Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

A look at the whys and hows of executive pay at charter schools | GothamSchools


A look at the whys and hows of executive pay at charter schools | GothamSchools:

"A hotly-debated topic in the larger battle between charter school advocates and those who oppose their expansion is the question of executive pay. How much is too much for a charter school chief executive officer?

Though charter schools are privately operated, they receive public funding, which opens them up to criticism when their CEOs and CFOs receive high six-figure salaries."


One interesting case study is Harlem Village Academies, a network of charter schools founded by Deborah Kenny in 2001, which operates three charter schools — two middle schools and one high school — in Harlem. According to an analysis done by Kim Gittleson, Kenny also happens to be one of the mostly highly-paid charter executives in the city, second only to Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children Zone charter schools.
Like all charter schools, Kenny’s schools are privately operated but receive public funding, opening her up to criticism that her salary far exceeds what traditional public school administrators earn. This year, Kenny’s base salary, excluding her pension and expense account, is $275,000. She also has the opportunity, as she has every year, to earn a year-end bonus of $150,000 if her schools do well, putting her total salary at a potential $425,000.

Ed Lewis, chairman of the board for Harlem Village Academies, said Kenny’s salary is entirely paid by the board and private contributions.

Teachers rally for new contract | The Education Report



"Teachers rally for new contract

By Katy Murphy
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 5:55 pm


A couple of photos from tonight’s OEA rally in front of the district headquarters, taken by staff photographer Aric Crabb:"

Cooley and McGarvey Named 2010 Mayor and Vice Mayor; Ceremony in Two Weeks — The Rancho Cordova Post


Cooley and McGarvey Named 2010 Mayor and Vice Mayor; Ceremony in Two Weeks — The Rancho Cordova Post:

"Rancho Cordova Council Members voted to elevate current Vice Mayor Ken Cooley to Mayor for 2010 in Monday’s meeting, and Council Member Robert McGarvey will be elevated to the position of Vice Mayor as well.

The official change in leadership will occur on Dec. 21, and current Mayor Dan Skoglund will address the new appointments during the ceremony. Skoglund was appointed to the City Council in 2004 after Council Member David Roberts passed away, and he was elected to a full term as a Council Member in 2006. Skoglund served as Vice Mayor in 2008 and was elevated to Mayor in 2009"

NEWS FROM BARBARA BOXER, UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM CALIFORNIA



I recently spoke on the Senate floor in support of legislation to improve coverage of women’s preventative health services and lower the costs of health care for women. 

Authored by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), this amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would require all health plans to cover comprehensive women’s preventative care and screenings – and to cover these recommended services at no cost to women.

The Senate passed the Mikulski amendment on December 3, 2009 by a vote of 61 to 39.  I am proud to be a co-sponsor of this amendment, and I am pleased to share with you this transcript of my speech that appeared in the Congressional Record. You can also view the video from my floor speech at http://boxer.authoring.senate.gov/en/press/videos/12012009.cfm
Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

Senator Boxer's Congressional Record Statement on the Mikulski Amendment

December 1, 2009

MRS. BOXER.  Mr. President, I am proud to support the Mikulski-Harkin-Boxer amendment to improve preventive health coverage for women. 

The Mikulski amendment addresses this critical issue by requiring that all health plans cover comprehensive women’s preventive care and screenings -- and cover these recommended services at little or no cost to women.

These health care services include annual mammograms for women at age 40, pregnancy and postpartum depression screenings, screenings for domestic violence, annual women’s health screenings, and family planning services. 

The preventive services covered under this amendment would be determined by the Health Resources and Services Administration to meet the unique preventive health needs of women.

HRSA is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services.  HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has already said that “Mammograms have always been an important life-saving tool in the fight against breast cancer and they still are today.”  The Secretary made clear that recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force “do not set federal policy and they don’t determine what services are covered by the federal government.”

This is not the first time that experts have disagreed about this issue.  I have been in this battle before, with Senator Mikulski, who called a hearing with all of the women Senators in 1994 where I insisted that routine mammograms for women over 40 must be covered.

And thank goodness we fought back then, and in 1997 and in 2002 when this issue was raised again and again.  Since 1991, the death rate from breast cancer has been reduced by over 20 percent.

According to a 2007 Partnership for Prevention report, 3,700 additional lives would be saved each year if we increased to 90 percent the portion of women age 40 and older who have been screened for breast cancer in the past 2 years.

The most recent data show us that approximately 17 percent of breast cancer deaths occurred in women who were diagnosed in their forties.

That is why the American Cancer Society continues to recommend annual screening using mammography and clinical breast examination for all women beginning at age 40.

