The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE) board convened on June 12 to hear presentations on the accomplishments of the agency’s three centers in 2024–25 and their respective goals for 2025–26.

In the current year, the CCEE’s Transformative Systems for Equitable Educational Outcomes Center carried out actions to strengthen the Statewide System of Support (SSOS) through coordination and collaboration as well as the launch of the online SSOS resource hub and directory among other tasks to advance its mission of providing local educational agencies the supports they need to improve outcomes for all students.

As a former teacher and principal, and a current school board member, I am intimately familiar with the impact of the teacher shortage and consider it one of California’s most pressing and intractable problems. To address this multifaceted issue, schools need a wide array of options, including Assembly Bill 1224, pending state legislation that would increase continuity of instruction when teachers are out on leave and when a school struggles to fill a teacher vacancy.

Providing a high-quality and individualized education to each student with a disability is one of the most demanding and dynamic aspects of education. Developing and maintaining special education-related policies that are legally compliant and effectively implemented allows local educational agencies to best serve students and protect themselves from liability.

On June 10, CSBA’s AI Taskforce hosted its fourth and final webinar, “Navigating AI Policy, Privacy and Procurement with CITE: A primer for TK-12 board members,” which covered five elements that local educational agencies can explore as they consider artificial intelligence (AI) and how it may fit into their schools.

Those include developing guiding principles, responsible use agreements and policy around student data privacy as well as establishing the role of institutional technology leaders and AI literacy, as discussed by Laurel Nava, deputy executive director of California IT in Education (CITE), and Kelly Hilton, director of technology at San Ramon Valley School District and a CITE-certified chief technology officer.implement those much more efficiently than in the past.

Enrollment in California schools continued to decline in the 2024–25 school year, but at a significantly slower rate compared to the years directly following pandemic closures when enrollment dropped by more than 200,000, according to new annual data released by the California Department of Education (CDE) in May via DataQuest.

In 2024–25, enrollment in California schools is 5,806,221 students, a decline of 0.5 percent compared to the year prior. A significant part of the slowing is a year-over-year increase in transitional kindergarten (TK) enrollment of 17.2 percent. Eighty-five percent of all local educational agencies in the state now offer a TK program. Another initiative contributing to stemming the enrollment decline is dual language immersion programs, which have seen a 39 percent increase since 2018–19.

A new state-by-state report from ArtScan — a project of the Arts Education Partnership — details the current arts education policy landscape.

The latest updates capture state arts education standards and instructional requirements, arts education assessment requirements and more. Researchers note that while many decisions around curriculum, instruction and assessment are made at the local level, access to state-level contexts can assist in identifying gaps in learning across states.

The month of June brought two updates related to the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) that local educational agencies should be aware of. A recent Attorney General opinion and CalPERS circular letter can help LEAs ensure they are legally compliant with their responsibilities as CalPERS and CalSTRS members, and highlight where advice from legal counsel, including CSBA’s District and County Office of Education Legal Services, may be needed.

As the rapid advancement and accessibility of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT transform how children interact, learn and socialize, researchers and parents alike have begun to question the impacts these shifts will have on children’s development and socialization.

Despite potential benefits, some worry that younger children in particular may face reduced opportunities for critical social interactions essential for the development of emotional intelligence, empathy and communication skills.

The National Institute for Early Education Research’s (NIEER) 2024 State of Preschool report found that although state-led initiatives to advance early childhood education (ECE) hit “historic highs” in 2023–24, and preschool participation rebounded from the pandemic, overall progress has been “highly uneven from state to state.”

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) recently released two fact sheets detailing college access and readiness throughout the state.

Researchers found that the majority of California students graduate high school — thereby fulfilling one requirement for acceptance into one of the state’s four-year university systems — but less than half complete the courses required for eligibility. While well over half of graduates go to college, transfers from community colleges make up a sizable share of enrollment at both the California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) campuses.

Of the 50 states, California ranked 32nd in the country for the overall well-being of its children, according to The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2025 Kids Count Data Book: State Trends in Child Well-Being.

The annual report, in its 36th year, ranks states based on indicators associated with the well-being of young people including their economic circumstances, education, health, and family and community relationships.

Del Norte County is in the early stages of bringing back an initiative dissolved decades ago that will allow local teens who commit a first-time, non-violent offense, such as fighting, shoplifting or graffiti, to take accountability and repair harm without getting involved in the justice system.