Voices Against Privatizing Public Education
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www.wpri.com/news/politics/mckee-signs-charter-school-moratorium-into-law/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSj_zRle…
McKee signs charter school moratorium into law
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The governor signed the measure despite his longstanding and outspoken support for charters.www.ipm.org/news/2026-06-09/iu-east-set-to-launch-public-charter-school-local-superintendent-rais…
IU East set to launch public charter school, local superintendent raises concerns
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Indiana University East High School will launch this fall.newschunks.com/state/california/sacramento/sacramento-teacher-sues-district-over-discrimination-c…
Sacramento teacher sues district over discrimination claim – NewsChunks
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In a serious legal battle unfolding in Sacramento, former kindergarten teacher Lanisha Barney has filed a lawsuit against the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD), alleging racial discrimin…
University of California pushes for $12B scientific research bond to counter federal cuts
The bond will appear on the November ballot if Senate Bill 895 clears the Legislature and receives Newsom's signature this month
edsource.org/2026/trump-administration-cuts-research-funding/759543
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MICHAEL BURKE
PUBLISHED
JUNE 5, 2026
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University of California researchers rally in support of Senate Bill 895, which, if approved, would place a $12 billion research bond on the November ballot.
Courtest of UAW 4811
The Trump administration has awarded fewer grants toward scientific research or eliminated them altogether, impacting researchers at several California universities.
In response, the University of California is pushing to get a $12 billion state bond on the November ballot to fund scientific research at California universities, research institutes and private companies.
For the bond to appear on the ballot, the state Legislature first needs to approve Senate Bill 895, which is supported by the union representing academic workers at UC.
David Boyer is stuck in a waiting game. For more than 18 months, silence from the National Institutes of Health on a crucial grant decision has thrown his research developing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease into uncertain territory.
His application received a favorable impact score, the main metric used for NIH funding decisions, so the postdoctoral scholar at UCLA figured he would hear good news by spring of 2025. Instead, he has heard nothing.
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David Boyer, a postdoctoral scholar in UCLA’s Eisenberg Lab
Without the funding, he has less to spend on his experiments, which require thousands of dollars worth of materials, including advanced microscopes. In a worst-case scenario, it’s possible he could lose his job if the grant doesn’t come through.
“It’s really up in the air whether I would be able to continue getting funded,” said Boyer, who is part of UCLA’s Eisenberg Lab.
Boyer is not alone. Federal funding for scientific research, from agencies such as NIH and the National Science Foundation, has been upended under the Trump administration, with fewer grants being awarded and some existing grants being canceled altogether. Even researchers with stable funding worry that their grants could get suspended or will not be renewed.
But now, Boyer and other researchers at California universities have some hope that they could get a reprieve — from California voters.
The University of California is pushing to get a $12 billion state bond on the November ballot that would fund scientific research projects at California universities, research institutes and private companies. In addition to UC and California State University campuses, private universities such as Stanford and the University of Southern California would also be eligible for the bond money.
For the bond to appear on the ballot, the state Legislature first needs to approve Senate Bill 895. The bill’s sponsors include UC and UAW 4811, the union representing 48,000 academic workers at UC, including thousands of researchers.
The bill was approved last week by the Senate and now heads to the Assembly. It must be passed and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom by June 25 to make the ballot.
“As the federal government cuts and destroys scientific funding, as it creates long-term instability and uncertainty, as science has now become a political football in this country, let’s make sure that California retains and expands our leadership in scientific research,” state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said on the Senate floor last week just before the vote. Wiener is one of the authors of the bill.
If passed and approved by voters, the measure would create the California Foundation for Science and Health Research, which would award the grants using “an open, competitive, scientific peer review process,” according to the bill.
The bond would not be a cure-all for research funding if federal spending continues to dwindle. UC alone gets nearly $6 billion annually in federal support for research.
“There is nobody else who can substitute for research funding on the scale the federal government supplies,” said Simon Atkinson, vice chancellor for research at UC Davis.
Still, Atkinson and other proponents of the bond agree that it would benefit researchers in California not to rely so much on the federal government, especially under the Trump administration, which proposed a $5 billion cut to NIH for 2027. Last week, The New York Times reported that NSF had slowed funding to Harvard and other institutions targeted by the White House, though the impact on California campuses is unclear.
Having another potential funding source would be welcome news to Ximena Anleu Gil, a plant biologist at UC Davis who researches how to breed more plants in environmentally friendly ways.
There is one year remaining on the grant that funds Gil’s position in UC Davis’ Meyers Lab. The prospect of not having the funding renewed is stressful for Gil, who is the main provider for her family, which includes her partner and 7-month-old daughter.
“I’m very scared of what could happen. If I’m laid off, we’re screwed,” Gil said. “But having another source of potential funding, that would already feel like a big relief.”
If voters approve the bond, the legislation requires that priority be given to replacing funding slashed by the federal government.
In California, 782 grants have been terminated by the federal government since January 2025, according to the website Grant Witness, a project tracking terminations under the Trump administration.
