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The city of Los Angeles will soon roll out an infrastructure plan to address chronic issues like potholes and broken streetlights, Mayor Karen Bass told LAist’s.
Bass said the plan will include a timeline and strategy to address those issues. The plan is said to include installing 60,000 solar lights around the city, replacing copper wiring that has been the target of thieves. Larry Mantle at Loyola Marymount University and said so much of L.A. is out of date. When asked why L.A. persistently struggles to address these issues, Bass said it's the way the city was organized over the years.
"It's what I inherited, and it's what I've been tackling from Day 1 and plan to continue to do that because I find it to be woefully unacceptable," she said. Bass is running for a second term as mayor. Her incoming plan comes a week after one from Councilmember Nithya Raman, who is also running for L.A. mayor.
DuringHuntington Beach suffered another courtroom loss in its culture war battles this week when a judge ordered the city to pay $1 million in legal fees for restricting minors’ access to library books.in the public libraries. Critics said the policy amounted to illegal censorship, and that it was actually an excuse to restrict books with LGBTQ characters and themes.
In September 2025, Orange County Judge Lindsey Martinez found the policyThe city had also established a citizen review board with the power to censor children’s books at the library. VotersHuntington Beach suffered another courtroom loss in its culture war battles this week when a judge ordered the city to pay $1 million in legal fees for restricting minors’ access to library books.
The City Council passed a resolution in 2023 prohibiting children from accessing books deemed to contain sexual content in the city's public libraries. Critics said the policyThe city had also established a citizen review board with the power to censor children’s books at the library. Voters“The City Council continues to burn through taxpayer dollars to pursue their own personal grievances,” said Erin Spivey, the named plaintiff in the library lawsuit who is now running for City Council.
The city has received some pro bono legal counsel from the conservative law firm America First Legal, co-founded by Trump advisor Stephen Miller, including a The city has appealed Martinez’s decision and, in the meantime, has not taken many of the steps required in the judge’s order, according to library advocates. Those include returning a handful of censored books on puberty and the human body to the children’s section, and restoring the central library’s once-popular teen section.
In a statement to LAist, Mike Vigliotta, the city attorney, said officials were “evaluating next steps. ” He also noted that the judge’s award of $1 million was reduced from the $1.5 million initially requested by plaintiffs. Students collaborate on solving addition problems inside Bridgette Donald-Blue’s classroom at Coliseum Street Elementary in Los Angeles on Feb. 28, 2023.
Just a few months after California overhauled the way it teaches children to read, a new bill takes on math education — and may be just as controversial. The idea is to help those children catch up to their peers who might have had much more exposure to math before starting school. California students, in all grade levels, have long struggled in math.
Last year, just 37% of students performed at grade level in math, with some groups of students faring far worse. Just 16% of Black 11th-graders, for example, met the state’s grade-level standard. Nationwide, California ranks 43rd in 4th grade math scores, behind Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and dozens of other states. The bill would require schools to screen all kindergartners, first- and second-graders for basic math skills, and give them extra help if they’re behind.
Districts would have their choice of several screening tests to choose from, each ranging from 10 to 20 minutes long and testing children’s knowledge of basic math concepts.would require schools to screen all kindergartners, first- and second-graders for basic math skills, and give them extra help if they’re behind. The idea is to help those children catch up to their peers who might have had much more exposure to math before starting school.
“A student’s early math skills are the most powerful predictor of their later success in school,” said Amy Cooper, a senior advisor at EdVoice, an education nonprofit that’s cosponsoring the bill. “We're not talking about tracking kids. There's no labels. It's just about getting support to students so that they can get up to grade level.
”transitional kindergarten became available to all 4-year-olds last year, children showed up at kindergarten with a wide array of abilities and skills. Some had years of exposure to early math — either at preschool or at home — and could count, do basic arithmetic and even read a little. Others, especially low-income children, had no prior exposure to the ABCs and 123s, and lagged far behind.
