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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Dallas ISD may go to voters for property tax hike | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Dallas ISD may go to voters for property tax hike | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News| Latest News

Dallas ISD may go to voters for property tax hike



10:49 PM CDT on Wednesday, May 12, 2010

By DIANE RADO / The Dallas Morning News
drado@dallasnews.com

Grappling with declines in property taxes, meager reserves and the prospect of no pay raises next school year, Dallas ISD is considering asking voters to raise taxes for schools.
Local property taxes largely fuel school budgets, and every penny added to DISD's tax rate would raise about $7.1 million, according to district budget documents. The tax rate is applied to the taxable value of property.
If voters were willing to approve an additional 8.5 cents, the district would reap $58.9 million – enough to cover 2 percent pay raises and performance bonuses for teachers, and replenish district fund balances with $26 million, the documents show.
Nothing is certain and the idea is preliminary. Trustees are just beginning their review of a recommended budget for next school year, and are scheduled to discuss the district's tax rate at a board briefing meeting today.
The recommended budget for the district's main operating funds

The Education Report How much do school districts in California spend on teachers?

The Education Report

How much do school districts in California spend on teachers?

By Katy Murphy
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 6:28 pm in budget, teachers, union contract

pie chart, from blprnt_van's site at flickr.com/creativecommonsThroughout the contract dispute with the school district, Oakland teachers have pointed out not only how well (or poorly) they are paid, but how much of the district’s budget is devoted to their paychecks.
By law, unified school districts in California must spend at least 55 percent of their expenses on the salaries and benefits of classroom teachers and instructional aides. For elementary school districts it’s 60 percent; for high school districts it’s just 50 percent.
Oakland Unified fell short in 2008-09, as the union was quick to note. The data

Improving the District, step by step…Teaching Citizenship � SCUSD Observer

Improving the District, step by step…Teaching Citizenship � SCUSD Observer

SCUSD Observer

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Last week the Sacramento Bee printed an article about Beth Tinker, now a 57-year-old pediatric nurse, who as a teenager was one of the plaintiffs in a seminal United States Supreme Court case concerning schools and democratic speech.

While the Bee focused on the person and the politics, it is actually the language of the Court’s opinion that warranted attention. We talk a lot about what we want to transmit to children through education. Scholastic aptitude and academic achievement are foremost. But we also want our school system to impart certain skills and knowledge that will help our children grow and prosper throughout their lives.

Many education advocates discuss education in terms of the skills and knowledge that are relevant to the 21st century economy. And economic security and prosperity are essential goals of the system. But the Tinkercase highlights another important facet of our education system. Our schools train our children how to be active, participatory citizens in our local and national democratic communities. The court’s opinion realizes a schoolhouse that teaches youth the skills and knowledge to contribute to our democracy. And, this citizenship lesson is relevant still today.

The court finds three principles that our schools embody in teaching citizenship. First, students are an integral part of our collective political community. Children should engage in policy discussions. Political arguments about leadership and community values necessarily include youth and children. They can be taught

Remainders: Ethnic studies classes banned in AZ schools | GothamSchools

Remainders: Ethnic studies classes banned in AZ schools | GothamSchools

Remainders: Ethnic studies classes banned in AZ schools

Brown declines to investigate Peralta Education - ContraCostaTimes.com

Education - ContraCostaTimes.com

Brown declines to investigate Peralta

Updated: 05/12/2010 04:28:30 PM PDT




The state attorney general's office has turned down a state senator's request that it investigate the Peralta Community College District.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, a deputy of Attorney General Jerry Brown suggested the senator instead contact Alameda County prosecutors and the Fair Political Practices Commission.
Dutton, the incoming Senate Republican leader, had asked Brown to look into issues first raised by the Bay Area News Group. The group last year published a series of stories revealing, among other things, Peralta Chancellor Elihu Harris' role in steering a no-bid contract to a friend a business partner.

Should Portland, and other districts, do more to educate rich and poor side by side? | OregonLive.com

Should Portland, and other districts, do more to educate rich and poor side by side? | OregonLive.com

Should Portland, and other districts, do more to educate rich and poor side by side?

By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

May 12, 2010, 5:35PM

lawn.jpgStudents at Benson High aren't happy about a proposed high school plan that would limit enrollment at their diverse magnet school. They're not the only ones who think the plan needs improvement.As the Portland school district moves to redo its high school attendance patterns with an eye to increasing equity, some parents are beginning to question whether Superintendent Carole Smith's plan will result in too much socioeconomic segregation.

Her plan would improve the degree of economic isolation -- but not by much, some critics say. Four of the city's high schools would have more than 60 percent of their students from low-income homes, while the other four would have rates as low as 10 percent to 30 percent.