Most of those grants have been restored under court orders, but dozens remain canceled, including one at UC San Francisco’s Center for AIDS Research that paid for training for undergraduate students.
Under that grant, students from nearby Hispanic-Serving Institutions, including San Francisco State University, would spend the summer at UCSF doing HIV research. At the end of the summer, the center would hold a symposium where undergraduates present their findings.
The idea was to expose those students to the field and get them interested in HIV research, said Monica Gandhi, director of the center.
“There are fewer and fewer people going into infectious disease research at a time when infectious diseases are all over,” Gandhi said. “It really just got them excited, and we thought it would help grow our biomedical research workforce in a really important topic.”
If California’s bond goes through, Gandhi said she expects the center would immediately apply for a grant to restart that program.
Federal funding remains intact for the rest of the AIDS research center, which organizes all HIV research across UCSF. But it’s not clear how long that will be the case. Gandhi said the center is waiting for a formal notice from NIH to apply for a grant renewal, which she said normally would have come by now.
“There are all these little ways they are making it harder to get funding,” she said. “Having a California-based initiative that isn’t political and will have the grants be judged on their scientific merit would be amazing. And I think it will go a long way.”
University of California pushes for $12B scientific research bond to counter federal cuts
edsource.org
Amid federal cuts and funding uncertainties, the University of California is advocating for a state bond to fund scientific research projects at California universities.Students Battling Police In Chile www.facebook.com/reel/1452512273231320
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The Davis Joint Unified School District is weighing the closure of two elementary schools and potentially a junior high school, a measure prompted by significant declines in student enrollment. Distri…As LAUSD faces layoffs, federal investigations, and ongoing questions about oversight, Tuesday’s school board election could shape the future of public education in Los Angeles for years to come. I’ve published my endorsements for the 2026 LAUSD races in Board Districts 2 and 4, including why I’m supporting Ankur Patel and Dr. Rocío Rivas — and where I still have concerns. Read here: medium.com/educreation/lausd-election-endorsements-why-im-supporting-ankur-patel-and-dr-roc%C3%AD…
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Idaho schools reduce staff amid rising costs, enrollment declines
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Local budgets are tightening, even though K-12 was mostly spared from state cuts this year.
Billionaire Netflix Owner & Charger Supporter Reed Hastings-A major new player in education giving, The City Fund uses over $100 million in grants to grow charter and charter-like schools
www.chalkbeat.org/2020/2/21/21178789/a-major-new-player-in-education-giving-the-city-fund-uses-ov…
By
Matt Barnum
|February 21, 2020, 11:06am PST
The newest major player in school reform has already issued more than $110 million in grants to support the growth of charter and charter-like schools across the U.S.
The City Fund’s spending, detailed on a new website, means the organization has quickly become one of the country’s largest K-12 education grantmakers. The money has gone to organizations in more than a dozen cities, including Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Denver, Memphis, and Oakland.
The spending is evidence that The City Fund’s brand of school reform continues to attract major financial support — and may foretell more battles over education politics in those cities.
The City Fund “is being led by an incredibly well-connected group of people,” said Sarah Reckhow, a Michigan State University professor who follows education philanthropy and politics. “If a district’s name is on this list, then yes, you would expect some things to happen.”
The City Fund’s strategy is to grow the number of schools, including charters, run by nonprofits rather than traditional school boards. Advocates say that shift will help low-income students of color, pointing to academic improvements in virtually all-charter New Orleans as one example. Critics argue that strategy undermines teachers unions, democratically elected school boards, and existing public schools.
Overall, The City Fund says it has raised $225 million, largely from Netflix founder Reed Hastings and Texas philanthropist John Arnold. (Chalkbeat is funded by Arnold Ventures.) The organization has also created a political arm, Public School Allies, which has raised $15 million from Hastings and Arnold to support officials vying for state and local office.
In a speech in December, Hastings, who is also on The City Fund’s board, spelled out his vision.
“Let’s year by year expand the nonprofit school sector,” he said. “We know the school district is probably not going to like it, but we’re not against them. We’re for good schools, period. If there’s a very high-performing school district school, let’s keep it. But the low-performing school district public school — let’s have a nonprofit public school take it over.”
The City Fund is supporting city-based organizations and charter networks
The City Fund is spending its money to promote the growth of charter schools as well as hybrids where charter operators or other nonprofits lead schools under the auspices of school districts. Examples include Indianapolis’ “innovation network”schools, “renaissance” schools in Camden, New Jersey, and turnaround schools in Atlanta.
That is connected to an approach to running schools referred to as the “portfolio model.” Under this approach, schools that succeed are encouraged to grow; those that fall short are closed or turned over to new management. Schools are often run by nonprofit boards who hire staff, who are rarely unionized, while districts oversee centralized functions like enrollment.
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New Orleans, Denver, and Indianapolis’ central school district have adopted many elements of that structure, and The City Fund has given to groups in each.
