News

Kelsey Day, IB World Schools Manager for US Public Schools in California, has provided an update on IB policies and resources.

Open for full content and links.

The Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) met late last week. While the agenda was primarily comprised of staff providing updates on various efforts and initiatives, the Commissioners started the meeting by sharing their thoughts and perspectives on the protests, activism, and conversations happening in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others.

Open to review a brief description of key items in AB 77, referred to by the Education Code Sections which are added or amended.

This week’s video version of our update contains observations about the budget battle and other key issues this week. Hope you find it informative.

Click HERE to see the online video briefing.

For more information regarding Automation or Cybersecurity Assessments, please contact Tim Watrous.

-Kevin

Kevin Gordon, President
Capitol Advisors Group, LLC

This morning, CDE released its guidance on the reopening of California’s schools, which can be found here. The 55-page document, entitled “Stronger Together: A Guidebook for the Safe Reopening of California’s Public Schools,” provides schools with recommendations, essential questions to consider, and checklists in a variety of areas, including health and safety, instructional programs for special education, CTE, and English Learners, student mental health, and school services like meals and transportation.

The document does note that statutory changes would be necessary to implement much of the guidance provided, particularly with respect to alternative instructional models, and that the guidance is not restricted to only what would work within our current instructional time, attendance accounting and auditing framework.

The Superintendent will also be holding a press conference later this morning at 11:15 am to go over the guidebook and its recommendations. For those interested in attending, the press conference will be livestreamed on CDE’s Facebook page.

As always, if you have any questions please reach out to any one of us at Capitol Advisors.

Best,
Caitlin

Caitlin Jung
Legislative Counsel
Capitol Advisors Group

Message for Siva Kumari, IBO Director General
May 11, 2020

I contacted my local congressman, Josh Harder, to ask if he could provide a letter to all of California's IB graduates. Congressman Harder attended Modesto High School and is an IB diploma recipient. He sent along a short video clip and a letter that you are free to share with your graduates if you wish. 


Congratulations to the class of 2020. Though the times remain uncertain, CAWS will do all that it can to provide support as you move forward into the 2020-21 school year. 

Warm regards,
Mike

President, CAWS

This week’s video version of our update contains a review of key issues this week and some notable news from today. Hope you find it informative.

Click HERE to see the online video briefing.

Click HERE to view our conversation with former West Virginia Governor Bob Wise regarding potential federal education stimulus funding.

-Kevin

Kevin Gordon, President
Capitol Advisors Group, LLC

This morning, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), the non-partisan budget advisor to the Legislature, released a Spring Fiscal Outlook looking ahead to the 2020-21 fiscal year. Although the LAO recognizes the dramatic economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, and corresponding deep budget deficits, their fiscal assessment is significantly less dire than the Fiscal Update that we wrote about yesterday, after it was released by the Governor’s Department of Finance (DOF). DOF projected a $54 billion budget shortfall, while the LAO projects the shortfall to be between $18 and $31 billion. It is important to note that these shortfalls assume no cuts to K-14 education – that is, continued funding at the 2019-20 level, adjusted for growth and COLA.

Highlights from Capitol Advisors

Sheraton Grand Sacramento

Keynote speaker - Colin Pierce, Secondary School Program Manager for the City of Seattle's Dept of Eudc. & Early Learning