Sunday, December 13, 2009

SAC CHARTERGATE: Numbers Game?







"Numbers Game?
Sac City school district monthly school enrollment figures reveal more important questions about the state of Sac things at St. Hope/Sacramento Charter High School. Either Sac Charter has lost a troubling number of in-district students during the third month of the school year or its enrollment figures have serious discrepancies with important financial implications for both the school and the school district.

All school enrollment--whether traditional public or charters--are provided to the school board and the public every month or so. These figures include enrollment at the end of each month, average attendance percentages and a break out of enrollment by grade level."

Continue reading at SAC CHARTERGATE
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Top 25 sacdac.org Post on docstoc.com 12-12-09




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Five reasons to vote GOP, or Dem in 2010

Five reasons to vote GOP, or Dem in 2010:




"Republicans


U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer: A politician Republicans love to hate as one of the most liberal in the U.S. Senate.


"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Public Enemy No. 1 to the national GOP as Republicans around the country give money to House races hoping she'll lose the majority and her podium.


Gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown: A target Republicans still love to hate as "Governor Moonbeam" - and they'll aim to soften up his numbers and boost his negatives.
 Climate change, health care: With voices like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck egging them on, Republicans are fired up on two of President Obama's top agenda items.

 Taxes and budget: The heart of the Tea Party agenda. State Republicans are pounding the "no new taxes" drum as they call for more cuts to close the budget gap.

Democrats


Keep the U.S. Senate majority: As Democrats work to pass health care reforms, the party faithful can't afford to lose a single seat, and Boxer will be their cause in California.

 Do away with the two-thirds majority to pass state budgets: Democrats who control both houses of the Legislature say the high bar blocks progress and the budget.

 Win back the governor's office: Brown's backers say he'll get things done after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger struggled to make good on his vow to cut spending.

 Fight budget cuts: Democrats say they won't accept more without a fight. Look for them to throw down the gauntlet.

 Pass health care reform: Central to Obama's agenda, and a passionate motivator for the grassroots, look for the issue to drive Democrats.


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Moody's Cuts Calpers' Rating by Three Notches to Aa3 - WSJ.com


Moody's Cuts Calpers' Rating by Three Notches to Aa3 - WSJ.com:

"Calpers may be paying a price for its decision to help financially strapped local California governments.

Moody's Investors Service slashed the triple-A rating of Calpers, formally known as the California Public Employees' Retirement System, by three notches to Aa3.

The downgrade, made Thursday, in part reflected Calpers' recent spike in unfunded liabilities, following the fund's negative 24% return for the year ended in June. Calpers, the nation's largest public fund with about $200 billion in assets, last month delayed its efforts to offset those liabilities by agreeing to defer an increase in local-government contributions to the fund from 2011 until 2012."
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Student protests continue and gather momentum on both sides of the Bay


Student protests continue and gather momentum on both sides of the Bay:

"As further evidence of frustration and disgust with the fallout from the California budget crisis, student protests continued and expanded this week as San Francisco State University students protested budget cuts and tuition fee hikes. SFSU protesters were arrested earlier this week after occupying a campus building, causing some classes to be canceled, just as many students were studying for upcoming finals. Protesters then took to surrounding streets, blocking 19th Avenue in an attempt to cut off police vehicles from exiting. Those students were taken into custody, cited and released."
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Sacramento Press / Pony Express rides again


Sacramento Press / Pony Express rides again:


"The 12 riders rode along the American River Parkway trail from the Folsom Historical Museum to Old Sacramento's Historical Museum, completing the journey in about five hours.

The riders - Janet Kampf, Cindy Honn, Laura Beeman, Lisa Mahon, Pam Dixon, Kathy Colt, Marton Bross, Jessie Davison, Cary Morre, Pat Fanelli, Jessica Sloat and Susan LaFrance - are from different California towns.

The Pony Express will celebrate its 150th year delivering mail by a 10-day horseback trek from Old Sacramento, CA to St. Joseph, MO."
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SAC City DAC Education News & Comment


Education News & Comment SAC City DAC:

"SCUSD DAC Bylaw Revision Subcommittee Reports Out

Hi DAC members,

Attached please find support materials for the bylaws revision process. They will also be posted at http://sacdac.org/bylaws.aspx. Feel free to e-mail or phone Leo of the bylaws committeeat leocauchon (at) netscape.net with questions or comments. These will be answered and shared by a FAQ e-mail and by handout at the January meeting.

