By Deb McCurdy, Special to K12NN On March 18, 2013, public education advocates, administrators, school board members, school administrators, non-profit organizations and philanthropists convened at the California Endowment in downtown Los Angeles. The event followed from a discussion a group of First District CA PTA delegates had with State Senator Carol Liu’s staff on state [...]
There are so many reasons why California is poised to regain her leadership among states in public education. Most of them stem from the fact that policy-wise, we haven’t completely knuckled under to the damaging policies put forth by the Obama administration. We’ve been evasive on bending to the conditions required for a Race to [...]
The California PTA Legislative Conference is an excellent gathering orchestrated by the state PTA and usually happens every spring after everyone’s had a chance to digest the governor’s January budget announcement and State of the State address. (KQED has provided 7, 15, and full 30 minute versions of the State of the State here.) We [...]
The myth is that charters “own” innovation. I don’t buy the myth. In the K12NN FAQ Wiki, I’ve gathered too many examples of 100% public schools that are truly public inside and out – democratic governance mechanisms for the internal and operational affairs of the school and with outward public accountability to taxpayers in all [...]
Since that fateful day on December 14, 2012, we’ve been grieving with the rest of the nation over the senseless deaths of children and their teachers at Newtown, Connecticut. While harder to summon, even pity and empathy must be extended to the obviously disturbed young man Adam Lanza and his mother, who inadvertently armed her [...]
In case you missed the #kidsnotcuts Twitter party with our expert Lily Eskelsen (@NEAToday) as the featured guest, I’ve collected some of the tweet highlights. Good morning, all! Let’s get #kidsnotcuts Twitter Party started! Thanks for joining us Lily. Use @neatoday 2 any Qs u have re fed school $ — K-12 News Network (@K12NN) [...]
My home state is California, and we just successfully survived our own state version of the “fiscal cliff” when it comes to education. Here, they were called the “trigger cuts.” If Proposition 30 — essentially part of the June 30, 2012 budget passed by the legislature that needed the people’s thumbs up at the ballot [...]
April is “National Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month” and the rally was to raise awareness of the harmful and abusive practice of “School Corporal Punishment” while calling on Tennessee lawmakers to take action to abolish school corporal punishment in the state of Tennessee (already prohibited in Nashville schools and schools in 31 U.S. states), to ensure EQUAL access to safe and healthy learning environments for ALL Tennessee school children.
Preserving college affordability will require concerted effort by over-18 voters and their parents, using all available legislative and other political efforts. It’s time to vote out representatives who don’t support public education at any level.
Chairwoman of the DNC Debbie Wasserman-Schultz introduces a new effort by the Democratic Party to reach out, engage, and exhort women voters to get out the vote. Some key supporters of the Democrats’ efforts to re-elect President Obama and regain seats in the House and Senate may have big differences on the Obama administration when it comes to education policy. Could the Women’s Institute be a place where women develop a longer term relationship with the party where concerns about public education are listened to and addressed?