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Teacher Catherine Borek with her senior students at Dominguez High School in Compton on March 20, 2026. Dominguez has among the state's highest share of students passing the necessary classes for public university admissions.
Statewide, 54% of high school students pass the classes minimally needed to enroll in the University of California or California State University systems as freshmen, according to a CalMatters analysis of traditional high schools.Low-income, Black and Latino students have among the lowest class-completion rates. English learners and students with disabilities also have low rates, but the numbers have climbed slightly the past few years.Last spring Dominguez High in Compton Unified had among California’s highest percentage of students graduating who met the UC and Cal State requirements — 96% were A-G ready, according to the California Department of Education.High school seniors across California are anxiously awaiting word on their public university acceptances. But thousands of other soon-to-be graduates are virtually locked out. A key reason? Nearly half haven’t taken the required classes. Statewide, 54% of high school students pass the classes minimally needed to enroll in the University of California or California State University systems as freshmen, according to a CalMatters analysis of traditional high schools. In recent years the state has provided extra funding to help schools boost their numbers, but the readiness rate has only inched up. Low-income, Black and Latino students have among the lowest class-completion rates. English learners and students with disabilities also have low rates, but the numbers have climbed slightly the past few years.. The requirements are four years of English, three of math, two years each of science, social science and foreign language and one year of art. Known as the A-G requirements, they often dictate a student’s schedule beginning in ninth grade or even earlier. It’s easy for a student to fall off track — by getting a D or F in a class, for instance, or by skipping a tough class like chemistry or trigonometry, or by not taking a class if their school doesn’t offer it. CalMatters looked at data from the 2024-25 school year for 1,468 public high schools, excluding about 800 alternative high schools, some specialized schools with high A-G rates, continuation schools and juvenile detention programs. The analysis shows that 222 of those schools posted A-G completion rates of less than 30%. More than 400 schools had A-G rates exceeding 70%.Schools may have few students completing the full suite of A-G courses for a variety of reasons, said Sherrie Reed Bennett and Michal Kurlaender, education researchers at UC Davis whoon the gaps in A-G rates across public high schools. Some schools may offer the courses, but students don’t enroll in them. Or students earn below a C in these courses and don’t retake them after school or during the summer. Next, teachers may not allow students to repeat assignments in order to avoid having to retake a class; Ideally, all students should be enrolled in A-G courses, Bennett and Kurlaender said. It’s the only way to guarantee that all students have the option of enrolling in a four-year university after high school. Within 16 months of finishing a traditional high school, 86% of students who graduated with the required UC and Cal State coursesLast spring Dominguez High in Compton Unified had among California’s highest percentage of students graduating who met the UC and Cal State requirements — 96% were A-G ready, according to the California Department of Education. “To this day, you get that sense of, like, ‘Wait, who, Compton?” said Jorge Torres, the district’s director of college and career readiness, on how the district’s recent turnaround is a constant surprise to people he meets at conferences. At Dominguez High, around 91% of students are eligible for a federal school meal waiver, making the campus’s student body among the poorest in the state. Reaching the high A-G rate took about 10 years, said Torres, and is the result of a few key decisions the district and school’s principal made. In 2015 the district created Compton Early College High School, which emphasized a college-going culture for its students and exposed many to a wide array of community college courses. By 2020, all of the school’s students were graduating on time andBut the school is smaller than Compton Unified’s other comprehensive high schools. Could they scale their results across the district’s larger high schools? This meant Dominguez no longer offered classes that didn’t meet the UC and Cal State standards, said principal Caleb Oliver. He added an extra period during the school day so students could retake an A-G course without staying late or enrolling in the summer. The school also revised its student counseling model so that two counselors stay with the same cohort of students for all four years. Torres said that too made a difference. So did adding a counselor who focuses only on college admissions and preparation at all of Compton Unified’s traditional high schools. The year the school adopted the A-G graduation requirement, about two-thirds of its seniors finished high school having met the UC and Cal State admission criteria. By 2024, when the first freshmen held to the higher standard were graduating, about three-quarters of students graduated A-G ready. The next year, the rate jumped more than 20 percentage points, to 96%. The work that district and school staff put into Dominguez High School “seems like a strong example of best practices,” said Iwunze Ugo, a researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California who has publishedGisele Genovez, a Dominguez senior, will have taken 14 community college courses by the time she graduates this spring. She applied to UC and Cal State schools with nursing programs and earned acceptances to several. “This school has really shown the importance of taking college courses, how it will benefit you, and it’s not something that you’re going to regret in the future,” she said. As a Dominguez freshman, Alexis Hernandez didn’t think he’d attend college because he assumed he’d be priced out as a low-income student. But the school’s A-G requirement prepared him anyway. “Just going to work after high school” was the route for students from low-income families, he thought. By 11th grade, he was excited to apply to college the following year and live on a university campus that’s within driving distance of home. Now a senior, Hernandez has taken one community college course and has been accepted to several Cal State and UC campuses while he awaits results from other campuses. How will he choose which nearby school to attend? Whichever awards him the most financial aid, he said. According to state data, slightly more than half of Dominguez students head to college within 16 months of graduating, though the latest figures are from 2023. That’s a bit lower than previous years, but lately fewer of the school’s college-bound students enroll in community college and Past a certain point, the school is limited in what its students choose to do after high school, Oliver said. Colleges play a role in attracting students, as well. Programs that expose admitted students to free summer courses and introduce research-tested study skills can be the determining factor for an admitted student deciding whether to enroll, he said. OliverBut students benefit “if they sign up for it,” he cautioned. “Everything is if they sign up for it. We can offer, but we need you to take hold of it.”CalMatters looked at data from the 2024-25 school year for 1,468 public high schools. We excluded about 800 alternative high schools, some specialized schools with high A-G rates, continuation schools and juvenile detention programs. To conduct the analysis, CalMatters merged the California Department of Education’s graduation rate by high school for the 2024-25 school year, which contained A-G rates, with the Public Schools and Districts Data File and the department’s data on schools in the Free and Reduced Price Meal program, a common way to measure low-income status at a school.Schools with lower A-G completion rates tended to have higher numbers of English learners or students in special education. Plenty of those students enroll in A-G courses, but if they need extra support, such as speech therapy or language development, for a period or two a day it’s difficult to complete all the required courses needed to gain admission to UC or CSU, school administrators said. Bennett and Kurlaender at UC Davis said that’s a poor excuse, and that far more students in special education or who are English learners should be able to complete A-G courses. To help schools boost their numbers, the state providesAt Mt. Diablo High and Ygnacio Valley High, both in Concord, nearly 90% of students are English learners or low-income. Both schools also have higher-than-average numbers of students with disabilities. And both schools had A-G completion rates under 25% last year. “This is a huge priority that we’re working hard on,” said Heather Fontanilla, director of college and career readiness for Mt. Diablo Unified School District, which includes both schools. “Ultimately, we want students to have post-secondary choices, including the chance to go to a four-year college. We do not want their transcript making decisions on what options they have available.” The district is trying to raise its numbers by changing more courses to be A-G eligible, although the tough part is getting students to pass those classes. Students have to earn a C or better in an A-G course for it to count toward college admission, but only need a D for the class to satisfy the graduation requirement. “We tell the kids, D equals diploma, but C equals college,” said Fontanilla. “All it takes is for a student to get below a C and everything starts to spiral.” That’s because students who get below a C have to retake the class if they still want to enroll at a 4-year college. Make-up classes are typically held after school, a potential conflict for students who have jobs or family responsibilities. So the district has started offering tutoring for students who are struggling, in hopes of saving their A-G eligibility before their C slips to a D. The district is also expanding outreach to parents so they can better support their children’s college-preparation efforts.“We have a great graduation rate,” said Clara Schmiedt, assistant superintendent, noting that Manteca High’s graduation rate is nearly 95% and the school was recently named a California Distinguished School. “But raising our A-G rate is a priority for us.” One issue at Manteca High has been chemistry. Many students have struggled to pass, so the district is introducing a new curriculum and adding a new science teacher. Another problem is foreign language. The school only offers a few French classes, so students taking French might not be able to fulfill the foreign language requirement for A-G. The district is also trying to change the culture around college. It’s expanding its dual enrollment program at a local community college, and sends dozens of students every summer to an academic institute at University of the Pacific in Stockton.A 2019 state law, designed to better inform California voters, requires candidates for governor to release their federal tax returns to qualify for the June primary ballot.Among major candidates, only Chad Bianco, Matt Mahan, Katie Porter and Tony Thurmond have already filed their 2025 tax returns. We already knew that Democrat Tom Steyer, a billionaire running for California governor, is rich. But how rich? In 2024, Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor, reported a total income of $39 million, thanks to the duo’s massive investments in the global stock market. That’s more than all nine of his major opponents in the governor’s race and their partners made that year combined, according to their federal tax returns released this week.to qualify for the June primary ballot. Among major candidates, only Chad Bianco, Matt Mahan, Katie Porter and Tony Thurmond have already filed their 2025 tax returns.Income: $39 million in 2024, primarily from massive investments in the global stock market. He and his wife also made $6 million in passive income in Luxembourg, Netherlands, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands in 2024. They collected $38,000 in royalties from other properties and earned $23,000 from TomKat Ranch, their 1,800-acre cattle ranch in Pescadero.Their earnings swing with the market: In 2021, they reported $160 million in income from investments and paid $39 million in taxes. But in 2022, they made a paltry $8 million and paid $1 million. The couple regularly files tax returns in dozens of states each year and pays taxes abroad, too. Steyer also has a United Kingdom bank account, which at one point had a balance of $61 million in 2024. The pair is big on philanthropy, donating $18 million in 2024, including $3 million in stock to Yale University and $1.5 million in stock to TomKat Foundation, the couple’s philanthropic nonprofit.Income: $7.5 million in 2024, including $250,000 from Fox News and $6.7 million his wife, Rachel Whetstone, made as chief communications officer at Netflix. The couple also earned $360,000 from global investments but reported a net $3,000 loss in capital gains. The couple received another $25,000 that year in rent from three properties in London, including two flats in the trendy Camden area. Hilton, a Republican, reported losing more than $226,000 on his media company, CR Productions.Income: $461,000 in 2024, including his $184,000 congressional salary and $247,000 from his wife Brittany’s consulting work. The couple had a $41,000 home mortgage interest deduction in 2024. Rivals have challengedIncome: $300,000 in 2025, nearly all from her salary as a law professor at the University of California-Irvine. Porter, a Democrat, also collects royalties from book sales: She made $140,000 in 2023 from books she authored, including two textbooks and her memoir,Income: $590,000 in 2025, jointly with his wife Denise Bianco. Bianco’s return doesn’t break down the Republican’s wages, but his base salary as sheriff was $348,000 in 2024, after the Riverside County Board of Supervisors gave him a 27% pay raise that May.in the state in 2023, earning more than $593,000 in total compensation, which includes benefits such as a pension and health care coverage.Income: $490,000 in 2024, jointly with his UC Davis physician wife Carolyn Reyes. That includes Becerra’s nearly $250,000 salary at the time as U.S. Health and Human Services secretary in the Biden administration. The couple leased out four single-family homes that made them