Thursday, October 7, 2010

The California Majority Report // CALIFORNIA’S STUDENTS SHORTCHANGED IN FINAL BUDGET DEAL

CALIFORNIA’S STUDENTS SHORTCHANGED IN FINAL BUDGET DEAL

On top of the astonishing $17 billion in cuts to schools imposed over the past two years, under the new budget agreement expected to be voted on by the legislature today, California’s students will receive $4.3 billion less than they are owed under Proposition 98, the minimum school funding guarantee. The budget agreement also fails to provide any new, stable revenue streams for schools.

Drastic cuts have indelibly changed the face of public education in the state of California, with 30,000 teachers laid off over the past two years, and overflowing class sizes becoming the norm for students. School libraries not only shortened their hours, but many closed their doors entirely as school librarians lost their jobs. Many arts and physical education programs landed on the chopping block, while schools often were forced to scrimp and

What Are These Superintendents Thinking? | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“Chile miner rescue” It appears that the rescue of the trapped Chilean miners might be happening quite soon. The Los Angeles Times has a slideshow and article about the developments titled Chile miner rescue. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The ...

“Why Don’t You Sit On The Desk?” Earlier today I wrote about my response to students feeling sleepy in class during the time when they read a book of their choice (see Keeping Our Eyes On The Wrong Prize). As I wrote in that piece, I explained why I let students choose to sit on a ...

What Are These Superintendents Thinking? A group of school superintendents have just published a guest column in The Washington Post titled How to fix our schools: A manifesto by Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and other education leaders. It’s appalling. One would think that with recent events ...

Chicago News Cooperative - Charter Education Expanding in Chicago - NYTimes.com

Charter Education Expanding in Chicago

By RACHEL CROMIDAS

Published: October 7, 2010

REPRINTS

From a windowless basement office on Chicago’s West Side, Greg White is trying to answer public education’s $2 million-dollar question: What is the top priority for a school in Chicago’s cash-strapped district?

Chicago News Cooperative

A nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization providing local coverage of Chicago and the surrounding area for The New York Times.

The answer for Mr. White, chief executive of the LEARN Charter School Network — which received two $1 million grants from Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network and the United States Department of Education last month — is to open a fifthcharter school in the network next fall. It is one of 10 charter schools in Chicago that Mr. White said he wanted to open in as many years, which would allow him to hire dozens of

LAUSD targets bullying of gay students - LA Daily News

LAUSD targets bullying of gay students

by By Connie Llanos connie.llanos@dailynews.com, 818-713-3634 Staff Writer

In the wake of a recent string of gay teen suicides across the country, Los Angeles Unified officials joined forces with gay rights advocates Thursday to announce a targeted effort to eliminate bullying of homosexual youth

Teachers union urged to adopt layoff reforms

by By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer

Joined by civil rights lawyers and Los Angeles Unified officials, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged the local teachers union Thursday to back efforts to reform layoff procedures or get left behind.

Light Up the Bat Signal Over the Suburbs � Outside the Cave

Light Up the Bat Signal Over the Suburbs

by Stephen Lazar

Let’s be honest, when people talk about the so-called “crisis in American education,” as most recently brought to the public eye through Education Nation, what people are really talking about is a crisis in urban education. The majority of Americans live in the suburbs, and most are quite content with the education their children receive. Despite all its problems, the one thing I will grant Waiting for Superman without reservation is that it challenges the notion that suburban schools serve all of their students well. So while Geoffrey Canada waits for Superman to save our cities, we need a “Commissioner Gordon” to light up the bat signal over the suburbs, because if there is a crisis in education, it extends to all public schools that fail to be the equalizing mechanism democracy requires.

I started my career teaching in one of Washington DC’s more privileged suburban counties. I took a job there

LA mayor: Unions will not stop school reform moves - Boston.com

LA mayor: Unions will not stop school reform moves

By Christina Hoag

Associated Press Writer / October 7, 2010

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LOS ANGELES—A sweeping overhaul of seniority-based teacher layoffs and other reforms in the nation's second-largest school district will continue despite teachers union opposition, city and school officials said Thursday.

"There's not an anti-union bone in my body. I'll continue to reach out to them, I want to work with them," said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a former labor organizer. "But with or without them, we're moving ahead."

Villaraigosa's remarks came a day after United Teachers Los Angeles said it would challenge a proposal to do away with the seniority-based teacher layoff system under the terms of a court settlement.

Ex-education chief Schundler openly blames Gov. Christie for Race to the Top loss | NJ.com

Ex-education chief Schundler openly blames Gov. Christie for Race to the Top loss

Published: Thursday, October 07, 2010, 9:16 PM Updated: Thursday, October 07, 2010, 10:13 PM

Star-Ledger Staff
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Christie by Andrew Mills, Schundler by Amy NewmanFile photos of N.J. Gov. Chris Christie and his former education commissioner Bret Schundler.

