Statement:"Patrick Henry High School, a great school by anybody's measures, is not an 800 API school. Serra High School — not an 800 API school. High Tech High — people all over the United States know about High Tech High, don't they? Not an 800 API school," San Diego Unified school board member Kevin Beiser said May 24 at a board meeting.
Determination: True
Analysis: Usually politicians talk about how good the test scores are at schools in their area. So it was interesting to hear San Diego Unified school board member Kevin Beiser talk about how some lauded public schools in San Diego are still falling short of the state testing goal.
His point: school success can't just be boiled down to standardized test scores.
A bill that would have ramped up the frequency of state inspections for preschools and child care programs died on Friday, stagnating in a committee.
That means that California can still leave those programs uninspected for as long as five years, as we explained last week. Licensing inspectors say that puts health and safety at risk. California regularly ranks at the bottom in national studies of preschool and child care oversight.
Backers argued the bill wouldn't cost any more money because licensing inspectors would do shorter, annual inspections focused on the most frequent or worrisome violations, only launching a more detailed inspection if they detected a severe problem. The idea was born out of the Community Care Licensing Division itself, which has championed the changes and tested them on its own.
But a state legislative committee analysis still found that the increased inspections would cost "tens of millions of dollars." Though no explanation was given at the committee on Friday, backers of the bill believe it was likely killed off by worries that it would cost the strapped state more money.