UPDATE: as of 1:13 pm, PDT, Monday, June 10: Good news, keep signing! It’s a constantly changing picture, but so far the main points of agreement seem to be these (as of the past weekend’s negotiations): Put more money into the base grants (raise all districts equally) Supplemental grant percentages would be 20% of the [...]
By Lillian Mongeau California could nearly double its spending on public preschool with an influx of federal funding if the president’s proposal to significantly increase the money available for early childhood programs passes Congress, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday. Since President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address [...]
By John Fensterwald Four states have encountered serious glitches and system meltdowns over the past several weeks as they have moved their own state assessments online. But the head of the state-led consortium creating the Common Core tests for California and two dozen other states expressed confidence Wednesday that his organization is working closely with [...]
By John Fensterwald Michael Fullan may be coming soon to a school district near you. The man credited with transforming the Canadian province of Ontario into one of the world’s most effective school systems is ready to help California do the same. Fullan, though, would lead the state in a sharply different direction from the [...]
By Kathryn Baron The leader of the California State Senate says the way to encourage more and stronger bonds between industry and education is through, well, bonds. With California facing a shortage of qualified workers for 21st century jobs, Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg wants to entice businesses to become more involved in job [...]
By John Fensterwald Seven advocacy and civil rights organizations, led by Washington-based The Education Trust, have called on Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to deny nine California districts a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law, saying any deviation from a statewide wavier “would be the wrong path forward.” “Instead, we urge California’s district [...]
By John Fensterwald Gov. Jerry Brown emphatically vowed Wednesday “to fight with everything I have and whatever we have to bring to bear” for passage this year of his school finance reform, as proposed. Back from a trip to China and re-engaged on a priority issue, Brown spoke at a news conference a day after [...]
Related articles Parent Trigger in California: False Promises and Failure Fiscal Showdown & Reduced Federal Spending on Education? We Say Kids, Not Cuts February 25 & 26, 2013: The Annual California PTA Legislative Conference (Teacher Evaluations) February 25 & 26, 2013: The Annual California PTA Legislative Conference (Budget/School Funding) [...]
This one’s from EdSource, a very reliable non-profit education news outlet. EdSource: Proposition 30 | Proposition 38 Comparisons This one’s from the California Budget Project, also a very reliable non-profit state budget watchdog outlet that has excellent information on education. California Budget Project: How Do Propositions 30 & 38 Compare?
Step 1: Get informed. We’re on the verge of either saving our public schools from an annual cycle of disinvestment caused by budget cuts ($20 billion in the past 5 years) — or setting off harmful triggers if the November 2012 ballot initiatives to fund K-12 (or K-14) don’t pass. Proposition 30 and Proposition 38 [...]