How did a handful of the GOP hijack the democratic process determining the state budget in California? Through “supermajority” rules and a little Americans For Prosperity astroturf meddling, that’s how. Here are some possible leverage points to use when you call the GOP 5.
Cuts that will hurt twice: first with teacher layoffs, and then as a possible downward spiral when parents of prospective students opt for private school instead of this high-achieving public magnet school.
President of the Hacienda Heights – La Puente School Board Jay Chen updates his constituents on the nuisance recall election and harassment targeting he and other board members who approved a popular Chinese language program for the district. Support the board’s choices by signing the attached petition.
A thoughtless rant larded with casual racism against Asian Pacific Americans made and released in haste is repented (and riffed endlessly and even artfully) at leisure. The web *is* kinda permanent, isn’t it?
A few of the GOP state legislators who hate California schoolkids and want to deprive Californians of the chance to vote for $12 billion by extending current taxes that’ll save the state’s public schools: Sen. Bob Huff, 29th State Senate District and Chair of the Republican Caucus, R-Diamond Bar; Sen. Bill Emmerson, 37th State Senate District, R-Rancho Cucamonga; Tom Harman, 35th State Senate District, R-Huntington Beach.
On MOMocrats’ MOMochat radio show, March 9, 2001: Leonie Haimson of Parents Across America discusses organizing to support public education in the face of extreme budget cuts and anti-child, anti-teacher, anti-union GOP budget proposals.
Release of “value-added” student achievement scores as a way to measure teachers in the Los Angeles Times (and an attempt to release them in the NY Times) has roiled the discussion on education policy as shaped by billionaire philanthropists and business-minded school superintendents. The Columbia Journalism Review exhaustively documents editorial debates over the release of the data.
Education is key to the formation of a lot of APA communities. We chew it over and see where we go next at Banana 2: Asian Pacific American Bloggers Converge on Los Angeles Today.
The construction of a new K-8 school in a diverse corner of Los Angeles, part of LAUSD, sparks passionate disagreement and discussion about who should run the school: a charter management organization, or LAUSD in partnership with the community?
Governor Brown replaces 7 of 11 California State Board of Education members with his own appointees, charting a path for the state that tilts away from Schwarzenegger’s pro-charter direction and away from the White House’s Race to the Top agenda.