When Sarahi Sanchez Soto joined a dual-enrollment program at her high school in Dinuba, it allowed her to enroll in college-level computer science classes and jump-started her college career.

But that program is now in peril, after the Trump administration announced it’s eliminating grant programs for Hispanic-Serving Institutions, colleges where at least 25% of students are Latino, because they claim they are discriminatory.

These cuts hit California's community colleges hard, where the grants provided services meant to help all students get past early hurdles in their college journeys.

Guests:

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Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

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For Chelsea Duran, returning to Maywood Academy High School this fall for her senior year means feeling like she has to be on high alert, watching over her shoulder for immigration enforcement agents.

Summer break started with the news that Chelsea's friend Johanna had been detained by immigration authorities. News of her arrest sent shock waves through the school. In the days that followed, the neighborhood around the school was thrust into the center of intense immigration enforcement activity, leaving students and teachers on edge.

Guests:

Read more from EdSource: A student deported and a summer of raids leave a school reeling

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

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Saran Tugsjargal grew up with multiple disabilities. At school she received speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and help with learning to understand social cues. But the support often felt isolating. 

Making things even more difficult was the designation Saran received because of some of her behavioral challenges: emotional disturbance. She says it felt stigmatizing.

Saran found herself wondering who would stand up for students like her. Little did she know that she would become that person.

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Read more from EdSource: How this teen pushed California to change special education policy

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

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Schools across California could lose hundreds of social workers, school counselors, mental health clinicians, wellness coaches and graduate student interns, after the Trump administration cut federal grants for mental health support.

In rural areas like Humboldt County, school districts have relied almost entirely on these federal grants to provide mental health workers for students, who are struggling with high rates of poverty, drug addiction, and suicide, and difficulty accessing care.

Guests:

Read more from EdSource: After federal cuts, California schools could lose hundreds of mental health clinicians

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

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All high schools in California will be required to offer a semester of financial literacy to all students, beginning in the 2027-28 school year. The course will be required for graduation beginning with the class of 2031.

Some high schools are already offering the course.

Meet Allison Saiki, named teacher of the year from Sweetwater Union High School District, where she teaches students how to manage money, pay rent and open retirement accounts, all with a classroom currency she calls "Saiki Cents."

Guests:

Read more from EdSource: Districts gear up for personal finance graduation requirement

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

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Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools opened in Sacramento in 2014 with high ideals — to help adult students, many formerly incarcerated or new immigrants, to earn a diploma, improve English language skills, or learn a trade. Now, the school is an example lawmakers and advocates point to as a reason for increasing charter school oversight.

A state audit found the charter received millions of dollars in funding for which it was not eligible, assigned teachers to classes they were not credentialed to teach, and avoided standardized testing, in addition to spending on non-education-related items such as a trip to Paris and leasing a semi-professional ballpark.

Guests:

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Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

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This June, the U.S. Supreme Court granted public school parents the right to withdraw their children from materials and discussions on LGBTQ issues and other subjects that conflict with their "sincerely held religious beliefs."

The Mahmoud v. Taylor case involved storybooks with LGBTQ themes, but legal experts say that the case has much broader implications that could affect subjects like literature, history and science. Now school leaders are wrestling with how to comply with this ruling.

Guests:

Read more from EdSource: California schools brace for fallout from U.S. Supreme Court decision on religious rights

Education Beat is a weekly podcast. This week's episode was hosted by EdSource’s Emma Gallegos and produced by Coby McDonald.

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But teachers — and principals — are not always educated about these aspects of early education, making the rollout of TK somewhat bumpy. In this episode, a TK teacher and our reporters discuss some of the challenges to making sure every California school is offering a high-quality early education tailored to 4-year-olds' developmental needs.

Guests:

Read more from EdSource: Play, potties, preschool: TK for all

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

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During his time in Los Angeles County's juvenile justice facilities, Dovontray Farmer said he fell behind academically. He said his time in those facilities “played a major role in not being able to get properly educated — I felt betrayed, honestly.”

Dovontray, now 24, mentors students who were recently released from detention, and he's found that academic expectations in juvenile detention are still as low as they were when he was detained.

A group called the Education Justice Coalition released a report this month, calling out Los Angeles County for its continuing failure to educate incarcerated youth, despite a civil grand jury report and investigations by the federal and state Department of Justice.

Who is responsible for Los Angeles County's continuing failure to educate incarcerated young people?

Voices:

Read more from EdSource: L.A. County’s failure to educate incarcerated youth is ‘systemic,’ report says

Education Beat is a weekly podcast. This week's episode was hosted by EdSource’s Emma Gallegos and produced by Coby McDonald.

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Lack of on-campus housing for students at many California State University campuses can be a major barrier for low-income students to attend college. To try to address this, CSU added more than 17,000 new beds over the last decade, with plans to add more. Yet students still struggle to find housing on or close to campus.

What are the barriers to building more on-campus housing? Why does it matter for students?

Guests:

Read more from EdSource: Cal State wants more housing. Can it add 18,000 beds?

Education Beat is a weekly podcast, hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

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