With time to spare, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the final outcomes on Oct. 13 for all legislation that reached his desk at the end of the first year of the two-year 2025–26 legislative. The Governor looked at more than 800 bills, including a number of high-profile education bills.

Notably, four CSBA-sponsored measures reached the Governor’s desk, with three signed into law and one vetoed: The three bills signed by Gov. Newsom will help to expand access to education workforce housing, modernize decades old school and county boards of education stipends for members of local educational agencies, and reduce administrative workloads. The vetoed bill attempted to provide more consistency in classrooms without full-time, credentialed teachers by allowing substitutes to teach longer.

Dyslexia Awareness Month, observed in October, is a time to spread awareness and support for those with the neurobiological learning disability, characterized by the California Dyslexia Guidelines as experiencing “difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.”

“These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction,” the guidelines continue. “Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”

In 1991, I began my tenure as principal of a school that was declared underperforming by the State of California. I was appointed to that role by a superintendent who believed the children there were deserving and capable of something more — and she was absolutely right! The test scores at the school were disheartening, the culture was underwhelming and the school was officially designated for improvement. The prospect of transforming this school and uplifting the students was a daunting one, but neither I nor my staff shrank from the challenge.

More than 30 years later, the circumstances at that school in the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD) have improved dramatically, but many of the same issues that afflicted students when I accepted that leadership position back in the early ‘90s remain prevalent throughout California. Simply put, the achievement gap separating higher-performing student groups from those lagging below — and sometimes far below — proficiency remains alarmingly wide.

The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) is a quasi-judicial tribunal established by the California Legislature in 1945 to hear and neutrally resolve disputes for various state and local government agencies, such as school districts. OAH conducts hearings on a variety of matters, including challenges to reduction in force (layoff) actions for certificated and classified employees. These OAH decisions, made by administrative law judges (ALJs), offer helpful guidance for properly completing the complex process of executing a layoff. In 2025, there were more reductions in force than in prior years when funding was on stronger footing. Given economic conditions, layoffs are likely to be significant in March 2026, and this article addresses recent cases regarding certificated layoffs.

In a time marked by declining enrollment, shifts in federal policy and rising costs, the board’s role as stewards of local education finance is more critical than ever. In response to concerns from board members around the state, CSBA hosted a webinar, “Maximizing Impact: Prioritizing investments for students’ long-term success,” featuring education researchers from WestEd sharing the current budget landscape and strategies on navigating uncertain budget scenarios. Fresno Unified School District Board President Valerie F. Davis joined the panelists to talk about the district’s student outcomes-focused governance and the board’s oversight role.

Assessment was top of mind during the California State Board of Education’s (SBE) Sept. 10–11 meeting. Among the actions taken, the board approved proposed changes to California Spanish assessment threshold scores and the California Spanish assessment threshold level to earn a State Seal of Biliteracy (SSB), as well as revisions to the Student Score Reports (SSRs) for the California Science Test (CAST), Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for English language arts (ELA)/literacy and mathematics, and the California Spanish Assessment (CSA). The Smarter Balanced Assessments are also known as the California Assessment for Student Performance and Progress.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month — a time for local educational agencies to take a deep dive into examining how they can foster positive, safe and inclusive school environments in order to prevent bullying and boost student success.

Often, academic-centered interventions, such as high-dosage tutoring or professional development for educators, are among proposed solutions to addressing achievement gaps and learning loss resulting from the pandemic, natural disasters and more.

On Aug. 19, the California Department of Education (CDE) and Attendance Works announced in a press conference that California is on track and committed to reducing chronic absenteeism by 50 percent by 2030. It also marked the release of the California Attendance Guide (www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ai/ag), an online resource that shows how recent successes in reducing chronic absenteeism can be turned into actionable strategies for local educational agencies statewide. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have joined Attendance Works’ national chronic absenteeism challenge.