Reviewing the important parts of these materials (Dac Bylaws to be certified Articles 4 and 5 and Article II of revision consideration - one page each) with your respective SSCsas we proceed in the work ofrevising the DAC bylaws is appreciated. Please remember that there is a final 2/3rds vote on the entire revision scheduled at the end of the process. It is the intention to provide lots of opportunities for engagement in this effort.

Thanks for your ongoing commitment to our students.

The Fish"
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Without parents, schools can't succeed - JSOnline


Without parents, schools can't succeed - JSOnline:

"The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's series on parental involvement in the Milwaukee Public Schools district did an excellent job of highlighting why it is crucial for parents to be actively involved in their children's education. 'Program's success sparks hope' (Nov. 29) highlighted the success of two of COA Youth & Family Centers' programs. Most important, based on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's evaluation of these programs, COA is now implementing them in 35 MPS elementary schools.

COA began HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters) 11 years ago, providing weekly in-home instruction for parents and children ages 3 to 5. Evaluation documented that kids in HIPPY start school at a higher proficiency and that parents in HIPPY continue their everyday habit of parental involvement into elementary school."
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The Associated Press: Politics dominate Calif education reform effort


The Associated Press: Politics dominate Calif education reform effort:

"SACRAMENTO, Calif. — To education reformers, a $4.3 billion school funding competition from the Obama administration seemed like just the push California needed to start making long overdue changes to restore academic luster to the state's public schools.

But the drive to dramatically turn around a faltering system that serves more than 6 million children has run into political reality in a Legislature dominated by special interests. The result could leave the state with the nation's largest public school system ill-positioned to compete for the so-called Race to the Top funds.

Officials estimate California stands to gain up to $700 million."
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THE STATE OF BLACK STUDENTS' EDUCATION


THE STATE OF BLACK STUDENTS' EDUCATION
In the Sacramento City Unified School District
Black Parallel School Board’s “Call to Action”
Research Report
2008-2009  



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voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - 'They're Looking at Impending Doom'


voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - 'They're Looking at Impending Doom':


"School district staffers have offered up a long list of possible cuts to fill a budget gap that could range from $147 million to $203 million. Their ideas include cutbacks that must be negotiated with reluctant labor unions as well as politically toxic ideas such as completely eliminating librarians and vice principals, jettisoning the arts and magnet programs and closing five schools. But if California makes the deepest cuts possible, in the worst way possible, the school district could take every one of those dreaded steps and still wouldn't be able to close the gap.

'I don't have any answers right now,' said school board member Richard Barrera, who voiced concern about the situation last week. 'But we've got to stay patient. These numbers can change.'"
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Federal complaint expected on school violence | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/12/2009


Federal complaint expected on school violence | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/12/2009:

"The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund said yesterday that it would file a federal civil rights complaint accusing the Philadelphia School District of failing to address violence against Asian immigrant students at South Philadelphia High School.

The complaint will claim that the district violated the students' right to equal protection under the 14th Amendment, said Cecilia Chen, a staff attorney with the organization.

Chen said the complaint would be filed with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division."
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Edwatch by Julia Steiny: R.I. could learn a lot from Harlem | Education | projo.com | The Providence Journal


Edwatch by Julia Steiny: R.I. could learn a lot from Harlem | Education | projo.com | The Providence Journal:


"The Harlem Children’s Zone is succeeding where so many have failed – interrupting chronic cycles of family poverty in an inner-city neighborhood. Its students are starting to close the achievement gap with middle-class kids, on a reliable basis. Harlem itself has become so appealing that gentrification threatens the Zone.
 
What’d they do right?"

In the early 1980s, the charismatic community-organizer Geoffrey Canada chose to get intimate with a place and concentrate only on its children. He’d taken over a little social service agency, determined to rescue kids from the brutal, mean-streets childhood he had in the Bronx. Starting with only a few city blocks, his Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) began to build, piece by piece, a cradle-to-career “pipeline” of services to help those particular kids succeed. Increasingly, the idea was to give them supports that middle-class kids take for granted — improving the nutrition of young pregnant moms, creating safe places to play, providing good schools.


Its now famous “Baby College” uses Saturday morning classes to teach poor, young parents how to get their kids on track to college. Teachers explain how a baby’s brain develops, so parents understand the consequences of overly harsh discipline and the importance of reading. In other words, HCZ invests heavily in the people who support the kids.