Even now, TK and kindergarten are optional, so some students start first grade with no previous math instruction at all.. And because math is sequential, catching up becomes harder over time, and the gap widens.
Some researchers found that early math skillsIt’s still too early to gauge the impact of transitional kindergarten on students’ long-term math performance, but so far there’s still a gap between children who’ve had exposure to math — either through preschool or at home — and those who haven’t. Low-income children are far less likely to get that early exposure, said Alice Klein, a developmental psychologist and research director at the education research firm WestEd.
“It is a critical tipping point,” Klein said. “Unless those students get intervention, the gap will widen. It’ll be harder for them to access higher-level math classes later on, and this will have implications for future job opportunities and the economic future of California. It’s a continual closing of opportunities.
” Transitional kindergarten teacher Rachelle Bacong leads students during a math lesson at Ira Harbison Elementary School in National City on April 21, 2026. Photos by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters Klein supports the math screening legislation because she said it’s an effective way to identify students who are struggling and provide them with support. At least 20 other states have math screenings and have seen positive results, she said.
“I’m so happy that California is considering passing this bill,” Klein said. “It’s a great start, and could be the next step” in improving math outcomes in California. Districts would have their choice of several screening tests to choose from, each ranging from 10 to 20 minutes long and testing children’s knowledge of basic math concepts.
For example, kindergartners might be asked to look at two groups of dots and decide which group has more. Or they’d be asked to identify certain numbers and show that they understand what the numbers mean — that “three” means three objects, for example. English learners would take the test in their native languages. Its cosponsor, EdVoice, was behind the push for phonics-based literacy instruction in California public schools.
That initiative passed, but only after a long fight with the California Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers union, and English learner advocates, who argued that it didn’t give teachers enough flexibility and that it wouldn’t be effective for students whose first language isn’t English. The final version of the bill doesn’t require schools to take advantage of state-funded teacher training, but it does require them to use phonics-based classroom materials.
There might be a fight over the proposed math testing as well. The California Teachers Association opposes it, as well as California County Superintendents, the Association of California School Administrators and the California Mathematics Council. They argue that the screening is unnecessary because the state already has a comprehensive new math framework and has made other big investments in early math. It’ll take time for those investments to show results.
Also, the math framework emphasizes critical thinking and real-world math problems, and the screening might be too narrow and not take into account young children’s developmental differences. They also argue that the testing will be pointless unless the state funds tutoring to help those students who are identified as needing extra help. Transitional kindergarten students arrange number blocks during class at Ira Harbison Elementary School in National City on April 21, 2026.
Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters Nick Johnson, an associate professor of teacher education at San Diego State University, questioned whether schools need yet another standardized test. The federal education policy No Child Left Behind, adopted in the early 2000s, focused heavily on testing, and led to few improvements, he said.
“Since No Child Left Behind testing, we've assumed that will improve student learning," Johnson said. "But the evidence shows that's rarely true. Is public education in a better place now than it was 25 years ago?
"Rachelle Bacong has been teaching kindergarten and TK for 30 years in National City, near San Diego. She weaves math into every activity the children do. When she sets up an art project, she asks them how many chairs are at the table and how many scissors they’ll need. When she makes smoothies with them, she asks them how much juice or how many chunks of bananas they should add.
When the children wash their hands, she asks them how long they spent at the sink. They also spend a good portion of their day playing with blocks, tiles and tubes, experimenting with shapes and dimensions. Bacon’s goal is to make math fun and easy to grasp, no matter where the child is developmentally.
“Math crosses all cultures, abilities and backgrounds. It’s accessible to everyone. It’s my job to design the learning environment to make it accessible to everyone,” Bacong said.
“That’s what’s so magical about it. ” Transitional kindergarten teacher Rachelle Bacong insider her classroom at Ira Harbison Elementary School in National City on April 21, 2026. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters She also spends time every day explicitly teaching them math, although in a way that’s blended with play. She’ll teach them songs about numbers, show them how shapes fit together, and gently guide them when a solution might not be clear.
