To Settle a Lawsuit, California Will Shift $2 Billion to Students Hurt by Pandemic Shutdowns

California has agreed to direct $2 billion to evidence-based supports for children who were hurt most by learning disruptions during the pandemic, settling a long-running class-action lawsuit.

The lawsuit stems from months of pandemic school closures in 2020 and 2021. California, like many states, used remote instruction during those shutdowns.

Los Angeles and Oakland students in the education equity lawsuit Cayla J. v. California, filed in 2020, accused the state and its education officials of not providing guidance, support, and oversight during that time, allowing massive instructional and technology gaps to widen between low-income students and their wealthier peers, particularly for students in remote learning during school closures.

Cayla J. and Kai J., twins among the 15 low-income students of color in the lawsuit, were in 2nd grade on March 17, 2020 when their Oakland schools closed during the pandemic, and had only two classes for the rest of that school year. The twins’ mother, Angela J., said she “felt like her children had been written off.”

Please help put parents in charge of their child’s education by forwarding this article to other parents, family, friends and voters.

Other Articles

Education leaders foster statewide ethnic studies programs
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond hosted a webinar featuring a variety of inspirational speakers who discussed the importance and journey of ethnic studies in California.
Read More
Children First: Help Wanted in the Classroom
California has a teacher shortage, but the education pipeline is flowing with fresh ideas.
Read More
Some districts that stopped using school resource officers in recent years are now reversing course
More than half of all public schools in the U.S. have law enforcement present on campus. Often, that’s in the form of a school resource officer, or SRO — a police officer, usually one who’s specially trained and armed who’s stationed at the school.
Read More
Can Teachers and Parents Get Better at Talking to One Another?
Families are more anxious than ever to find out what happens in school. But there may be value in a measure of not-knowing and not-telling.
Read More
Most teachers are too busy to be culture warriors
A few days ago, I attended my last back-to-school night at our local public middle school. That real-world experience offered a dramatic contrast to the perpetual online brawling today between irate parents, irate teachers and irate politicians over education.
Read More
SoCal high schools top recent ranking, Bay Area schools follow
Several Bay Area schools were among the top California public high schools in a recent report, but Southern California schools dominated the top of the list.
Read More
Calif. Lawsuit Raises Concerns Over Use of Education Data
An ongoing education equity deals with a policy whereby researchers, in order to gain access to private education data, must agree not to release information from the data or testify about it without advance permission.
Read More

Get latest news delivered daily!

We will send you breaking news right to your inbox

© 2025 educationopportunity.org, Privacy Policy | FPPC #1460602