Mammograms are still the most effective and valuable tool for decreasing suffering and death from breast cancer.

The Mikulski amendment will ensure women are able to get access to this and other lifesaving preventive services at no cost.

The underlying bill introduced by Senator Reid already requires that preventive services recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force be covered at little to no cost.  These recommendations already include some women’s preventive services such as osteoporosis screenings.

But they do not include certain recommendations that many women’s health advocates and medical professionals believe are critically important, such as screenings for ovarian cancer – a disease that will claim the lives of nearly 15,000 women this year.  We know that when ovarian cancer is diagnosed early, more than 93 percent of women survive longer than 5 years.

Women are often the decision makers for their families when it comes to health care.  But women too often put the health needs of their family members and their children ahead of their own.

By passing this amendment, we are saving the lives of countless mothers, daughters, grandmothers and sisters who would otherwise forgo preventative health care because of high copays and expensive deductibles. 

I would like to share with my colleagues a story from a doctor in my home state of California, William Leininger, that drives home the importance of this amendment: 

“In my last year of residency, I cared for a mother of two who had been treated for cervical cancer when she was 23. At that time, she was covered by her husband’s insurance, but it was an abusive relationship, and she lost her health insurance when they divorced.

For the next five years, she had no health insurance and never received follow-up care (which would have revealed that her cancer had returned). She eventually remarried and regained health insurance, but by the time she came back to see me, her cancer had spread.

She had two children from her previous marriage—her driving motivation during her last rounds of palliative care was to survive long enough to ensure that her abusive ex-husband wouldn’t gain custody of her kids after her death. She succeeded. She was 28 when she died.”

That is not a story that should be told in the richest nation in the world.


To respond to this message, please click here.  This link will take you to a webpage where you can reply to messages that you receive from Senator Boxer’s office.

Eight-year dream realized at Hiram Johnson High School; school clinic first in Sac County

Eight-year dream realized at Hiram Johnson High School; school clinic first in Sac County



An eight-year dream will be fulfilled on Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 10 a.m. when Hiram
Johnson High School and Sacramento City Unified School District officials open the campus’
health center. The clinic will become the first school-based health center in Sacramento County.
Partnering with the non-profit group Health for All and volunteer dentists, the clinic will
bring health services to students and eventually community members in a chronically
underserved area. Hiram Johnson’s clinic will serve students and then expand services over the
coming year to supply healthcare, education and referrals. Services will be available free of
charge to students enrolled at the high school.

Volunteer medical providers will perform physical examinations, vision, dental and blood
pressure screenings, routine lab tests, immunizations, tuberculosis testing, health education,
counseling and wellness promotion, referrals and health insurance enrollment.

Nationwide, about 1,700 school health centers operate in 45 states and the District of
Columbia. California has more than 150 school health centers in urban, suburban and rural
settings, but this is the first to open in Sacramento County.

The California School Health Centers Association cites as benefits health center roles in
supporting student learning by improving mental health and diet, and treating injuries and
physical illness, and reducing student absences. Centers also support families by providing free
or low cost health services for children and strengthening the connection between school and
family.

NAEP -- State Profile: CA

NAEP -- State Profile: CA


California

California
 
Contact Information
Testing Director: Deborah Sigman
NAEP Coordinator: Jessica Valdez
CA State Dept. of Education

Student, School/District Characteristics for Public Schools
 
Student Characteristics
Number enrolled: 6,343,471
Percent in Title I schools: 75.3%
With Individualized Education Programs (IEP): 10.7%
Percent in limited-English proficiency programs: --
Percent eligible for free/reduced lunch: 51.1%

Racial/Ethnic Background
White: 29.4%1
Black: 7.7%1
Hispanic: 50.2%1
Asian/Pacific Islander: 11.9%
American Indian/Alaskan Native: 0.8%1
School/District Characteristics
Number of school districts: 1,026*
Number of schools: 10,198
Number of charter schools: 701
Per-pupil expenditures: $8,9091
Pupil/teacher ratio: 20.8
Number of FTE teachers: 305,230

'--' : data unavailable
* Local school districts only (type 1, 2)
Source: Common Core of Data, 2007-2008 school year (non-adjudicated)
1 Common Core of Data, 2006-2007 school year


History of NAEP Participation and Performance
 
   Scale Score
Achievement Level
 
State[Nat.Percent at or Above
SubjectGrade Year Avg.Avg.]* Basic ProficientAdvancedGraphics

Mathematics
(scale: 0-500)
41992n208[219]46121
1996n209[222]46111
2000213[224]50131
2003227[234]67253
2005230[237]71284
2007230[239]70304
2009232[239]72305
81990n256[262]45122
1992n261[267]50162
1996n263[271]51173
2000260[272]50172
2003267[276]56224
2005269[278]57225
2007270[280]59245
2009270[282]59235

