A task force that will help combat declining student enrollment rates throughout California was announced Thursday by Tony Thurmond, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The task force's goal is to tackle the problems surrounding dropping enrollment by offering recommendations and technical assistance to districts to help offset challenges being faced.
The co-chairs will be Public Policy Institute of California Vice President Lande Ajose, California Federation of Teachers President Jeff Freitas, Association of California School Administrators Executive Director Edgar Zazueta and California Association of School Business Officials CEO Tatiana Davenport.
"I am committed to supporting the needs of all our schools and school districts and while each school and community has its own unique history and conditions, declining enrollment is something that we are facing together," Thurmond said in a press release.
Thurmond and the co-chairs will focus on data analysis to better understand trends related to the enrollment decline which includes seeing which districts students are leaving from and where they are going.
The task force also plans to investigate birth rates, immigration status and housing costs in the area, specifically urban areas that have previously influenced population fluctuations.
"For many communities, this is not a new challenge, but after two years of a pandemic, the impacts feel amplified and the future seems daunting," Thurmond said.
Nationwide data from the California Department of Education indicated that decreases in student enrollment have affected public schools throughout the nation, not just in the state.
According to a press release from the California Department of Education, California is a control state, meaning that local communities have a bigger role in shaping local spending and program decisions.
Some legislation Thurmond is pursuing includes AB 1614, which would increase the base of funding schools received through the Local Control Funding Formula, as well as SB 830, which would provide an increase in funding for schools based on their enrollment as opposed to their attendance numbers.
These bills are believed to be able to assist districts in accessing immediate resources to help with enrollment issues, according to the press release.
Comments
Registered user
Danville
on Apr 25, 2022 at 8:46 am
Registered user
on Apr 25, 2022 at 8:46 am
"The task force also plans to investigate birth rates, immigration status and housing costs in the area, specifically urban areas that have previously influenced population fluctuations."
It wouldn't occur to them to look at curriculum, teaching standards, and student safety, along with the specter of continuing abuse through Covid mandates of one kind or another.
We have family members who have left the Bay Area and relocated to Northern Nevada. Their children are now enrolled in school there, and have found that all of the things that were lacking in California's public schools are present there. Plus the schools aren't replete with thugs masquerading as children.
Oh, there is no State Income Tax, and property taxes are a tenth of what the are here. And yet government continues to function normally. No wonder people are moving there.
Registered user
Danville
on Apr 25, 2022 at 10:20 pm
Registered user
on Apr 25, 2022 at 10:20 pm
The task force must not be paying attention to what is happening at school board meetings all across this country. Parents finally got to see what now passes as “learning” in many schools. Basic academic studies have been overtaken by critical race theory and sexual grooming, even at the elementary school level. Parents who protest against this are now labeled domestic terrorists.
Often shut out of school board meetings, taxpayer parents are leaving the school system in order to regain their proper role as parents. This trend will continue as long the school systems continue to usurp the role of parents. Furthermore, the sustained Covid restrictions in this state have relegated California to the bottom of the states in learning loss during the pandemic. There is no mystery as to student enrollment decline, but the task force will be unlikely to admit to the real causes.