Math instruction needs to come from several angles, she said, because children’s cognitive skills develop at such different rates. She welcomes extra help for children who need it, but she’s skeptical that a test will reflect how individual children process math concepts. She already knows how her students are faring, and she fears that screening results will be used to stigmatize children, teachers or schools.
“My fear is that it’ll focus on a child’s deficits,” Bacong said. “Math needs to be joyful, fun and developmentally appropriate. We want to set students up for success, so they’ll be prepared for whatever they’re going to be designing or building in the future. ”If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report.
Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. Across Los Angeles, masked and armed federal immigration agents have raided day laborer centers, detaining workers and, at times, pointing their guns toward staff, according to advocates. Immigrant advocates say the $1 million allocated for the city’s seven day laborer centers is not enough to address the realities that day laborer centers are facing under the current federal administration.
The proposal is part of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ $14.9 billion budget released last week. For many families, the centers have also become a lifeline after having their loved ones taken by immigration agents. The centers have provided more than $400,000 in assistance for rent, food and legal fees, according to the nonprofit Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California, or IDEPSCA.
IDEPSCA is asking for a total of $3 million for the seven day laborer centers, arguing that $1 million does not cover the “growing needs of the community. ” In addition to providing support for families, they say additional funding is needed for basic security upgrades, including cameras and reinforced doors.
, federal agents entered the day laborer center in Cypress Park — which is private property — and threw a site coordinator to the ground, said Maegan Ortiz, executive director of the nonprofit Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California, known as IDEPSCA, which operates five of the seven day laborer centers in the city. Ortiz said, day laborers have “disappeared” after the raids, leaving it up to the centers to locate the detention facilities where they’re being held.
Now, advocates say the $1 million allocated for the city’s seven day laborer centers is not enough to address the realities that day laborer centers are facing under the current federal administration. The proposal is part of L.A.
Mayor Karen Bass’ $14.9 billion budget According to IDEPSCA, 136 people have been captured by agents during the 23 immigration raids at the day laborer centers, which are located in Cypress Park, Westlake, the Fashion District, Harbor City, Hollywood, North Hollywood and Van Nuys. Advocates instead are asking for a total of $3 million for the seven day laborer centers, arguing that $1 million does not cover the “growing needs of the community.
”For many families, the centers have also become a lifeline after having their loved ones taken by immigration agents. The centers have provided more than $400,000 in assistance for rent, food and legal fees, according to IDEPSCA. Ortiz also said that day laborers have been crucial in recovery efforts from the January 2025 LA wildfires.
“A lot of the workers cleaning those homes, repairing those homes, rebuilding our day laborers and household workers who use our centers,” Ortiz said. “Our centers have become climate disaster hubs that help workers who are left out of the safety net system. ” “This is more than just about an immigration issue. This is an economic issue.
This is a climate issue. This is a health and safety issue,” Ortiz added.
“The role that day labor centers play in the economy of Los Angeles cannot be understated and should not be understated. ” Ortiz said additional funding is needed for basic security upgrades, including cameras and reinforced doors. The goal, Ortiz said, is to “make it harder for Border Patrol to go in and violate the Constitution.
” Across Los Angeles, masked and armed federal immigration agents have raided day laborer centers, detaining workers and, at times, pointing their guns toward staff, according to advocates.on Friday, Ortiz and other advocates urged the city to increase the funding. Members of IDEPSCA and the Central American Resource Center , which operates the day laborer center in Westlake, also testified. A series of budget hearings is scheduled through mid-May.
The budget needs to be approved by the City Council and signed by the mayor by July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year.
“Attacks have intensified and the needs have grown significantly,” Jorge Nicolas with CARECEN told the budget and finance committee. “Day laborers are at the center … facing direct impacts of these attacks. Our response cannot remain the same while the crisis grows. ”Joshua Erazo, an organizer at the CARECEN Day Labor Center, said he has witnessed four different raids at the Westlake center.
