ADVOCACY
CASC is a statewide advocate for youth. The Government Affairs Program Director on State Council serves as a lobbyist in Sacramento, working with legislators and other policymakers to support and draft education-related legislation.
CASC supports such legislation by organizing letter-writing drives and other methods to reach out to students and adult stakeholders in education for support.
All positions and ideas for legislation are created by students at the Student Advisory Board on Education (SABE) and the Student Advisory Board on Legislation in Education (SABLE). At these conferences, delegates create formal proposals which they present to State Board of Education and the State Legislature. After the conferences, the Government Affairs Program Director follows up with the policymakers and coordinates students statewide to provide support.
In order to know how best to support California’s students, CASC needs to hear from the students themselves! Please encourage your schools to take the time to share their experiences in the California Student Perspective Survey.
CASC's Recent Legislation:
AB 1204 was signed by the Governor on Friday, October 2nd. This bill encourages the State Board of Education to add a student member to the Instructional Quality Commission, the panel which decides on curriculum and textbooks for the entire state of California. This has been a pet project of sorts of 2015-16 State President Shawn Ahdout; he had been personally pushing for this bill since since November of 2015. The Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) co-sponsored this bill with CASC and really helped drive the bill forward.
SB 532 has officially been signed by the Governor. This is really a testament to how much important work we can do at the capitol. The bill mandates each school board must create a student school board member position within 60 days of receiving a qualified petition from the student body. You can read more about the bill in an article written by the L.A. Times, here.
CASC 2020:
CASC has begun a project to bring changes and improvements to every school in the state in a way that is tangible, measurable, and concrete by the year 2020. CASC 2020 facilitates improvements in education and student government at every school, which CASC has been doing on the state level through the State Board of Education by
Our vision for the ideal school system in 2020 includes the achievement of four goals, which we as an organization and schools will continuously work towards at both the state and school levels. Our vision for 2020 is that:
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Every school board has a student board member.
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Every school has an effective student government.
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All stakeholders are educated about student rights and responsibilities.
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Every school has a process for student evaluation of teachers.
CASC will provide the resources, coaching, and workshops to achieve this vision, but the changes themselves must come from the schools, the students, and the educators. We are looking for schools interested partnering with us in an effort to reach these goals.