Schools

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday unveiled a sweeping proposal to overhaul how California’s education system is governed, calling for structural changes that he said would shift oversight of the Department of Education and redefine the role of the state’s elected schools chief.

The proposal, which is part of Newsom’s state budget plan that will be released Friday, would unify the policymaking State Board of Education with the department, which is responsible for carrying out those policies. The governor said the change would better align education efforts from early childhood through college.

“California can no longer postpone reforms that have been recommended regularly for a century,” Newsom said in a statement. “These critical reforms will bring greater accountability, clarity, and coherence to how we serve our students and schools.”

Few details were provided about how the role of the state superintendent of public instruction would change, beyond a greater focus on fostering coordination and aligning education policy.

The changes would require approval from state lawmakers, who will be in the state Capitol on Thursday for Newsom’s last State of the State speech in his final year as governor.

The proposal would implement recommendations from a 2002 report by the state Legislature, titled “California’s Master Plan for Education,” which described the state’s K-12 governance as fragmented and “with overlapping roles that sometimes operate in conflict with one another, to the detriment of the educational services offered to students.” Newsom’s office said similar concerns have been raised repeatedly since 1920 and were echoed again in a December 2025 report by research center Policy Analysis for California Education.

“The sobering reality of California’s education system is that too few schools can now provide the conditions in which the State can fairly ask students to learn to the highest standards, let alone prepare themselves to meet their future learning needs,” the Legislature’s 2002 report stated. Those most harmed are often low-income students and students of color, the report added.

“California’s education governance system is complex and too often creates challenges for school leaders,” Edgar Zazueta, executive director of the Assn. of California School Administrators, said in a statement provided by Newsom’s office. “As responsibilities and demands on schools continue to increase, educators need governance systems that are designed to better support positive student outcomes.”

The current budget allocated $137.6 billion for education from transitional kindergarten through the 12th grade — the highest per-pupil funding level in state history — and Newsom’s office said his proposal is intended to ensure those investments translate into more consistent support and improved outcomes statewide.

“For decades the fragmented and inefficient structure overseeing our public education system has hindered our students’ ability to succeed and thrive,” Ted Lempert, president of advocacy group Children Now, said in a statement provided by the governor’s office. “Major reform is essential, and we’re thrilled that the Governor is tackling this issue to improve our kids’ education.”

In a small tent overshadowed by the sound of nearby gunfire, seven-year-old Tulin prepares for her first day of school in two years.

For most children, this would be a moment of excitement. For Tulin and her mother, it is a chapter of terror.

The relentless Israeli war has destroyed the vast majority of Gaza’s educational infrastructure, forcing families to create makeshift “tent schools” in dangerous proximity to Israeli forces — an area demarcated by Israel as the “yellow zone” west of the separation line, often just a few metres away from danger.

“Until my daughter gets to school, I honestly walk with my heart in my hand,” Tulin’s mother told Al Jazeera correspondent Shady Shamieh.

“Many times, I find myself involuntarily following her until she reaches the school. I feel there is something [dangerous], but I want her to learn,” she added. “If not for this situation, she would be in second grade now. But we are determined.”

‘Take the sleeping position’

The journey to the classroom is perilous. Walking through the rubble of Beit Lahiya, Tulin admits she is terrified of the open spaces.

“When I go to school, I am afraid of the shooting,” Tulin said. “I can’t find a wall to hide behind so the shelling or stray bullets don’t hit us.”

Inside the tents, protection is nonexistent. The canvas walls cannot stop bullets, yet the students sit on the ground, determined to learn.

Their teacher describes a harrowing daily routine where education is frequently interrupted by the crack of sniper fire.

“The location is difficult, close to the occupation [forces],” the teacher explained. “When the shooting starts, we tell the children: ‘Take the sleeping position.’ I get goosebumps, praying to God that no injuries occur. We make them lie on the ground until the shooting stops.”

“We have been exposed to gunfire more than once,” she added. “Despite this, we remain. The occupation’s policy is ignorance, and our policy is knowledge.”

Among the students is Ahmed, who lost his father in the war. “We come with difficulty and leave with difficulty because of the shooting,” he told Al Jazeera. “But I want to fulfil the dream of my martyred father, who wanted to see me become a doctor.”

‘One of the biggest catastrophes’

The desperate scenes in Beit Lahiya reflect a wider collapse of the education system in the enclave.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic on Monday, Kazem Abu Khalaf, the spokesperson for UNICEF in Palestine, described the situation as “one of the biggest catastrophes”.

“Our figures indicate that 98 percent of all schools in the Gaza Strip have suffered varying degrees of damage, ranging up to total destruction,” Abu Khalaf said.

He noted that 88 percent of these schools require either comprehensive rehabilitation or complete reconstruction.

The human toll is staggering: approximately 638,000 school-aged children and 70,000 kindergarten-aged children have lost two full academic years and are entering a third year of deprivation.

Trauma and speech impediments

While UNICEF and its partners have established 109 temporary learning centres serving 135,000 students, the psychological scars of the war are surfacing in alarming ways.

Abu Khalaf revealed that field teams have observed severe developmental regression among students.