How timely, then, that Education Week newspaper just published this fascinating story about a national trend among school districts to do

NorthJersey.com: West Milford parents, students protest potential school closings

NorthJersey.com: West Milford parents, students protest potential school closings

West Milford parents, students protest potential school closings
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
THE RECORD
STAFF WRITER
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WEST MILFORD — Nearly 50 parents and students marched in a biting mist outside town hall Wednesday afternoon to protest a school board proposal for massive tax cuts likely potentially leading to closing one of six elementary schools by September.
West Milford public school students Katie Scala, left, and Erica Martin make their case to passing motorists while protesting school budget cuts in front of town hall.
TYSON TRISH / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
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West Milford public school students Katie Scala, left, and Erica Martin make their case to passing motorists while protesting school budget cuts in front of town hall.
Children held signs saying “I’m not a tax dollar, I’m your future” while adults hoisted posters calling trustees “The Board of Dread.” Some motorists traveling Union Valley Road beeped while others ignored the group.
“We want to make people aware of what’s going on,” said parent Sharon Brooks. “Classrooms are already overcrowded. How does closing a school help my child?”
The plan to cut almost $2.5 million from the voter-defeated school tax for 2010-11, including closing a school if need be, was introduced by newly elected school board Vice President James Foody at last week’s annual board reorganization. Four other trustees supported Foody — making up a majority — and they issued the directive to Superintendent Bernice Colefield to find ways to reduce the district’s $68.5 million budget.
“We have 800 less kids than we did five years ago,” Foody said earlier Wednesday. “I think we can close a school and free up resources that can be used in other areas.”
West Milford public school students and parents protest school budget cuts.
TYSON TRISH / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
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West Milford public school students and parents protest school budget cuts.
Foody, who won a board term along with David Richards and his wife, Donna Richards, in the April 20 election, waged a campaign that encouraged voters to defeat the proposed $50.6 million general fund tax levy. They promised to eliminate waste they say exists in the district.
Hours after being sworn in, the new trustees joined fellow board members John Aiello and Barbara Carter in issuing the directive. Foody noted it was Colefield’s idea to close a school.
Colefield conceded last week she initially included closing a school with other items as possible ways to reduce costs after she found out the state was cutting $3.2 million in aid for the school year.
“But I made that list back in February and March,” Colefield said. “Here it is May and they want to close a school in three months. That’s insane.”
Colefield was out of the district Wednesday and couldn’t be reached.
The Township Council is expected to lop $750,000 — the equivalent of about 5 cents per $100 on the tax

Phaseout of EMOs accelerates | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Phaseout of EMOs accelerates | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Phaseout of EMOs accelerates

by Paul Socolar on May 12 2010 Posted in Latest news
Shortly after the School Reform Commissionapproved the turnover of seven low-performing schools to charter operators, District officials told reporters without fanfare that 16 Philadelphia schools operated by outside education management organizations (EMOs) would revert to District management in the fall.
The change will leave just 12 District schools under EMO management. They are operated by five providers - EdisonLearning, Victory Schools, Universal Companies, Foundations Inc., and the University of Pennsylvania - that were among those hired to lead the massive effort to turn around District schools in 2002. At that time, shortly after the "friendly" state takeover of Philadelphia schools, 45 low-performing schools were put under outside management.
The District's budget for education management organizations, which has declined steadily, is slated to be cut sharply in 2010-11, by $3.3 million or 44 percent, to $4.1 million. This covers Philadelphia's 12 remaining EMO schools,

Latino Times Home Page Arizona’s Immigration Law Spurs Copycat Legislation

Latino Times Home Page


Arizona’s Immigration Law Spurs Copycat Legislation
Arizona’s new get-tough immigration law has emboldened other state capitols to follow suit.
Legislators in at least 10 states— Utah, Oklahoma, Colorado, Ohio, Missouri, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Texas, and Maryland— have called for laws that would mirror Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070, according to the Progressive States Network and reporting by New America Media.
First out of the gate to actually introduce a bill was South Carolina.
Along with 20 co-sponsors, Rep. Eric Bedingfield, a Republican, introduced a bill April 29 that, like Arizona’s, requires law enforcement officials to check individuals’ immigration status.
Some of the language in the South Carolina bill, which was posted on the legislature’s website, is virtually identical to the most controversial portion of the Arizona measure signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer on April 23.
The South Carolina bill reads: “When reasonable suspicion


The BIG STORY
Legislators in at least 10 states— Utah, Oklahoma, Colorado, Ohio, Missouri, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Texas, and Maryland... Read Full Article

Immigration
Foreign-born Hispanics are more positive and knowledgeable about the 2010 U.S. Census than are native-born Hispanics, a new survey... Read Full Article

International
In advance of this week’s United Nations Security Council Meeting on Nuclear Non-proliferation in New York, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton... Read Full Article

