District cites uncertainty over state budgetKathryn Baron
San Francisco Unified School District, which begins registration today for the next academic year, is the first district in California to forgo plans for Transitional Kindergarten. The decision leaves several hundred families, who thought their children would be entering the new educational program, with few options. The district on its website blames the governor’s proposed budget, which would cut money for a program that San Francisco Unified can’t afford on […]
Read Post | Comments (4)Charters getting 7% less funding
Under state law, charter schools and district public schools are supposed to be funded equally. That’s not happening, according to a report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, which found that charter schools receive on average $395 per student or 7 percent less than district schools. And for the half of charter elementary schools that don’t [...]
Read Post | Comments (10)No escaping school fees case
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge drew a bright line Wednesday on Gov. Jerry Brown’s goal of shifting control over education decisions from Sacramento to local districts. What the state can’t do is pawn off its constitutional duty ensuring that California’s children get their fundamental right to a free education, Judge Carl West indicated [...]
Read Post | Comments (18)A case study for NCLB waiver
A couple hundred children sitting cross-legged covered the floor of the multipurpose room at Oak Ridge Elementary School in Sacramento. Behind them, parents, grandparents, and siblings filled rows of metal folding chairs, while teachers stood beside their students. The room was abuzz with excitement as principal Doug Huscher bounded onto the stage and led everyone [...]
Read Post | Comments (4)Big backing for Brown’s tax increase
The proportion of Californians who favor Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed tax initiative has increased: 72 percent say they support it, compared with 65 percent when asked a month ago, according to the latest poll by the Public Policy Institute of California.
Among likely voters, the support is slightly less: 68 percent, up 8 percentage points [...]
Brown wants fast results, fewer tests
Gov. Jerry Brown picked up on a common complaint of teachers, superintendents, and parents in his State of the State address last week: Schools have closed for the summer by the time they get the scores of standardized tests that students took the previous spring. At that point, the results are a lot less useful.
Brown’s [...]
Higher taxes, little relief
Gov. Jerry Brown will have a heck of a time persuading voters to raise taxes by $6.9 billion to benefit schools if he can’t get the education community excited about it first. And so far it’s proving to be a hard sell.
District officials do fear the downside if Brown’s tax proposal fails, but they don’t [...]