The Zone grew, adding a few blocks at a time, to the 97-block phenomenon that has caught President Obama’s attention. The president wants it replicated.


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For students, a right to be mean online? -- latimes.com


For students, a right to be mean online? -- latimes.com:

"One morning in May 2008, an eighth-grader walked into Janice Hart's office at a Beverly Hills school crying.

She was upset and humiliated and couldn't possibly go to class, the girl told the counselor. The night before, a classmate had posted a video on YouTube with a group of other eighth-graders bad-mouthing her, calling her 'spoiled,' a 'brat' and a 'slut.' Text and instant messages had been flying since. Half the class must have seen it by now, she told Hart.

Hart took the problem to the vice principal and principal, who took it to a district administrator, who asked the district's lawyers what they could do about it. In the end, citing 'cyber-bullying' concerns, school officials suspended the girl who posted the video for two days. That student took the case to federal court, saying her free speech rights had been violated."
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Performance pay for teachers would quadruple under bill approved by Hill - washingtonpost.com


Performance pay for teachers would quadruple under bill approved by Hill - washingtonpost.com:

"Federal funding for performance pay in public schools would quadruple, to $400 million a year, under a bill moving through Congress that reflects the growing political momentum behind an education reform idea once considered anathema to many Democrats and labor leaders."
The Teacher Incentive Fund, launched during the Bush administration, has become a priority for President Obama. It has awarded more than 30 grants to school systems, states and public charter schools to develop new ways to reward top-performing teachers and principals in high-needs schools, with student test scores a significant factor but not the only one. Classroom evaluations are also considered.

The Prince George's County school system, one of the grant recipients, this month distributed $1.1 million in bonuses to 279 teachers and administrators from a dozen schools who volunteered for a trial program that ties cash awards to classroom performance.
The increase in performance pay funding, now at $97 million a year, is included in anomnibus spending bill approved by the House on Thursday. The Senate is expected to vote on the measure Sunday, and Obama has said he will sign it.
"If we want our students to succeed, we have to begin giving our teachers the respect and resources they deserve," Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said in a statement. "This will require a seismic shift in the way we talk about and treat teachers and it starts with this important investment in programs that reward teacher excellence."

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HISD chief considers in-house program for troubled students | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle


HISD chief considers in-house program for troubled students | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:

"Some students, no matter where they attend school, are bound to break the rules.

But troublemakers in the Houston Independent School District are treated differently than most. They're outsourced to one of two campuses run by a private company, Community Education Partners, which is tasked with reforming their behavior and catching them up academically.

Most districts in Texas and nationwide run their own alternative schools for students with discipline problems. HISD's new superintendent, Terry Grier, announced this month that he's considering following suit and asking the school board to bring the $20 million-a-year alternative program in-house."
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Detroit parents want DPS teachers, officials jailed over low test scores | detnews.com | The Detroit News


Detroit parents want DPS teachers, officials jailed over low test scores | detnews.com | The Detroit News:

"Detroit -- Impassioned parents demanded jail time for educators and district officials Saturday following the release of test scores that showed fourth- and eighth-graders had the worst math scores in the nation.

City students took the National Assessment of Educational Progress test this year, and 69 percent of fourth-graders scored below the basic level in math and 77 percent of eighth-graders scored below basic.

The Detroit scores on the progress test were the lowest in its 40-year history. The sample of students included 900 of Detroit's 6,000 fourth-graders and 1,000 of the district's 6,000 eighth-graders.

Sharlonda Buckman, CEO of the Detroit Parent Network, called for jailing and civil lawsuits against anyone in the city's educational system that is not doing his or her share to help properly educate children.

'Somebody needs to go to jail,' she said in a tearful address to 500 parents gathered Saturday for the organization's annual breakfast forum. 'Somebody needs to pay for this. Somebody needs to go to jail, and it shouldn't be the kids.'"
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Senate to vote on $1.1 trillion spending bill - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee


Senate to vote on $1.1 trillion spending bill - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee:

"WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats overcame a Republican filibuster to clear the way for a vote Sunday on a huge end-of-year $1.1 trillion spending bill that gives budget increases far exceeding inflation to much of the government.

The Democratic-controlled Senate voted 60-34 on Saturday to end the GOP filibuster that threatened to hold up the legislation. The final vote would send the measure to President Barack Obama."


The 1,000-plus-page bill brings together six of the 12 annual spending bills that Congress had been unable to pass separately because of partisan roadblocks even though the current budget year began Oct. 1.
The measure pays for Medicare and Medicaid benefits, and boosts spending for the Education Department, the State Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and others.