“In one area, [colleagues] monitored that approximately 25 percent of the children we are trying to target have developed speech difficulties,” Abu Khalaf said. “This requires redoubled efforts from educational specialists.”

The ban on books

Beyond the structural destruction and trauma, the education sector faces a logistical blockade. Abu Khalaf confirmed that since the war began in October 2023, virtually no educational materials have been allowed into the Strip.

“The biggest challenge, in truth, is that … almost no learning materials have entered Gaza at all,” he said.

UNICEF is currently preparing to launch a “Back to Learning” campaign targeting 200,000 children, focusing on Arabic, English, maths and science, alongside recreational activities to “repair the children’s psyche before anything else”.

However, Abu Khalaf emphasised that the success of any campaign depends on Israel lifting restrictions.

“We are communicating with all parties, including the Israeli side, to allow the entry of learning materials,” he said. “It is not in anyone’s interest for a child in Gaza not to go to school.”

The 2026 high school football transfer tracker is officially launched to identify top players switching schools in Southern California.

There were more than 17,000 transfers statewide last school year, and football is the sport that consistently has more than any.

According to CIF rules, players who transfer and physically move along with their family are eligible immediately to play at the new school. If a player transfers and his family doesn’t move, there’s a sit-out period of close to 50% of the season. The date athletes become eligible in the fall after sitting out is Sept. 28, 2026, for the Southern Section and Sept. 24, 2026, for the City Section.

Listed players are confirmed as having switched schools through social media or from coaches, parents or players. Their transfer eligibility remains uncertain until paperwork is submitted to the Southern Section or City Section. Names will be updated each week, with the latest at the top. Students have been known to change their minds, too, before the season begins.

Jaden Jefferson

Previous school: Cathedral

New school: Corona Centennial

Position: Quarterback

Year in the fall of 2026: Senior

Buzz: He’s a small but dynamic quarterback with tremendous ability to pass and run. He has been a starter since freshman year.

Quentin Hale

Previous school: Cathedral

New school: Corona Centennial

Position: Receiver

Year in the fall of 2026: Senior

Buzz: Had 62 receptions and 12 touchdown catches in 2025.

Simote Tupou

Previous school: Henderson (Nev.) Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon

New school: St. John Bosco

Position: Defensive line

Year in the fall of 2026: Junior

Buzz: Had 19 sacks as a 6-1, 230-pound sophomore.

Koa Smith-Mayall

Previous school: JSerra

New school: Santa Margarita

Position: Quarterback

Year in the fall of 2026: Senior

Buzz: Was briefly JSerra’s starting QB and overcame injuries early in high school.

Cruz Nunez

Previous school: JSerra

New school: Santa Margarita

Position: Linebacker

Year in the fall of 2026: Senior

Buzz: Had 15 solo tackles as a junior.

Are top-drawer college football teams and their name, image and likeness collectives simply trying to protect themselves from willy-nilly transfers or are they bullying players to stay put with threats of lawsuits?

Adding liquidated damage fee clauses to NIL contracts became all the rage in 2025, a year that will be remembered as the first time players have been paid directly by schools. But some experts say such fees cannot be used as a cudgel to punish players that break a contract and transfer.

It’s no surprise that the issue has resulted in a lawsuit — make that two lawsuits — before the calendar flipped to 2026.

Less than a month after Georgia filed a lawsuit against defensive end Damon Wilson II to obtain $390,000 in damages because he transferred to Missouri, Wilson went to court himself, claiming Georgia is misusing the liquidated damages clause to “punish Wilson for entering the portal.”

Wilson’s countersuit in Boone County, Mo., says he was among a small group of Bulldog stars pressured into signing the contract Dec. 21, 2024. The lawsuit also claims that Wilson was misused as an elite pass rusher, that the Georgia defensive scheme called for him to drop back into pass coverage. Wilson, who will be a senior next fall, led Missouri with nine sacks this season.

Georgia paid Wilson $30,000, the first monthly installment of his $500,000 NIL deal, before he entered the transfer portal on Jan. 6, four days after Georgia lost to Notre Dame in a College Football Playoffs quarterfinal.

Bulldogs brass was not pleased. Wilson alleges in his lawsuit that Georgia dragged its feet in putting his name in the portal and spread misinformation to other schools about him and his contractual obligations.

“When the University of Georgia Athletic Association enters binding agreements with student-athletes, we honor our commitments and expect student-athletes to do the same,” Georgia spokesperson Steven Drummond said in a statement after the school filed the lawsuit.

Wilson’s countersuit turned that comment on its head, claiming it injured his reputation because it implies he was dishonest. He is seeking unspecified damages in addition to not owing the Bulldogs anything. Georgia’s lawsuit asked that the dispute be resolved through arbitration.

A liquidated damage fee is a predetermined amount of money written into a contract that one party pays the other for specific breaches. The fee is intended to provide a fair estimate of anticipated losses when actual damages are difficult to calculate, and cannot be used to punish one party for breaking the contract.

Wilson’s case could have far-reaching implications because it is the first that could determine whether schools can enforce liquidated damage clauses. While it could be understandable that schools want to protect themselves from players transferring soon after receiving NIL money, legal experts say liquidated damage fees might not be the proper way to do so.