Remember Race to the Top? Last year the competition between states for federal money was all the buzz. States promised to make changes favored by the Obama Administration, like linking teacher evaluations to student performance, in order to compete for dough.
Now it's back with a new focus: early childhood education. And $500 million is available. To get it, states must persuade the feds that they'll increase access to quality preschool, align it with the K-12 system, and create strong systems to evaluate preschools so that programs can share practices that work and so parents can make
Earlier this week, San Diego Unified decided to increase its school board campaign contribution limits from $500 to $750 per person per election. The Union-Tribune wrote that the last time it bumped up the limit, "the change paved the way for what was then the city's most expensive school board election in 2000."
But there's an important point being lost here, one that I neglected to make earlier. While an individual is limited in campaign giving, they can spend as much as they want to promote that candidate on their own. Those are called independent expenditures.
For instance, the teachers union or the Lincoln Club of San Diego could put up a big
A year ago, the San Diego Unified school board promised future raises to teachers, counselors and other employees, a tradeoff for taking furlough days that shortened the school year and cut their pay.
Now a new school board member is calling for unions to forgo those raises before they kick in and use the money to spare jobs instead, sparking a showdown with the teachers union.
"I believe they deserve the raises," said school board member Scott Barnett in a press conference today. "But we can't afford to. It's that simple. The bottom line is every dollar we spend on raises is a dollar we don't have to retain nurses, teachers, counselors and our vital support staff."
The teachers union immediately called a press conference to denounce that idea. "Barnett is calling for needless concessions based on imaginary budget projects that go years into the future," said union President Bill Freeman. He argued that Barnett was just trying to score political points.