“I’ve been witness to the fear instilled in our community. Despite these attempts, the immigrant community continues to rise above,” Erazo said.
“Regardless of these attacks, all the day laborer centers remain open so the community could have a space for healing,” he added. “We are grateful to be in the proposed budget … The amount is just not enough. ” Boyle Heights Beat has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment. This story will be updated if one is received.
California is preparing to share with an outside organization detailed information about driver's license holders, including immigrants who do not have legal authorization to live in the United States. The sharing of data breaks a promise the state made a decade ago when it began issuing licenses to unauthorized immigrants, advocates say, and it means more than 1 million people may face higher risk of deportation.
Advocates fear that federal immigration officials will try to gain bulk access to the data and use the fact that a person doesn’t have a Social Security number as a signal that they’re deportable. If state officials don’t turn over the data, the Department of Homeland Security may refuse to accept California licenses and IDs at airports, the advocates believe, following a briefing with the California Department of Motor Vehicles and the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this month.
State authorities confirmed they plan to share the data to comply with the Real ID Act of 2005, which set requirements for accepting state identification in federal facilities like airports.for more on how the state plans to provide the information to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a nonprofit organization whose governing board is made up of DMV officials from across the country.
California is preparing to share with an outside organization detailed information about driver's license holders, including immigrants who do not have legal authorization to live in the U.S. That breaks a promise the state made a decade ago when it began issuing licenses to unauthorized immigrants, advocates say, and it means more than 1 million people may face higher risk of deportation. But if state officials don’t turn over the data, the Department of Homeland Security may refuse to accept California licenses and IDs at airports, the advocates believe, following a briefing with the California Department of Motor Vehicles and the office of Gov.
Gavin Newsom earlier this month. State authorities confirmed they plan to share the data to comply with the Real ID Act of 2005, which set requirements for accepting state identification in federal facilities like airports. Representatives from four advocacy groups who participated in the briefing told CalMatters the shared information will show whether a person has a Social Security number, meaning it could be used to identify people in the country without authorization.
The state plans to provide the information to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a nonprofit organization whose governing board is made up of DMV officials from across the country. The information given to the association will go into the group’s State-to-State Verification system and its platform, known as SPEXS, which allows DMVs and contractors that work with them to verify if someone has more than one license issued in their name.
Sharing that data allows agencies that issue driver's licenses to verify that a person doesn’t have duplicate licenses in multiple states. But advocates fear that federal immigration officials will try to gain bulk access to the data and use the fact that a person doesn’t have a Social Security number as a signal that they’re deportable.
The state received assurances from the association that safeguards will be added to prevent bulk searches for unauthorized immigrant license holders in the database and to prevent access by the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to people who joined the briefing with the DMV and governor’s office. But they remain skeptical.
“Once this data is uploaded to AAMVA, it's out of California's control, no matter what California wants, no matter what protests we may make,” said Ed Hasbrouck with San Francisco civil liberties group The Identity Project, who was on the briefing call. To carry out the plan to share data with the association the California Legislature will need to approve $55 million to cover the DMV’s costs.
It may also need to amend existing law, whichobtained by the DMV cannot be shared for any other purpose than to address unpaid taxes, parking tickets, or child support. A spokesperson for the governor’s office declined to confirm details of the call or respond to specific concerns from advocates.
“California continues to lead in supporting immigrant families and protecting personal data from federal overreach,” the spokesperson, Diana Crofts-Pelayo, wrote in an email. “The state has taken the same approach to protect Californians' data during the Real ID implementation, while maintaining Real ID compliance for the benefit of all Californians.
” Ian Grossman, the chief executive of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, told CalMatters that participation in the verification system is voluntary and that only authorized state employees or contractors have access to the system, that bulk searches of the system are not currently allowed, and all searches must contain specific information about an individual like their name and date of birth. For more than a decade, California and 18 other states invited undocumented people to obtain driver's licenses in order to support public safety and the economy.
