CA education system still faces threats from Trump

Let’s dive into some education news:

• Learning behind bars: Providing an education is one of the best ways prisons can lower recidivism rates. But the lengths facilities go to in order to reduce safety risks can also undermine incarcerated students’ educational opportunities. Some states ban inmates from using almost all technology and limit their internet access. To expand prison education, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation purchased access to EBSCO, an online research database. Students studying in prisons through California college programs are also getting access to research databases through the colleges’ existing licenses. Read more from CalMatters’ Tara García Mathewson.

• Restricting immigrants in K-12 schools: More than 40 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling guaranteeing all students, no matter their immigration status, the right to a free K-12 public education. But experts warn that President Donald Trump’s administration could move to overturn that ruling and direct states to charge immigrant families tuition — even if their children are U.S. citizens. If that happens, it would have an outsized effect on California, where nearly half of the state’s children have at least one immigrant parent. Read more from CalMatters’ Carolyn Jones.

• Frozen UCLA grants: A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration’s legal team to explain why the administration’s suspension of 300 UCLA grants by the National Science Foundation last week does not violate an earlier preliminary injunction issued by the judge. This order, given in June, directed the foundation to reinstate grants it had tried to terminate in the spring, and prohibited the foundation from terminating additional grants. Tuesday’s order is a response to what is considered the first legal challenge by UC professors to the science foundation’s recent suspension of the UCLA grants, which puts on hold about $170 million in funding. Read more from CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn.

After advancing through the state Senate in June, the Assembly is considering legislation that would create a novel power market system among Western states that could lead to lower electric bills for Californians. But critics say it could also leave the state vulnerable to Trump’s push for more coal dependency, write CalMatters’ Alejandro Lazo and Jeanne Kuang. 

Backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the proposal would enable California to trade electricity more freely with several other states. Proponents say a regional market would increase the usage of renewable energy, make California’s own grid more stable and prepare the state more readily for extreme weather.

But bill opponents argue that the risks outweigh the benefits. Some of the potential states that could be included in the new power market rely on coal for energy, such as Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. Given Trump’s past actions to dismantle federal and state environmental protections, creating and joining a regional market could expose the state to federal rules that call for more fossil fuels in the energy market.

Read more here.

Beginning Jan. 1, California’s current hourly minimum wage of $16.50 will go up to $16.90, a 2.49% increase. The state’s department of finance released the new wage amount last week, which is adjusted annually for inflation and based on the national consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers.

Some cities and counties set higher minimum wages than the state — particularly those in coastal regions — and California fast food workers and some health care workers have a different wage standard.

Most low-wage workers in California are either under the age of 25 or over 50, with about 10% serving as the sole breadwinners for their households with children. A living wage in California in 2025 is $28.72 for an adult with no children, and $27.84 for two working adults with a child, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator.