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The Seal of Civic Engagement will join the Seal of Biliteracy, recognizing fluency in multiple languages, and the long-standing Golden State Seal Merit Diploma, recognizing overall academic excellence, as the civics equivalent of the Armed Forces’ oak leaf cluster to honor meritorious service.

 

It was created by Assembly Bill 24, authored by Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, in an effort to revive civics education. It was signed into law earlier this month. Who will be eligible for it and the criteria for awarding it will be hashed out over the next two years by the state Department of Education and ultimately will be decided by the State Board of Education in early 2021. Their challenge will be to strike a balance between encouraging civic involvement by all students and singling out outstanding accomplishments that catch the eye of colleges and employers .

Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, who requested the state audit last year along with Sen. Lois Wolk of Davis, said Thursday that the findings are “one more stick in the spokes of a bicycle that is going off the track.”

 

“I think the takeaway is they’ve been planning for 11 years and there’s no plan,” Eggman said. “It’s time to cut our losses and start working on a real solution.”

California’s state auditor criticized planners of the Delta tunnels Thursday for paying millions of dollars to an unqualified consultant and not completing a cost-benefit analysis of the $17.1 billion project.

 

In a 97-page report, State Auditor Elaine Howle said the California Department of Water Resources broke state law in 2009, during the early stages of the tunnels planning, by hiring a Sacramento company called Hallmark Group to oversee a portion of the planning process. The report said Hallmark “does not appear to possess the technical credentials or experience on relevant projects.”