The Denver nonprofit RootEd netted a $21 million grant. The Mind Trust in Indianapolis, previously run by City Fund partner David Harris, got $18 million. New Schools for New Orleans, previously run by City Fund partner Neerav Kingsland, won $7 million. (These and many other grants are for multiple years.)
In turn, these organizations have doled out their own grants to local parent groups, teacher training organizations, political action committees, and charter networks, among others.
The City Fund has supported groups in cities that haven’t already embraced the portfolio model, too. In Oakland, The City Fund has given to a local parent group (Oakland Reach), a charter network (Education for Change), and an education-focused nonprofit (Educate78).
In Nashville, it’s backed charter schools and networks, including KIPP Nashville, Nashville Classical Charter, RePublic Schools, and Valor Collegiate.
The City Fund has also made large grants to nonprofits in Atlanta ($2.75 million to redefinED); Baton Rouge ($13.49 million to New Schools for Baton Rouge); Memphis ($5 million to the Memphis Education Fund); Newark ($5.33 million to the New Jersey Children’s Foundation); St. Louis ($5.5 million to The Opportunity Trust); and San Antonio ($4.98 to City Education Partners).
A handful of grants have gone to national groups, like $2 million to the pro-charter 50CAN and $875,000 to the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a University of Washington think tank that has studied and promoted the portfolio model. Smaller grants have gone to nonprofits in other cities, including Boston and Minneapolis.
All told, The City Fund’s grants are of similar magnitude to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s annual education giving, and about half the size of the Walton Family Foundation’s annual K-12 education giving. (Walton also backs The City Fund, and CZI and Walton are both supporters of Chalkbeat.)
Janelle Scott, a Berkeley education professor, noted that many of The City Fund’s large grants are for general operating expenses, crucial for nonprofits. “This is an attempt at institution building,” she said.
Kingsland, who declined an interview request but answered questions by email, said the group’s emphasis is supporting local organizations. “Our goal is to work with local leaders in the cities so that every child has access to a high-quality school, regardless of governance,” he said. “The goal is 100% great public schools.”
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Why the approach is controversial, and in some cities facing backlash
In some of The City Fund’s target cities, the political winds are shifting in ways that could complicate its efforts.
Denver, for example, has pursued portfolio-style reforms for well over a decade. But union-backed candidates recently took control of the school board. Since then, the board has effectively halted closures of low-performing schools and a working group has recommended scrapping the district’s system of measuring school performance.
“The new local school board has expressed skepticism on certain aspects of the reforms, such as intervening in lower performing schools,” said Kingsland. “To the extent this skepticism is widespread within Denver and across other cities, that will be an important sign on which types of policies are sustainable and which are not. Ultimately, we only want to support policies that are backed by local leaders.”
In Indianapolis’ central school district, two critics of the innovation schools model were recently elected to the school board. And nationally, charter schools face challenges as more states and cities limit their growth and support among Democrats wanes.
“Charter schools are more polarized both in local politics and national politics,” said Reckhow.
Critics note that the growth of alternative schools can place financial strain on existing schools and can lead them to close. Both Oakland and St. Louis are facing district school closures now.
For districts, it comes down to “how much they can absorb new schools without having to close existing schools,” said Reckhow. “Closing existing schools is unpopular.” (Kingsland acknowledged those financial pressures, and said The City Fund will help local leaders with financial planning and to push for more overall school funding.)
In elections where The City Fund’s political arm has gotten involved, the local teachers union has often been on the other side. Charter schools are rarely unionized.
The City Fund makes its case
The key argument made by The City Fund is a straightforward one: its approach works.
The organization’s new website cites evidence that nonprofit charter schools in urban areas outperform district schools, that district students aren’t hurt academically by charter expansion, and that in New Orleans and Washington, D.C., where charter schools have rapidly grown, overall student performance has improved. These claims are generally supported by research.
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But it’s hard to say whether overall changes in performance in certain cities are due to portfolio-style policies or other reasons, like the infusion of more money into schools in New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina.
And The City Fund omits other research that is less favorable to its approach, including a study of the Achievement School District in Tennessee, in which charter operators attempted to turn around struggling schools, predominantly in Memphis. This initiative, led by Chris Barbic, now a City Fund partner, did not produce gains in student achievement.
Another study in Atlanta, again looking at charter takeovers of low-performing district schools, showed mixed results after two years.
Kingsland said the Memphis results were disappointing and reflect “the challenges of whole school turnarounds,” while the study in Atlanta was early and based on a small number of schools.
Meanwhile, Hastings argued in a recent speech to a Louisiana business group that having nonprofits run schools promotes stable leadership. He repeatedly pointed to the widely cited statistic that big-city schools superintendents leave every three years as evidence. But this figure is not accurate. Superintendents of large districts turn over about every six years or so, according to a recent analysis
The City Fund has given out over $100 million to support charter and charter-like schools
www.chalkbeat.org
The City Fund’s spending, detailed on a new website, means the organization has quickly become one of the country’s largest K-12 education grantmakers.