Did Jerry Brown damage the Oakland school district?
Flickr photo by HitchsterPiedmont Avenue Elementary School is one of Oakland Unified's 107 public schools.“Failure seems to follow Jerry everywhere he goes."
Meg Whitman’s well-worn phrase is familiar to those following California's gubernatorial race.
During her primary night victory speech, Whitman claimed that “Oakland schools deteriorated to the point that the state had to intervene” while Brown was mayor.
Just last Thursday, Whitman’s campaignunrolled a website devoted to demonstrating Brown’s failures in jobs, spending, taxes and schools. Her key point on schools insists Brown drove Oakland’s schools to the brink of bankruptcy:
Brown used his political clout to gain control of the school board, but the outcome ended up being one of the biggest failures of his career.He succeeded in convincing voters to give him the authority to appoint the majority of the school board, but within three years, Oakland schools faced a $100 million deficit.
Although few people would call Brown's attempts at school reform a success story,
Think tank offers route to a better California
The Public Policy Institute of California predicts worsening budget deficits, education shortfalls and lack of preparation for looming climate change in a report it recently released.
The "California 2025: Planning for a Better Future" report predicts the state budget will bottom out with a deficit of more than $20 billion in about 2013 before the deficit really starts to shrink.
California pulls in a lot of its revenue from "personal income taxes, corporate taxes, and sales and use taxes," according to the report. Income and sales and use taxes change as the economy changes, while the state leans less on property taxes, which can be a fairly stable source of income for the state, as compared to the rest of
Lawmakers face challenges over growing school 'watch list'
The "California 2025: Planning for a Better Future" report predicts the state budget will bottom out with a deficit of more than $20 billion in about 2013 before the deficit really starts to shrink.
California pulls in a lot of its revenue from "personal income taxes, corporate taxes, and sales and use taxes," according to the report. Income and sales and use taxes change as the economy changes, while the state leans less on property taxes, which can be a fairly stable source of income for the state, as compared to the rest of
Lawmakers face challenges over growing school 'watch list'
If creating budgets is like a battle, then the state's education department may have just used fiscal transparency to throw a solid left-right jab at the state Assembly.
On Tuesday, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell released the latest lists of schools whose financial woes are so severe that they are at risk of not paying their bills.
The results, which can be seen here, are jaw-dropping. Fourteen school districts, from Hayward Unified in Alameda County to Lynwood in Los Angeles, won't be able to meet their financial obligations this school year or
On Tuesday, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell released the latest lists of schools whose financial woes are so severe that they are at risk of not paying their bills.
The results, which can be seen here, are jaw-dropping. Fourteen school districts, from Hayward Unified in Alameda County to Lynwood in Los Angeles, won't be able to meet their financial obligations this school year or