The Nation
The Arizona Senate seat occupied by John McCain has been a fixture of the Republican Party for more than 40 years, with both holders -- McCain... Read Full Article

Local
Local Mexican nationals will no longer have to make the 45-minute drive to the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento to get government paperwork... Read Full Article
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Latino Times Back Issue Archive
Jan 2010

Religious leaders call for revisions in social studies standards | THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | dallasnews.com

Religious leaders call for revisions in social studies standards | THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | dallasnews.com

Religious leaders call for revisions in social studies standards

A group of religious leaders Wednesday urged the State Board of Education to reverse its earlier stance and require high school students to study constitutional protections for religious freedom in the U.S. Members of the Texas Faith Network criticized the social conservative bloc and other Republicans on the board for rejecting a proposal in March to require that students in U.S. government classes be taught the reasons behind the prohibition of a state religion in the Bill of Rights. Social conservatives have sharply questioned legal rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court that affirmed separation of church and state - including a ban on school-sponsored prayer.
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"Our Founding Fathers understood that the best way to protect religious liberty in America is to keep government out of matters of faith," said Rev. Roger Paynter, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Austin. "But this state board appears hostile to teaching students about the importance of keeping religion and state separate, a principle long supported in my own Baptist tradition and in other faiths." Rev. Paynter was joined by several other ministers and religious leaders from around the state who are members of the Texas Faith Network, which includes more than 600 members.
The news conference at the Capitol came a week before the education board meets in

Update on the Edujobs Bill - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Update on the Edujobs Bill - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Update on the Edujobs Bill

So, it's May and the pink slips are going out. Where exactly is that $23 billion to help stabilize education jobs?
Well, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the chairman of the subcommittee overseeing education spending and the author of the bill, has plans to introduce it as an amendment to a bill making supplemental appropriations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a Senate aide told me. Lobbyists expect that bill to hit the floor in the next couple weeks.
Two issues have the potential to gum up the works or at least spark debate, either on the Senate floor or later on in the process. The first, and by far the most important, is that if the bill is attached to the war supplemental there doesn't have to be an offset, meaning that the cost doesn't need to be covered by a cut to another program.

Expansion of Charter Schools Puts Public Education in Danger | The Seminal

Expansion of Charter Schools Puts Public Education in Danger | The Seminal

Expansion of Charter Schools Puts Public Education in Danger

By: heatherwoodfield Wednesday May 12, 2010 12:14 pm

While charter schools are good on some levels, they also cause a lot of damage to our public education system.

It is difficult to determine if the academic performance level at a charter school is due to the teaching, curriculum, and/or administration because the student body of charter schools is selective. Charter schools recruit students whose parents are committed to and involved in their child’s education simply by having an application process. Moreover, students who have behavior issues are sent back to the public school. Requiring charter schools to take Special Education students, low-income students, etc., does not change the fact that charter schools enroll the students among those groups who are most likely to succeed academically. Children who end up in charter schools are those whose parents make a concerted effort to apply and an interested parent is a huge indicator of academic achievement regardless of socioeconomic status.

In comparing public schools to charter schools or private schools, it is important to acknowledge that Special Education is a huge and mandated part of the budget for public schools. Taking Special Education out of the equation vastly changes the cost per pupil and test results. Evaluating a school without isolating Special Education is simply bad analysis.

Charter schools can hire teachers who are not only non-union, but are also not certified teachers. While it is true that some people are innately gifted teachers, knowledge of a subject area does not make someone an educator. Teaching is a science unto itself and its own discipline of study for a reason.

CTA’s Corporate Tax Loophole Initiative Qualifies - California Teachers Association

CTA’s Corporate Tax Loophole Initiative Qualifies - California Teachers Association

