Education California | The official newspaper of the Association of California School Administrators
Volume 47 | Number 20 | February 26, 2018
Students urged to apply for CA
Dream Act, Cal Grant by March 2
The California Student Aid Commission
(CSAC) reports California Dream Act
Applications and the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid are down, with the
March 2 deadline just a few days away.
Applying for financial aid is often the
first step toward attending college. As of
mid-February, CSAC had received about
half of the applications received last year
by March 2. That’s even with the two-year-
old Race to Submit campaign that aims to
increase the number of applications.
“We are strongly urging Dreamers
to complete the California Dream Act
Application,” said Lupita Cortez Alcalá,
executive director of CSAC, the organiza-
tion that administers the California Dream
Act. “California’s strength lies in its diversity
and we will continue to support and advance
our efforts to prepare all California students
for academic and economic prosperity.”
CSAC is taking all available legal pre-
cautions to protect California Dream Act
information, which is used solely to deter-
mine eligibility for state financial aid and
is not shared with any other government
agency. The California Dream Act is unre-
lated to the federal Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Regardless of what happens at the fed-
eral level, state financial aid for Dreamers
remains legal in California. A Dreamer stu-
Sharing the principal’s view
dent does not need to be DACA-certified
to be eligible for a public education or state
financial aid. Losing DACA status will not
affect state financial aid eligibility.
“Eligible students should not hesitate to
apply. Time is critical, and their dreams of
college and 21st century careers await,” said
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom
Torlakson. “Fear or confusion should not
keep students from applying for the finan-
cial aid they earned and deserve.”
Race to Submit encourages all California
high schools and districts to view and
track their FAFSA and CADAA numbers.
See DREAM ACT, page 4
CTC specialist
credentials part
of Feb. agenda
ACSA’s liaison to the California
Commission on Teacher Credentialing,
Doug Gephart, reports on the following
matters before the commission in February:
Education Specialist
L-R, Principal Laura Butler makes a point while Principal Robin Geissler and Vice Principal Mohammad
Warrad listen, in a briefing for key legislative staff in the Capitol. The ACSA leaders shared the day-to-
day issues they deal with on their school sites.
Principals brief legislative
staff about site leadership
ACSA recently facilitated a luncheon
briefing in the state Capitol for legislative
staff. The briefing was focused on sharing
the experiences of school principals and
bringing more understanding and aware-
ness of the impact on school leaders of
various laws, plus the day-to-day issues
that consume a principal’s efforts.
To this end, three site leaders shared
their experiences with legislative staffers
at the briefing. The ACSA members who
did so were Robin Geissler, principal
of Bowman Continuation High School
in Santa Clarita; Laura Butler, princi-
pal of Abraham Lincoln Elementary
in Sacramento City Unified School
District; and Mohammad Warrad, vice
principal of Franklin High School in Elk
Grove USD.
Each of the administrators repre-
sented different schools with different
school populations, helping bring a var-
ied perspective to the table. They each
shared a bit about the demographics of
their schools and some of the issues they
deal with in the daily activity of a school
site leader – issues that can range from
mundane paperwork requirements to
dealing with student suicides.
One area that all three agreed on
was the need for more help regarding
mental health issues. Attendees heard
that the aforementioned suicides are just
an extreme example of the wide range
of mental health issues that site leaders
must address.
Regarding the Preliminary Education
Specialist Teaching Credential, the CTC
staff previously recommended a revised cre-
dential structure intended to work in con-
cert with the general education credential to
best meet the needs of California’s students
with disabilities. The proposed structure
includes five initial Education Specialist
Credentials, reduced from the current seven
credentials, building off of the same base of
preparation, or a “ common trunk.”
Proposed credentials include:
1.) Early Childhood Special Education
(birth through kindergarten).
2.) Visual Impairments (birth to age 22).
3.) Deaf and Hard of Hearing (birth to
age 22).
4.) Mild/Moderate Support Needs
(kindergarten to age 22).
5.) Significant Support Needs (kinder-
garten to age 22).
In this new structure, Early Childhood
Special Education, Visual Impairments, and
Deaf and Hard of Hearing would remain
initial credentials, an action that has already
been taken by the CTC.
Expressed stakeholder concerns includ-
ed, but were not limited to, the following
issues:
• Potential of eliminating the Physical
and Health Impairments credential.
See CTC, page 2
CCEE webinar. The California
Collaborative for Educational
Excellence is offering part 2 of their
Data and Evaluation Module training
session on March 1. The focus for this
part will be on small school districts,
which might have limited Dashboard
data. Participants will dive into par-
ticular aspects of the Dashboard and
engage in discussion around other
data sources that can be used in con-
junction with Dashboard data to help
LEAs make decisions that contribute
to student success and the success of
strategic planning processes. The two-
hour webinar starts at 10 a.m. To regis-
ter, go to https://goo.gl/35xXF9.
Student leadership. Applications
for appointed offices on the