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California becoming a Third World nation - Dan Walters - Fresnobee.com


California becoming a Third World nation Dan Walters- Fresnobee.com:

"A quarter-century ago, in a series of Sacramento Bee articles that later morphed into a book, I described how California was undergoing dramatic economic and social change and quoted from a paper co-written by University of California at Davis economist Philip Martin about the state's future: 'The possible emergence of a two-tier economy with Asians and non-Hispanic whites competing for high-status positions while Hispanics and blacks struggle to get the low-paying service jobs'

The concept of a segmented, even segregated, California was somewhat revolutionary in the mid-1980s.

After all, wasn't California the embodiment of mobile egalitarianism?"
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Behind D.C. schools' math gains, racial gap persists - washingtonpost.com


Behind D.C. schools' math gains, racial gap persists - washingtonpost.com:

"Last week's federal report card on math achievement was a welcome piece of good news for D.C. public schools. Although the District still lags far behind the country's top-performing systems, the report card showed fourth- and eighth-graders making strides at a faster pace over the past two years than cities including Atlanta, Chicago and New York.

But what remains embedded in the latest numbers from the National Assessment of Educational Progress is the persistent achievement gap between African American and white students both locally and nationally. The average scores of white D.C. fourth-graders over the past two years grew from 262 to 270 (on a scale of 500), but their African American peers' rose just three points, from 209 to 212. The achievement gap actually grew between 2007 and 2009, from 53 to 58 points."
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Indiana Gazette > News


Indiana Gazette > News:

"Dissatisfied with the leadership of President Dr. Tony Atwater, faculty members at Indiana University of Pennsylvania will take up a no-confidence vote this week.

Union leaders contend that his budgeting and spending practices are jeopardizing the university.

For his part, Atwater says that tough times have required him to make hard decisions to meet the school's financial challenges.

Union leaders expect that their fellow professors will overwhelmingly approve the no-confidence vote.

So that raises a question: What does it mean for Atwater's presidency and his future?"
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Assembly vote snuffs out education bill:Schwarzenegger loads veto gun


Assembly vote snuffs out education bill:Schwarzenegger loads veto gun:


"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday threatened to put the sleeper hold on Assembly Bill X5 8, following consecutive days of favorable votes by both the Assembly and the Assembly Committee on Education.

AB X5 8 was one of two measures aimed at establishing federal guidelines for national schools competing for a piece of the $4.3 billion Race to the Top grants, announced in July by President Barack Obama. The bill was passed following a 10-6 vote on Wednesday by the Assembly Committee on Education; the Assembly gave the nod on Thursday with a 47-25 outcome. The passage of AB X5 8 resulted in the defeat of Schwarzenegger-backed Senate Bill X5 1, which did not collect the needed nine votes for approval, according to the Sacramento Bee.�"
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Dan Walters: A two-tier California is now reality - Sacramento Politics - California Politics | Sacramento Bee


Dan Walters: A two-tier California is now reality - Sacramento Politics - California Politics | Sacramento Bee:

"A quarter-century ago, in a series of Sacramento Bee articles that later morphed into a book, I described how California was undergoing dramatic economic and social change and quoted from a paper co-written by University of California, Davis, economist Philip Martin about the state's future to wit:

'… The possible emergence of a two-tier economy with Asians and non-Hispanic whites competing for high-status positions while Hispanics and blacks struggle to get the low-paying service jobs. … '"


The concept of a segmented, even segregated,California was somewhat revolutionary in the mid-1980s. After all, wasn't California the embodiment of mobile egalitarianism?
Three economic booms and three busts later, with 11 million more people, largely because of heavy immigration and a high birth rate, California has clearly reached the highly stratified condition that Martin and others saw coming.
Roughly three-quarters of Californians may complain about traffic congestion and other hassles, but they're still pretty much living the state's fabled good life. For the other 25 percent or so, it's another story.
Half of the latter are unemployed, or are living in families without working incomes, and most of the remainder can be categorized as either dropouts from the labor force or working in subsistence jobs below their capacities.
California, with about 12 percent of the nation's population, has a third of its welfare recipients.Seven million people, nearly 20 percent of its residents, are enrolled in Medi-Cal, the program that provides medical care to the poor. At least a quarter, and perhaps a third, of the state's ninth-graders are not making it through high school.