Reading
(scale: 0-500)
41992n202[215]48194
1994n197[212]44183
1998202[213]48204
2002206[217]50214
2003206[216]50215
2005207[217]50215
2007209[220]53235
81998252[261]63211
2002250[263]61201
2003251[261]61222
2005250[260]60212
2007251[261]62212

Science
(scale: 0-300)
42000129[145]45131
2005137[149]50171
81996n138[148]47201
2000129[148]38141
2005136[147]44182

Writing
(scale: 0-300)
42002146[153]80232
81998141[148]76201
2002144[152]78231
2007148[154]83251
* Includes public schools only
n Accommodations were not permitted for this assessment

Related Material

House and Senate Budget Would Boost TIF, Charters - Politics K-12 - Education Week


House and Senate Budget Would Boost TIF, Charters - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

"Remember that long-delayed fiscal year 2010 spending bill, which was approved by the House of Representatives, and by the Senate Appropriations Committee, both in July.

The measure was never considered by the full Senate, but December is crunch time, so a House and Senate conference committee decided to skip that step last night and approved a compromise version of the bill. Now the measure is expected to be voted on by the full House and full Senate so it can go to President Obama for his signature."

Joe Scarborough: Remembering John Lennon, 29 Years Later

Joe Scarborough: Remembering John Lennon, 29 Years Later:

"It's hard to believe it's almost been 30 years since I heard Howard Cosell deliver the news on Monday Night Football that John Lennon had been killed.

I was still in high school when John Lennon died so I was too young to remember the Beatles as anything more than a former band.

When the Beatles invaded America, I was less than a year old.

Three summers later, when Sgt. Peppers transformed popular music and America's culture, I was still a toddler."

But regardless of my late start, John Lennon and the Beatles still changed my life in a way that few others have. I didn't see the Fab Four introduced to America by Ed Sullivan, or endure the pain of a breakup to the strains of "Yesterday," or drop acid with my friends while listening to Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. But I did have their music, and in the end that's all that mattered.
My transformative moment with the band came on the last day of 8th Grade when my friends and I rode our bikes home from school in Upstate New York. When we reached the mall, we dropped our bikes and ran into the record store. One friend bought the latest Kiss album and another grabbed something by AC/DC. Instead of buying something in my decade, I settled on the Beatles' 1967-1970 "blue album." That decision would change my life.
By the end of that first weekend, I was hooked. I spent the next four or five years hunting down every Beatles album, bootleg, solo album and documentary. I'm not sure why I had so much trouble tracking down albums like Let it Be during the mid-1970s. Maybe it was because Elmira, New York record stores had limited stock or maybe it's because Capitol Records hadn't figured out yet that they could sell more albums by a band that broke up years ago than a new band exploding on the scene.


Pillsbury > Resources > Publications & Presentations > Advisory—Draft California Ballot Measures Would Cut Prop 13 Protection for Commercial Properties


Pillsbury > Resources > Publications & Presentations > Advisory—Draft California Ballot Measures Would Cut Prop 13 Protection for Commercial Properties:

"Advisory—Draft California Ballot Measures Would Cut Prop 13 Protection for Commercial Properties

Authors: Craig A. Becker, Lawrence L. Hoenig

12/3/2009

On November 5, 2009, two ballot initiatives to remove certain Proposition 13 property tax protections for California commercial property were filed with the state’s Attorney General.

The first initiative, titled the “Protect the Homeowners and Close Corporate Tax Loopholes Act” (No. 09-0077, hereinafter the “Reassessment Initiative”), would remove the Proposition 13 limits on assessed value of commercial real property and subject such property to reassessment at fair market value at least once every three years.
The second initiative, titled the “Education and Taxpayer Fairness Act” (No. 09-0078, hereinafter the “Rate Initiative”), would raise the property tax rate on commercial real property by 55% (from 1% to 1.55%) and reserve the incremental property tax revenue for California public schools.

Neither initiative would change any of the existing Proposition 13 protections for residential real property."

