As of March 2021, the federal government has authorized three rounds of COVID relief grant funding through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund (i.e., ESSER I, enacted on March 27, 2020; ESSER II, enacted on December 27, 2020; and ESSER III, enacted on March 11, 2021).
On August 16, 2021, the California Supreme Court rejected arguments in two cases that sought to expand the definition of “public works” under the prevailing wage statutory scheme, which was designed to enforce minimum wages on construction or maintenance projects paid with public funds.
On July 9, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 130, known as the 2021-2022 Education Omnibus Budget Trailer Bill (AB 130).
In its recent decision in Los Angeles Unified School District v. Superior Ct., Los Angeles County (2021) 64 Cal.App.5th 549, the California Court of Appeal held that a school district is immune from an award of treble damages in a tort action for childhood sexual assault where the assault occurred as the result of a cover up.
On July 26, 2021, the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) issued a decision finding that while the decision to adopt a mandatory influenza vaccination policy implemented by the Regents of the University of California (University) was outside the scope of representation, the University's failure to meet and confer in good faith over the effects of the policy, prior to implementation, constitut
Effective on January 1, 2022, a county committee on school district organization will be able to approve a school district or community college district’s adoption of a by-trustee area election method, without calling an election to seek voter approval.
In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (9th Cir. 2021) 991 F.3d 1004, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Ninth Circuit) upheld the Bremerton School District’s (District) placement of high school football coach Joseph Kennedy (Kennedy) on paid administrative leave when Kennedy refused to stop conducting public prayers and religious motivational speeches at the 50-yard line with students fol
Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law the 2021-2022 Education Omnibus Budget Trailer Bill, Assembly Bill (AB) 130 (Trailer Bill), imposing critical changes impacting charter schools and their authorizers. Notably, the Trailer Bill automatically extends the term of most charter petitions by two years.
On July 7, 2021, the Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) issued a mass email to all California school districts and county offices of education reiterating that the Public Contract Code (PCC) does not allow a school district "to acquire factory-built modular building components via piggyback contracting."