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Excess and deprivation mark California prisons - News - The Orange County Register

Excess and deprivation mark California prisons - News - The Orange County Register:


"CALIFORNIA DREAM


Fifty years ago, California was a promised land where workers could find jobs and their children a state-paid higher education.
Today, it's not quite like that anymore.


Prisons have replaced the university as the state institution of priority. This fiscal year, the state General Fund plans to spend $8.2 billion on corrections – $3 billion more than what's budgeted for the University of California and California State University systems combined."



In fact, California spends more per capita on its prisons than any state of comparable population. In 2007, California devoted nearly $280 to corrections for every man, woman and child in the state. New York spent $191 per resident.
From 1999 to 2007, California spent more than $60 billion incarcerating the state's worst criminals. Over that time, Texas spent $22 billion. New York, $28 billion.

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Mentoring helps immigrants' children aim for college - washingtonpost.com


Mentoring helps immigrants' children aim for college - washingtonpost.com:

"The tour bus pulled into Gettysburg College with a loud wheeze. Graciela Rodriguez, 12, stepped off and blinked for a moment at the white columns, brick facades and emerald lawns."


Graciela's parents had barely graduated from high school in El Salvador. Until recently, Graciela herself, who was born in Silver Spring and lives in Riverdale, had never set foot on a college campus.
Yet as she and the other eighth-graders in the group explored Gettysburg, where tuition runs $38,690 a year, their attitude was less that of awestruck visitors than of enthusiastic prospective students.
"Yes! This is where I'll be!" Graciela, who would like to study medicine, exclaimed when the guide announced that they'd entered the science building.
"Wow, really?" she said thoughtfully when told of the school's low professor-to-student ratio.

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AllGov - News - Interned Japanese-Americans Receive University Degrees 67 Years Later


AllGov - News - Interned Japanese-Americans Receive University Degrees 67 Years Later:

"Acknowledging a wrong committed at the outbreak of World War II that cost hundreds of Americans their college education, the University of California system has awarded honorary degrees this month to Japanese-Americans who were forcefully relocated by the U.S. government. Approximately 700 UC students were put into internment camps in 1942 as a result of Executive Order 9066, which required all Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast to move out of fear they might help Japan in its war against the United States.

Following a decree passed in the spring by the California Legislature, UC officials arranged for special ceremonies this month at UC campuses in Berkeley, Davis, San Francisco and Los Angeles to award honorary degrees to camp survivors or their relatives. The decision follows a similar act by the University of Oregon, which last year presented honorary degrees to 20 Japanese-Americans."
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Texas colleges count economic blessings


Texas colleges count economic blessings:


"SAN ANTONIO—Denise Trauth, president of Texas State University, tries not to gloat. But when she meets with counterparts from across the nation, as she did at the annual gathering of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities recently, she feels fortunate to be in Texas.


Many public colleges and universities across the nation are laying off employees, reducing student financial aid and taking other painful steps to cope with the economic downturn and declining state appropriations."


The University of North Alabama, for example, has raised tuition 9.5 percent in each of the past two years. California State University, Bakersfield, has scaled back academic programs and enrollment in response to a $15 million, or 25 percent, cut in the state portion of its budget. And Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has proposed merging three public, historically black universities to cut costs.

Institutions of higher learning in Texas haven’t been immune to the belt-tightening. Hiring for many positions throughout the 15-campus University of Texas System is frozen. UT-Austin is laying off some staff members to free up money to retain and recruit top professors. 
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California 'ground zero' for '10 election fight


California 'ground zero' for '10 election fight

Barely a year after the historic election of President Obama, Republicans are talking up 2010 as the "change" election.


n blue-leaning California, the dangers for Democrats are becoming evident as the GOP works to fire up voters with issues like budget deficits, health care reform and the costs of curbing global warming.
"California is ground zero for many of these debates because the problems are bigger and more outside than just about anywhere else," says Andrew Moylan, director of government affairs for the National Taxpayers Union in Washington, which plans to underscore the conservative message on issues like health care, the deficit and spending.
Democrats, who control both houses of the state Legislature, "have dramatically increased spending," Moylan added, "and of course they're having to pay the piper."
GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO, has repeatedly lambasted "the politicians" whom she says have run California into the ground - pointedly referencing Attorney General Jerry Brown, a Democrat and former two-term governor who is running for a third term in next year's election.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/13/MNUP1B1N1U.DTL&type=politics#ixzz0ZZv85rQL
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