Now or never to sign Race to the Top MOU
Posted in Race to the Top
A 19-page memorandum of understanding for signing up for Round 2 of Race to the Top went out Monday. District, county offices of education and charter schools will have only until Wednesday to indicate whether they’re in or out.This time, there will be no coaxing or convincing, with a wink or a nod, that districts can always back out later if they don’t like the terms. This time, the state’s not going all out to build a big tent of participants at the sacrifice of strong commitments. This time, superintendents, local union presidents and presidents of the boards of trustees should sign the dotted line only if they’re prepared to agree to a specific and lengthy set of reforms.
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Amid the havoc, K-12 relatively spared for now
Posted in State BudgetIn 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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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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