Our annual publication on San Diego schools is here!
Voice of San Diego’s A Parent’s Guide to San Diego Schools has everything parents need to know about the region’s education system. We provide data, tools and tips to help families make the best choice for their children.
You can download the 2026 guide here for free.
New this Year! Private Schools: Parents have long asked us to include private schools in our guide. But by nature they are private, and their data isn’t as accessible as public schools.
So we took a look at the information that’s already out there and dug a little deeper.
While California’s Department of Education doesn’t require private schools to report their data, we collected data by having each individual school fill out a survey.
Mayor Suspends Some Parking Fees at Balboa Park
Mayor Todd Gloria announced on Friday that the city would stop charging residents parking fees at some lots in Balboa Park. The Union-Tribune has a list here.
A compromise? Three councilmembers had previously pushed to suspend all parking fees for residents. But in response to the mayor’s actions, Council President Joe LaCava said they would withdraw their joint effort.
“Good governing also means listening,” Gloria said in a statement. “I’ve heard from residents and from members of the City Council about how this program is affecting San Diegans who love Balboa Park as much as I do.”
The deal will cost the city revenue. Gloria said councilmembers committed to “identify other service-level reductions” to balance the city’s budget.
Not everyone is on the same page? “Today’s announcement on Balboa Park does not accomplish what my Council colleagues and I set out to do last week,” Councilmember Kent Lee told Voice of San Diego. He said he was not involved in the discussion about the suspension of some of the fees.
Councilmember Lee went on to add that the Mayor’s move “cost” the public and full City Council the opportunity to have a public hearing and discussion about paid parking.
Valentine’s Day Marks Next Crucial Deadline on the Colorado River
The river responsible for the very existence of San Diego is again in crisis with major reservoirs used to store water at critically-low levels again – and still nobody can agree on how to save it.
February 14 marks another deadline imposed by the federal government on seven U.S. states that rely on the Colorado River to figure out how to use less of it. Cities, farms, industries and tribes are all vying to exist in a world where there’s less water to support them.
The Rocky Mountain snowpack in Colorado, the Colorado River’s water source, is doing particularly poorly this year. A warm and dry winter means those mountain tops have 57 percent of the snow they’re expected to have.
State governors (except ours) met in Washington D.C. earlier this month to try and hash out a deal. The Colorado Sun’s Shanon Mullen reported that Arizona appears to be the hold-out on an agreement.
Sacramento Report: Tension in the City of Trees
Sacramento reporter Nadia Lathan reports an annual trip of San Diego business executives to the state’s capital was a bit tense.
Leaders with the San Diego Chamber of Commerce were there to advocate for policy changes that make housing easier to build. Business leaders and elected officials usually join the trip.
But Lathan reports that local labor leaders urged elected officials to sit this visit out. That’s because a dispute over a job posting the chamber shared for a company that operates immigration detention centers, has reignited tensions between labor and business.
VOSD Podcast: The Chancellor of San Diego County
On the podcast, the crew digs into Lisa Halverstadt’s latest reveal about how County Supervisor Terra-Lawson Remer is floating the idea of reforms that could create a county mayor.
Our Jakob McWhinney also breaks down a prominent San Diegan found repeatedly in the Epstein files.
And the crew explains why people who stay at H Barracks, a safe parking lot, have to leave every day. Listen to the podcast here.
In Other News
- Haitians living in San Diego under federal Temporary Protected Status are feeling relief after a court halted the Trump administration’s termination of the program, reports the U-T. A few days ago, Robert Gleason, the CEO of Evans Hotels wrote on LinkedIn about how he was dreading having to terminate dozens of employees. “Monday afternoon we did just that when we separated two dozen co-workers on the eve of the announced expiration of their work authorization, only to call them back that night after the stay was issued,” he wrote.
- The Republican Party of San Diego County Central Committee is meeting Monday to discuss key endorsements but they may not even endorse. Stay tuned.
- San Diego’s Section 8 Housing waitlist will close in February. Officials said getting people off the list and into housing can take fifteen years and federal funding has not kept pace with San Diego housing costs. (KPBS)
- The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) is facing increased pressure to terminate a contract that grants some federal immigration enforcement agencies access to a local law enforcement database. The scrutiny comes after a KPBS investigation revealed U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, pays SANDAG $100,000 a year for access to one of its databases. (KPBS).
The Morning Report was written by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña and Mariana Martínez Barba. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.