a net profit of $110,000.Income: $309,000 in 2025 — $203,000 as superintendent of public instruction and $18,000 from Integrated Community Services, a San Rafael-based disability supportive service where he worked as a supportive living aide, one ofIncome: $1.4 million in 2024, most of which came from Actum, a business consulting firm with offices worldwide, including Los Angeles and Sacramento, and his own firm, Antonio Villaraigosa LLC. He also collected a $125,000 pension as the former Democratic mayor of Los Angeles. He and his wife, Patricia, filed their taxes separately.Income: $211,000 in 2024, almost all of which came from pensions and Social Security benefits. Yee, a Democrat, reported $1,300 in consulting and teaching income, and her husband, Steven Jacobs, is a rabbi with no reported income. The couple received $54,000 from selling a timeshare in October 2024. In 2021, the couple also reported $3,400 in gambling income in 2021. Yee, who was California's controller until January 2023, received an annual salary of roughly $157,000 in 2022 and $13,000 in 2023, when the job ended in January.Income: $507,000 in 2025, including his San Jose mayoral salary of $226,000 and his wife Silvia Scandar Mahan’s salary of $267,000 as president of Cristo Rey San Jose High School. In 2024, the couple claimed $14,000 in clean energy credits for using solar-powered electricity.The Palisadian-Post, the nearly century-old community paper covering the Pacific Palisades, has found new buyers. The first issue is planned for May.: The newspaper closed its doors at the end of last year after an exodus of subscribers and advertisers following the Palisades Fire.“The Palisadian-Post was a part of the reason we moved to Pacific Palisades, because the paper's role in providing a part of the character of the community was that strong,” said Tim Schneider, co-owner of the new Palisadian-Post.“We've chronicled our children growing up in the pages of the Palisadian-Post, like a lot of Palisadians,” said Laura Schneider, also co-owner of the newspaper. The married couple comes from long careers in the publishing industry. When they heard about the paper shutting down last December, they sprang into action and began negotiating a purchase. Tim says that despite the struggles the community faces, it’s a dream come true to have the chance to continue a nearly century-old tradition with the Pali-Post.“The first step in the relaunch process is going to be gathering community feedback,” said Laura. The two have been making calls to former employees and residents of the Palisades, looking for input on what they want out of this new iteration. One thing they say they’d like to see is a sustained focus on the recovery. “ He needs to hire a news reporter who's focused on the rebuilding of the Palisades. That's a huge theme, obviously, all the aspects of the rebuilding,” said Bill Bruns, editor emeritus with the Palisadian-Post. Bruns was a longtime editor who's been advising the Schneiders on the relaunch. After January, Tim says people went to various sources to get information to track the Palisade Fire's chaotic aftermath. He thinks a newspaper like the Pali-Post is a better place to provide readers with authoritative and reliable information.for the thousands of Palisadians who have been displaced. “ We have 5,000 Palisadians living in Santa Monica, more than 3,000 Palisadians living in Brentwood," he estimated."So our approach with the Palisadian-Post is to use it as the connective thread that ties together Palisadians." Former Pali-Post editor Bill Bruns stands in front of the old "Pacific Palisades Post" building on Via de la Paz. The building held the newsroom as well as the paper's printing press.In its new iteration, the paper will be strictly digital, with a new website, daily newsletter and community calendar to give readers a full range of events in the neighborhood — recovery-related or otherwise.Several former advertisers the Schneiders have talked to are committed to coming back. “ I'm happy to say, not only have all of them committed to supporting the new Palisadian-Post, but we've heard from dozens of businesses that have indicated an interest in getting involved for the first time,” said Tim. Beloved favorite columns of the paper are returning too, like the local Two-Cents section written by residents. The first event planned is going to be the"Pali Bee" — the local Spelling Bee that the newspaper sponsored in previous years. Laura says that despite the last 15 months of difficulties, the sense of community in the Palisades remains strong. The two hope that strength will get the newspaper and the community back on its feet. “ That's something very special about this town, and that's something that we hope that we can tap into as we bring the Palisadian-Post back," Laura said."This town has tremendous heart. And that's a big part of the story that we wanna tell."