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TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie and the education commissioner he fired in August were again at each other’s throats today in a public display that proved the controversy over the administration’s loss of $400 million in federal school aid will not disappear any time soon.

As Bret Schundler told a state Senate committee the governor placed fighting with the state teachers unions and his persona on talk radio above education reform, Christie told reporters Schundler was trading in "revisionist history" and interested only in seeking "the spotlight."

In different corners of the Statehouse, Schundler and Christie took their public shots at each other to new levels

Huffington ed blogger’s message is kool-aid. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Huffington ed blogger’s message is kool-aid.

by preaprez

Arianna Huffington

Huffington Post’s millionaire owner, Arianna Huffington, converted to liberalism a few years back and decided to engage in some web competition with Matt Drudge. Good for her.

Her education writers have spanned the agendas from center to left, and she included some real good education

NYC Public School Parents: More on the worst schools in NYC, and their principals

More on the worst schools in NYC, and their principals

by Leonie Haimson

Out of the 33 schools with the lowest Environment scores in 2009-2010, only four of them have new principals this year, according to the DOE website. At least five of their principals were Leadership Academy graduates, from simply checking the web.

Six schools had the absolute worst score: a “0”. One of them is Ross Global charter. An account

Charter Education Expanding In Chicago / Chicago News Cooperative

Charter Education Expanding In Chicago

by RACHEL CROMIDAS

The answer for Mr. White, chief executive of the LEARN Charter School Network — which received two $1 million grants from Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network and the United States Department of Education last month — is to open a fifth charter school in the network next fall. It is one of 10 charter schools in Chicago that Mr. White said he wanted to open in as many years, which would allow him to hire dozens of out-of-work teachers.

A month ago, those ambitious plans were in jeopardy. Chicago Public Schools approved a budget that cut district financing to charter schools by 6 percent, which could remove more than $400,000 from the network’s

Will LA’s Union Challenge Lawsuit Settlement � The Quick and the Ed

Will LA’s Union Challenge Lawsuit Settlement

by Rob Manwaring

I have written extensively about the plight of Markham Middle school in Los Angeles Unified (here andhere). After years of half hearted reforms, Markham implemented a school turnaround strategy under the leadership of the Mayor’s new school partnership. Unfortunately, after hiring a new principal and largely new staff, the district faced with budget cuts, laid off over half of the new teachers at the school because of teacher seniority rules. This lead to a lawsuit by the ACLU to protect Markham and two other schools decimated in similar ways. Last week, the district, state and ACLU came to a settlement that makes a lot of sense. I recommended a similar type of compromise a while ago (here). Basically, these schools would be protected from disproportionate layoffs. So, if the district had to cut 5 percent of teachers in the district, it could only cut 5 percent of the teachers at one of these schools.

And, faced with ongoing state budget problems, the end of stimulus/edujobs funds, flat/declining enrollment and

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Jill Stewart - A.J. DUFFY's WHOPPER: UTLA Says It Wasn't Invited To ACLU Talks Leading To Stunning Blow To Teacher Seniority. He's Full Of It

Jill Stewart - A.J. DUFFY's WHOPPER: UTLA Says It Wasn't Invited To ACLU Talks Leading To Stunning Blow To Teacher Seniority. He's Full Of It

BY JILL STEWART | LA WEEKLY INFORMER BLOG | HTTP://BIT.LY/DFWJA9

Thu., Oct. 7 2010 @ 2:18PM -- A.J. Duffy is all but calling the ACLU, the Public Counsel Law Center and the Morrison Foerster law firm big, fat liars. Duffy, the anti-reformist head of the L.A. teachers union, is histrionically threatening to sue them, and LAUSD, to stop them from ending a "last hired, first fired" rule for teacher layoffs.

Turns out Duffy is the whopper-meister.

Duffy: Ordering up a Whopper? >>

The legal-rights groups and Morrison Foerster, working pro bono, made a legal settlement with LAUSD that's being cheered nationally: up to 45 of L.A.'s poor schools will no longer be thrown into chaos by layoffs of young teachers. Inner-city kids whipsawed by UTLA seniority rules were saved by the U. S. Constitution. A.J. Duffy is waay livid:

Duffy, who I recently -- to controversy -- called "a pipsqueak in body and mind" to make the point that his coterie has turned UTLA into a national laughingstock, did not join the settlement talks between the three pro bono groups and L.A. Unified.

Now Duffy is telling a whopper to the media: that he was never invited to the talks.