropped from roughly 3.1 million to 2.8 million students, according to the latest Topics in Demography (TiDbit) research brief released by the Cornell Program on Applied Demographics , part of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. The decade also saw shifts in how New York youth are being educated, reflecting growth in school choice and impacts from the pandemic, researchers said.
But what stood out most about the free public charter school was that it offered a high-quality education in an all-girls setting designed to build confidence, leadership, and academic ambition without the social pressures typically found in a co-ed setting. "I chose this school because only girls come, and you know sometimes boys are a little more mischievous, and they don't focus on what the teacher is saying in class and everything," Avila said.
A group of students, eager to explore the halls of power in Washington, D.C., found their path blocked by closed doors. But instead of sending them home disappointed, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose district includes parts of the Bronx, stepped in. She didn't just say hello to them she personally led them on a tour of the Capitol and turned what could have been a major letdown into a civics lesson they will never forget.
Even as McMahon has shrunk the Department of Education, she's operated in what she calls "a parallel universe" to radically shift how children will learn for years to come. The department's actions and policies reflect a disdain for public schools and a desire to dismantle that system in favor of a range of other options - private, Christian and virtual schools or homeschooling.
NEW YORK - On Thursday, thousands of students, teachers and parents flooded the streets of Brooklyn to press the case for charter schools in New York City, home to the nation's largest school system.
"A day after families and leaders from over 200 charter schools marched across the Brooklyn Bridge, powerful state lawmakers demanded an investigation into the event, saying they believed it was an inappropriate political rally despite organizers' claims to the contrary. New York state senators John Liu, of Queens, and Shelley Mayer, of Westchester - the chairs of their chamber's education committee who have both historically opposed charter school expansion - expressed concerns about the schools potentially pressuring families and staff to attend or face repercussions."
Families grabbed placards declaring "Every Zip Code Deserves Excellence," "Equity is Access," and "Respect Our Choice," while charter school leaders rallied alongside them. By noon, the crowd - representing more than 200 charter schools - spilled out of the park and onto the Brooklyn Bridge to advocate for the education sector. As it did during the 2013 New York City mayoral election, the charter sector has shifted into offense in recent weeks as Democratic Socialist frontrunner Zohran Mamdani leads the polls.
The mayor, who oversees the New York City public school system, does not have direct authority to expand or shrink the charter sector. He can, however, set the tone on whether the city is a welcoming environment for charters, which are privately managed and publicly funded. The sector educates nearly 150,000 children, or 15% of public school students, up from 6% a dozen years ago. More than 40% of charter schools operate in Education Department buildings.
Even when she was a little kid growing up in New Orleans, Stacey Gilbert knew she wanted to be a special education teacher. She remembers her reaction to the 1962 film The Miracle Worker, about Helen Keller, and watching other movies about children with special needs. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit her hometown, Gilbert had been teaching in the city's public schools for almost two decades.
All through middle and high school in New Orleans, Geraldlynn Stewart heard the message every day: College was the key to a successful future. It was there on the banners that coated the doors and hallways, advertising far-flung schools, like Princeton University and Grinnell College. And she could hear it in the chants students recited over and over again. This is the way! We start the day! We get the knowledge to go to college!
"I was so against charter schools. I thought it was the pits," says Mary Haynes-Smith, the school's longtime principal. Haynes-Smith didn't like what she'd heard from parents that they felt shut out by the private organizations hired to run the charter schools. But as New Orleans crept closer to becoming the country's first all-charter system in the 2010s, the handful of traditional schools left, including Bethune Elementary, started feeling more pressure. "It was a forceful thing," she remembers.
The move followed Walters's false claim that the Trump administration had approved his plan to eliminate statewide end-of-year testing. On a right-wing outlet earlier this month, Walters bragged, "We went to the Trump administration and they said they were all for it," Notus reports. That wasn't true. McMahon publicly corrected him, telling reporters the waiver "has not gone through all the different steps that it needs to be." Asked whether she'd meet Walters during her visit, she shot back: "I don't believe that's on my schedule today."