CTA’s Corporate Tax Loophole Initiative Qualifies

Contact: Mike Myslinski at 650-552-5324
BURLINGAME – Sending the clear message that big corporations must pay their fair share at a time when public schools are devastated by state cuts, CTA President David A. Sanchez announced today that more than enough signatures have been turned in to qualify for the November ballot the union’s initiative to repeal nearly $2 billion in corporate tax breaks. Sanchez also criticized lawmakers and the governor for wanting to renege on an agreement signed into law last summer to restore $11.2 billion owed to public schools.
“With our schools being slashed by $17 billion over the past two years, and 26,000 teachers potentially facing layoff, now is not the time for the state to be giving tax breaks to large corporations and oil companies,” said David A. Sanchez, president of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association. “Teachers want big businesses to pay their fair share in these dire times of deep cuts everywhere. And teachers want lawmakers to keep their promise to restore school funding when the economy improves.”
In a news conference today at CTA headquarters, on California’s 28th annual Day of the Teacher, Sanchez announced that the campaign to qualify the Repeal Corporate Tax Loopholes Act turned in more than 800,000 signatures to qualify the measure for the November ballot. The measure has not qualified yet, but only 433,971 valid signatures are needed.
The Repeal Corporate Tax Loopholes Act would nullify ill-timed corporate tax breaks approved by the Legislature last year. The initiative would stop a small number of large corporations from receiving additional tax credits, from shifting operating losses to future tax years to reduce current taxes, and from changing the way these companies calculate their incomes in order to reduce their taxes.
CTA’s ballot measure news comes as a new study shows corporations’ share of the property tax burden has declined since passage of Proposition 13 in 1978 in nearly every county in the state, with more residents shouldering higher payments, according to the report by the California Tax Reform Association. See the study at www.CalTaxReform.org. More information about CTA’s initiative and the Taxpayers for Jobs and Against Corporate Handouts campaign can be found at www.PayTheirFairShare.com.
The measure is sorely needed as the state faces a monumental $20 billion deficit and the governor prepares to release a revised budget plan Friday that will likely seek even deeper cuts to schools and state services than his January plan. Waves of education cuts have rocked school districts statewide, causing class sizes to soar and eliminating countless music, art and vocational education classes, as well as many summer school programs – and 16,000 teaching jobs last year.
Two Bay Area pink-slipped educators warned of the impacts of cuts on their students. Art McGaw, a Millbrae School District music teacher for 28 years, said the district’s gutted music program may shut down if he is laid off and urged districts to protect music classes to give students a well-rounded education. “If the music dies in our public schools, a key part of learning dies with it,” McGaw said. “Children’s education should be our top priority, and music should be part of the classroom experience.”
Hayward Unified school nurse Bonita Weeks noted that today is also National School Nurse Day. She is one of eight Hayward nurses to get layoff notices – potentially leaving only two nurses for 21,000 students. “A lack or education has a negative effect on a child’s future,” Weeks said, “but a lack of healthcare may prevent them from having a future.”
Sanchez also unveiled a new CTA television ad honoring teachers that declares, in part, that educators and education support professionals are “part of the solution to building stronger schools and a better California for all of us.” Watch the ad at www.cta.org.

Education Research Report: Study Identifies How Urban District Central Offices Transformed Their Work to Improve Teaching and Learning

Education Research Report: Study Identifies How Urban District Central Offices Transformed Their Work to Improve Teaching and Learning

Study Identifies How Urban District Central Offices Transformed Their Work to Improve Teaching and Learning

Central offices of urban school districts have been able to shift their focus from administration and compliance to improvement of teaching and learning district-wide by making five key changes, according to a new report by University of Washington researchers.

The report fills an important gap in knowledge about strengthening teaching and learning throughout school systems. Decades of experience and research have shown that districts generally fail to realize district-wide improvement in teaching and learning without powerful leadership from the central office, but until now the field has had few positive examples of such leadership to draw on.

The study, Central Office Transformation for District-Wide Teaching and Learning Improvement, uncovers the daily practices of administrators in three districts with transformation efforts under way: Atlanta Public Schools;

New survey finds parents need help encouraging their kids in science

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A new survey announced today finds the vast majority (94%) of science teachers wish their students' parents had more opportunities to engage in science with their children. However, more than half (53%) of parents of school-aged children admit that they could use more help to support their child's interest in science. The survey was conducted by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., among a sample of 500 science teachers and 506 parents, including 406 parents of

Minority student activists protest education cuts - Boston.com

Minority student activists protest education cuts - Boston.com

Minority student activists protest education cuts

By Eric Gorski
AP Education Writer / May 12, 2010
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IRVINE, Calif.—If campus activism still brings to mind peace signs, a sea of white faces and liberal strongholds like Berkeley, meet Jesse Cheng.
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Cheng is a third-year Asian-American studies major at the University of California, Irvine, a campus less than five decades old in the middle of Orange County, a place of strip malls and subdivisions that gave birth to the ultraconservative John Birch Society.
Comfortable talking with both administrators and anarchists, Cheng is a presence at protests but avoids getting arrested. He doesn't want to put his graduation at risk or upset his mother, who worked hard to get him here and worries for his safety because she witnessed what happened to dissidents in her native China.
Cheng is part of a growing movement of Asian, Hispanic and African-American students rallying around a new cause -- fighting a budget crisis that's undermining access to higher education at a time when students of color have become a stronger demographic force.
"For a lot of students of color, this is our dream and our hope -- to get to college,

Mass. Catholic school won't admit lesbians' son

A Roman Catholic school in Massachusetts has withdrawn its acceptance of an 8-year-old boy with lesbian parents, saying their relationship was "in discord" with church teachings, according to one of the boys' mothers

Arizona gov. signs bill targeting ethnic studies

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill targeting a school district's ethnic studies program on Tuesday, hours after a report by United Nations human rights experts condemned the measure.