CSBA releases a new report + Bonta defends DHS immigration enforcement policy
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
NEW REPORT IDENTIFIES NEEDS OF LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES
The California School Boards Association has a new report with a wide-ranging survey of superintendents and financial staff from local education agencies (LEAs) that serve more than 1.3 million K-12 students across the state.
“Beyond the spreadsheets: Insights from California education leaders on utilizing COVID-19 relief funding” offers four key takeaways:
Emergency relief funding was essential for school districts to continue operating and meet student and staff needs.
In the face of a historic educational crisis, school leaders focused on using relief funding to address students’ academic and social-emotional recovery.
Mental health services and supports were a central theme for respondents throughout all sections of the report.
School leaders faced significant challenges in spending and planning to spend emergency relief funding.
It also offers five recommendations.
First, ongoing funding is necessary in the form of increased base aid. The report warns that funding deadlines and declining statewide enrollment may lead to a fiscal cliff, resulting in deep cuts to local school districts.
Second, flexibility is needed for school leaders to make spending decisions. The report says that emergency funding policy should give school leaders wide latitude to respond to fluid situations on the ground.
Third, that future emergency aid should come with fewer required reports and use existing reporting structures to address questions of accountability.
Fourth, that policy makers should consider the cumulative impact on local educational agencies when considering requirements for submitting spending plans.
And fifth, school leaders and governance teams should clearly communicate with their district communities about the programs and services they are implementing regarding COVID funding as well as future emergency aid.
“COVID-19 relief funding has been essential to LEA leaders as they provide students and school communities with the programs and services needed to overcome the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, try to regain academic ground and make new advancements,” CSBA CEO Vernon M. Billy said in a statement.
BONTA CALLS ON SCOTUS TO BACK HOMELAND SECURITY’S POLICY PRIORITIES
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Tuesday announced that he has signed on to a “friend of the court” brief in support of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s policy of prioritizing immigration enforcement against those who pose a threat to national security or public safety.
Bonta joins a coalition of 17 attorneys general in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the Biden Administration’s policy.
When Department of Homeland Security issued its new guidelines in 2021, Texas and Louisiana sued to block them from going into effect. The case worked its way through the federal court system, ultimately ending up before the Supreme Court.
“Make no mistake: The haphazard, dragnet approach to immigration enforcement being pushed by Texas and other states is dangerous and threatens to destabilize our communities,” Bonta said in a statement. “Many noncitizens are contributing members of our society. They pay taxes, support family members who are U.S. citizens, and often serve as essential workers. I respectfully urge the U.S. Supreme Court to reject Texas’ attack on the ability of federal law enforcement to focus on going after actual threats to our communities.”
The amicus brief, which you can read here, argues that the DHS proposal promotes public health and stability of communities, reflects the department’s prioritization of limited enforcement resources and is consistent with a longstanding tradition of prosecutorial discretion.
This is only the latest clash between California leaders and the conservative leaders of states like Texas and Florida; earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom urged the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over DeSantis’ decision to send 50 Venezuelan asylum-seekers to Martha’s Vineyard.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I had to jam my own Democratic legislature in the last few weeks of our session to get these four critical, of the 40 climate bills, done. Had I not done that all those special interests would have prevailed again to deny and delay.”
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom, speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City on Tuesday.
Best of The Bee:
Six years after guards tried to cover up the events that led to the death of a 65-year-old inmate at California State Prison, Sacramento, the inmate’s family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against two guards and the prison warden, via Sam Stanton.
Higher interest rates are coming, probably this week. Food prices will keep going up. Gasoline prices aren’t going to fall anytime soon. But what, exactly, does that mean to you? Via David Lightman.