Amid the havoc, K-12 relatively spared for now The Educated Guess

The Educated Guess

Amid the havoc, K-12 relatively spared for now

Posted in State Budget

In his revised budget, Gov. Schwarzenegger is not suggesting any more cuts to K-12 schools than he proposed in January.
But that should provide little comfort or confidence to school districts. They’ll likely spend the summer watching a stalemate in Sacramento while worrying whether the school budgets they’ll set in June, using the governor’s revised state budget in May, will turn out to be too high. There’s a good chance they will be – even with the big spending cuts they’ll already include.
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By John Fensterwald on May 17th, 2010

Landmark ruling on teacher layoffs

Posted in Advocacy organizations, Tenure

A Superior Court judge has served notice to school districts statewide that the seniority rights of teachers do not trump the fundamental right of students to an equal opportunity for a good education.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Highberger issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday preventing any teacher layoffs for budgetary reasons at three Los Angeles Unified middle schools where large numbers of teachers have been given pink slips.
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By John Fensterwald on May 14th, 2010

Nonstop work on Race to the Top

Posted in Race to the Top

California’s forthcoming second-round application for Race to the Top may be a long-shot, but the half-dozen districts behind the effort sure aren’t treating it as such.
Staffers in the districts and consultants writing the application are working round the clock in shifts to get the document ready for submission in late May, Fresno Unified Superintendent Michael Hanson told a legislative hearing on Wednesday. And he expressed confidence that additional districts will sign a memorandum of understanding, committing them to the plan that is now in the works.
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By John Fensterwald on May 13th, 2010