Economists say that such laws, drive billions of dollars in taxes into state coffers, and benefit public safety because people who lack federal authorization to be in the country can feel more comfortable reporting criminal activity. , a law passed in 2013. The law prohibs the state from using information obtained in the licensure process to consider an individual’s citizenship. But the multistate verification system can reveal whether a person is an undocumented immigrant.
According to an association manual obtained by CalMatters, the database will include the last five digits of a person’s Social Security number, and if that person has no Social Security number, the association allows states to use the placeholder “99999. ” Advocates fear that federal immigration officials could gain access to information in the database, including on undocumented Californians, by asking local officials to make requests on their behalf.where local law enforcement agencies broke state law and shared information gathered by automated license plate readers with ICE or Border Patrol agents.
The DMV and the governor’s office say the association will notify California of requests from any entity other than a participating state, including attempts to subpoena the database for information about California license holders, providing them with the opportunity to challenge subpoenas or intervene in other requests. But if a subpoena is accompanied by a gag order the association could not deliver any such notification.
An agreement between the association and the California DMV obtained by CalMatters states that the association will inform California “if legally permitted” if it receives a subpoena “to release, disclose, discuss, or obtain access to S2S information. ” Hasbrouck believes the DMV and governor’s office “must have known” the reassurances they got from the association were “hollow given the possibility of gag orders.
” He also said that, as a private entity, the association has less protection from court orders or subpoenas than a government agency. Its data sharing is also more easily hidden, since the association is not subject to Freedom of Information Act requests or open meeting laws. Advocates who spoke with CalMatters said sharing the driver's license information with the association sells out immigrant license holders.
The law that created the program prohibits the state from using information the program gathers to determine citizenship.
“It's unclear how extreme the danger people are being put into by this decision but there ’s no doubt we told people with AB 60 licenses this would never happen, but it’s happening, and that’s a direct betrayal,” said Tracy Rosenberg, head of advocacy at Oakland Privacy, who was on the call.by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy to share data about millions of non-citizens with federal immigration agencies. That was a violation of federal law,at the American Friends Service Committee, was not on the call, but echoed Rosenberg and Nguy, calling the data sharing plan “a betrayal of California’s commitment to protect and defend all its residents, especially those who have an AB 60 driver's license.
” Becca Cramer-Mowder, who was on the call representing the Electronic Frontier Foundation, questioned why the governor’s office and DMV are in a rush to comply with the Real ID Act two decades after it passed at a time of increased pressure from the Trump administration. The plan to share license information with the database depends on the state budget process because the DMV is requesting $55 million to move the data over to the association’s systems.to approve the funding, lawmakers questioned why the state should follow a timeline set by a private organization and share part of Californians’ Social Security numbers.
They also asked the DMV to explore the reasoning behindin January to block data sharing with the association, in which they argued that sharing personal data collected for driver’s licenses violates state law there. DMV director Steve Gordon told them that California unsuccessfully tried to convince the motor vehicle association to consider a unique identifier other than a social security number and “anybody who has a social security number that's sharing information of course would have a concern” but told lawmakers “we need to go.
We need to go now. ” DMV spokesperson Jaime Garza said that Californians can submit a request to surrender or cancel a driver's license but that driving without a license is illegal. Nick Miller, a spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, told CalMatters lawmakers continue to work on the policy issue.
“Protecting immigrant communities from the Trump administration's relentless attacks — and ensuring Californians are empowered and defended — continues to be a top priority for the Speaker,” he said in an email. Rosenberg with Oakland Privacy suggested that the state might be better off opting out of the Real ID system than sharing information about its license holders, noting that “I just wonder what would happen if the state asked Californians to get a passport in order to fly for a couple of years in order to protect 1 million Californians with AB 60 licenses. Maybe we should give people that opportunity. ”
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