Great Oakland Public Schools



Great Oakland Public Schools


RBB Issue Group Finalizes Recommendations

The RBB Issue Group has made a total of sixteen specific recommendations to address the current challenges of results-based budgeting, as it is currently implemented in the Oakland Unified School District. We believe that this set of recommendations will allow for the greatest equity in funding distribution, while addressing the concerns from schools with higher personnel costs. RBB Issue Group co-chairs David Silver and Sondra Aguilera have distributed the RBB group’s letter throughout the district, and have been asking principals to show their support by endorsing it. Katy Murphy also included a post about the letter on her blog last week.  As of Tuesday, December 8, eighty-three Oakland principals have endorsed the letter. Click here to download the full text of the letter and click here to endorse.
In mid-October, RBB Issue Group members collaboratively developed a survey to gather information from OUSD principals about the efficacy and challenges of RBB within our school communities. Over 60 principals from across the district took our survey; they represent elementary, middle, and high schools, small and traditional schools, and schools from the hills and the flatlands, North, East, and West Oakland. Small groups of principals met twice to review the data and analyze the responses to identify significant patterns and trends. Results from the survey indicated that:

Portland pushing big-school model for high schools; parents have lots of questions | Portland News - – OregonLive.com


Portland pushing big-school model for high schools; parents have lots of questions | Portland News - – OregonLive.com:

"Portland Public Schools wants every high school student to have access to band, choir, career pathways and at least 10 college credit courses. Those opportunities don't exist for all students today.

But to implement this new core program, the state's largest school district is going big, making a 180-degree turn from the small school programs it began just five years ago."

Portland proposed this model after gathering feedback from community forums this fall and during the past 18 months. Parents and students overwhelmingly favored the idea of bigger schools where students would have access to a wider variety of courses and opportunities. And Portland's small schools have struggled to meet academic achievement benchmarks and received mixed reviews from students, who say they want more electives and advanced courses. 

The district has tried to redesign individual schools before, but this is the first time the district has tried to change its entire system, a move prompted in part by the results of a study that revealed that only 54 percent of students in the class of 2004 graduated within four years. The statewide graduation rate, measured differently, was 68 percent in 2008. 

Portland's new model of a neighborhood high school requires each campus have 1,200 to 1,350 students. Bigger schools means fewer schools -- likely six to seven high schools, not the 10 campuses in the district now. 

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - Parents: Cut Back on Testing


voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - Parents: Cut Back on Testing:

"The ideas ran fast and furious at the third budget meeting held by San Diego Unified, this one at Madison High, which was hosted Tuesday night by school board member John Lee Evans.
Parents, teachers and other attendees flung out ideas to help schools weather the financial storm: Close schools. Protest in the streets and write letters to legislators. Relax labor rules to let parent volunteers pick up work that they can't do now. Raise our taxes and fees. One parent even invoked the idea of renaming Madison as Qualcomm High -- but only if the company ponied up the cash, of course."

By the way, if you want to get all the gory details live about meetings like this, you might want to check out read on:



Community Journalist Emily Alpert "TWEETS"
San Diego Unified School District Budget Forum



  1. Evans: "This group understands that it requires something from us."
  2. Former Unified PTA leader adds, "You need to join the PTA!"
  3. Another person asks: could we rename Madison High as Qualcomm High and get corporate dollars?
  4. Cutting back on testing is getting major props from parents here.
  5. (That one got MAJOR applause!)
  6. More ideas from parents: Tax gasoline. Switch to online communication. Pare back to half day kindergarten. Reduce to a four day school week.
  7. Another mom: Cut some of the outsourcing. Close some schools.
  8. Curie Elem mom: Free up parent groups to pay for more things. Splittig the district could make things easier. Don't cut extra curriculars.
  9. Hage dad: Willing to pay money to help schools.
  10. Spreckels Elementary dad: Class sizes should not be increased any further. We have to go after the state revenue to preserve ed.
  11. Another suggestion: Suspend No Child Left Behind to save money.
  12. Mt Everest principal: cut out the fluff. Get back to basics at school.
  13. Mom and former teacher: March on the streets for education funding!
  14. One dad: start branding buses, pencils, etc for cash.
  15. After breaking into small groups, everyone gathers to share ideas on cuts and new revenues
  16. That should have been cutting, not xutting. As you might have guessed.
  17. Evans: what we're doing right now isn't really belt tightening--- it's xutting off one of your arms.
  18. Evans: "we really need both" revenues and cuts to get out of his crisis.
  19. Evans: saving all the money by shortening the school year would mean cutting three months from the calendar.
  20. Evans: 600 fewer teachers this year than last, despite no layoffs. The staff was shrunk with a golden handshake.
  21. Evans said he had to pay for some of the handouts at this meeting himself. Every little bit counts...
  22. Interim Superintendent Bill Kowba: Freezing salaries would mean we owed employees money later.
  23. Notable folks here: bond oversight committee member, school law attorney, adorable children
  24. Another handout cites "low hanging fruit" for new Calif. revenues, such as an oil severance tax
  25. Handout asks parents to pick one priority: maintaining class size, keeping the school year its usual length, or keeping all programs