Recent News

Happy New Year to all DP and CP Schools!
The UC High School Articulation Office will open their A-G Course Management Portal on February 1. At this time, you will be able to submit new courses or request course revisions for the 2023-2024 school year. The primary phase for submissions will be February 1-June 30. Any new IB courses or IB course revisions need to be submitted through the IB Organization A-G course management portal.

CAWS Membership payment must be received by Tom Krucli, CAWS Financial Director, by March 31, 2023. Please mail your payment directly to Tom. His address is on the SOTY Application Form. Each CAWS member programme may nominate one student for their CAWS IB Student of the Year award. 
The SOTY application deadline is April 7, 2023.

This course was recently approved by UC as an Area G/Interdisciplinary honors elective for grades 11-12. The aim of the course is to facilitate learning and completion of the core components of the IB Diploma, as well as support student success in other academic subjects.

Governor Newsom this morning released his state budget proposal for 2023-24, which anticipates a $22.5 billion deficit, largely driven by a decline in capital gains revenues. His proposal relies heavily on the state's historic $35.6 billion in reserves to balance the budget going forward

Real change begins when we choose hope. By believing that we have the power to make an impact, we take the first step on the journey to changing our world. The choice is yours. But you are not alone. This is an invitation to join an inspiring community that will help us think boldly, nurture our curiosity, and empower us to act together.

Welcome to the Festival of Hope.

Everyone who closely monitors the state’s fiscal condition were alarmed last month by a report from the state Legislative Analyst's Office that projected a $42 billion budget deficit across a three-year budget forecast that includes an estimated $25 billion problem for next year alone.

Our team has produced a series of comprehensive client briefs detailing new education laws that were passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Newsom in 2022. Each brief is organized by subject area and includes an executive summary highlighting major changes we think you should know about. Bills signed by the Governor take effect on January 1, 2023, unless the bill specifically states otherwise (i.e. budget bills).

Just a quick note to bring you up-to-speed on what is happening in Sacramento.

The Legislature has finished its work, and the Governor has signed and/or vetoed thousands of bills that made it to his desk.

If there was a central theme to some of the Governor’s actions, it was that he was reluctant to sign into law many bills that obligated the state to spend funds into the future. As he indicated in several veto messages, tax revenues were coming into state coffers at a severely reduced rate.

The State Board of Education (SBE) met this week with a focus on the future of our accountability and assessment systems, including changes to the California School Dashboard and California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) threshold scores and reporting. The Board also welcomed two new members. Following is a summary of the September meeting.

CAWS New Board Members at Large

Last Friday afternoon, the Legislature released SB 185 and AB 185, the two houses’ versions of the K-12 education budget clean-up bill. Essentially identical in language, these measures contain both clarifying changes and corrections to proposals funded in the 2022 Budget Act, including the transitional kindergarten (TK) expansion and the 2021-22 ADA protection language, as well as additional, new policy changes. Our team has put together a summary of the major proposed changes:

I hope your school year is off to a good start and hopefully some of the challenges you’ve faced over the past couple of years navigating the uncertainties brought on by the pandemic have begun to subside. All of us at CAWS recognize how trying these times have been. Our mission is to support the efforts of all IB schools in California, and we want you to know we’re here to help no matter the question, concern or need. We will begin the year hosting a number of virtual roundtables, seminars, and other events.

Late last week, Governor Newsom held a press conference to unveil his California’s Master Plan for Kids’ Mental Health.
The Plan outlines action across three key pillars: 1)  Healthy Minds for California Kids, 2)  Rebuilding California’s Mental Health Systems and 3)  Developing a Mental Health Workforce. Continue for details.

As evidenced by the fact that negotiations on this year’s budget went down to the wire, with the Governor signing the final budget agreement mere hours before the start of the new fiscal year, there were a number of areas where the Governor and Legislative Leadership disagreed. For K-12 education, this included the amount by which to increase LCFF base funding, whether to provide attendance relief for the 2021-22 school year, the funding level for the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program, and providing additional funding for the state’s Community Schools Program.

On July 1, the State Legislature officially adjourned for Summer Recess. Members of both the Senate and Assembly have returned home to their districts to spend a month with their families and certainly get a little bit of local campaigning done with just months to go before the November election.