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.movie, Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema announced. "We've got a very special partner that we're working with," said filmmaker Peter Jackson in a video shared across social media at midnight on Wednesday before introducing the comedian andLord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past. Colbert said in the video with Jackson that the film will adapt six early chapters —"Three is company" through"Fog on the Barrow-downs" — from"I thought, 'Oh wait, maybe that could be its own story that could fit into the larger story,'" Colbert said."'Could we make something that was completely faithful to the books while also being completely faithful to the movies that you guys had already made?'" Colbert said he and his son, McGee, worked out what they thought might be a framing device for the story. "It took me a few years for me to scrape my courage into a pile to give you a call," joked Colbert to Jackson. Warner Bros. sent the film's synopsis in a release:"Fourteen years after the passing of Frodo — Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam's daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began."franchise. Andy Serkis, who plays Gollum in the films, is directing"I did not think I'd have the time," Colbert laughed in the video about finding the hours to work on the new movie. But, he said,"It turns out I'm gonna be free starting this summer."filed by President Trump over claims that CBS interfered in the 2024 election by airing edited segments of an interview with Kamala Harris."If you'll excuse me, I've gotta finish a television show and I've gotta write a movie script, but I will see you all in the shire," Colbert said in the video.The Ontario Tower Buzzers' inaugural season starts April 2. It's the new team in the Dodgers' minor league system.The Single-A Ontario Tower Buzzers begins their inaugural season on April 2. This new Dodgers’ minor league team is already making history as the Dodgers try to make their own .The Ontario Tower Buzzers are a new team in a new stadium, expected to energize youth baseball in the Ontario area and insert energy into the region’s business.The team has been in development for years and hopes to succeed by engaging various groups in the Ontario community, such as youth baseball, and businesses.Most of Tower Buzzers’ players are between 19 and 22 years old, out of high school and college, along with players from other countriesThe Tower Buzzers’ Opening Day is April 2. The cheapest tickets for that day cost just over $37. I know, you can buy four of them for what the cheapest Dodgers’ Opening Day ticket is going for onThe Dodgers’ new minor league team begins its inaugural season Thursday playing in a new stadium, ONT Field. . The Single-A team will throw its first pitch as the Dodgers begin what could be a historic season in Major League Baseball . History will already be made when the first fans go through the turnstile at the Ontario stadium on Opening Day. “This has been a dream for a lot of people, for a better part of two decades, to bring a minor league baseball team here,” said Tower Buzzers General Manager Allan Benavides.,” Benavides said. In that 1986 film, Tom Cruise plays a reckless fighter pilot, nicknamed Maverick, who flies closer than allowed to the runway control tower. The aviation theme is built into the stadium’s design along with signage of Ontario Airport, the team’s title sponsor. The mascot, appropriately, is Maverick, an aviation glasses-wearing giant bee , and uniforms hue to the Dodgers’ style, with “Buzzers” proclaimed on jerseys.ONT Field is in the new stadium for the Ontario Tower Buzzers. The stadium has an aviation theme. Its lead sponsor is Ontario Airport.Most of Tower Buzzers’ players are between 19 and 22 years old, out of high school and college, along with players from other countries. Keep an eye onRemember when Dodgers tickets felt affordable? Currently the cheapest tickets are selling for about $178 on MLB.com. Tickets for the Tower Buzzers’ Opening Day start at just over $37. The Ontario Tower Buzzers are a Single-A team, the lowest rung in a minor league system with Triple-A teams at the top. The Oklahoma City Comets is the Dodgers’ triple-A minor league team, where the Dodgers’ players closest to entering the major leagues play.“My little brother and I went to a Quakes game when Mike Trout was playing with the Quakes and we were there when he hit a grand slam to win a playoff game for them,” said Jonathan Campos, president of the Ontario Mountain View Little League. The Tower Buzzers’ inaugural season is a big deal for youth baseball in the region, Campos said, and his Little League in particular. His league’s four fields are across the street from the Tower Buzzers’ new stadium and that’s generated a lot of interest among his players to have a night for his league at a Tower Buzzers’ game this season.
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