Education Headlines
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
School officials discuss possible spending cuts
Classes could get bigger or the school year could get shorter next year at campuses in the Del Mar Union School District as officials look for ways to reduce spending.Some local school trustees receive monthly stipends
School board members are technically volunteers, but state law allows for them to get a monthly stipend. The cost of these benefits and salaries paid to part-time school board members in the region run the gamut, with rural trustees receiving no pay while Lodi Unified trustees get $670 per month.Fresno Unified candidate addresses meth charge
Fresno Unified School Board candidate Andrew Doris tried to deflect a possible setback in his campaign by being the first to bring up a drug charge from his past. He downplayed his tangle with the law almost 16 years ago, saying at a news conference Monday that the methamphetamine police found in his car belonged to a former colleague with a drug problem.Standoff: How should teachers be reviewed?
The debate over how much teachers should be held accountable for academic achievement has captured national attention since 26,000 teachers walked off the job in Chicago last week largely to protest an evaluation system that factors in student scores on standardized tests. Other school districts — including those in Los Angeles, New York City, Houston and New Haven, Conn. — also are moving toward or have implemented evaluation methods that rely, in part, on test-score data to rate teachers.Jerry Brown and Molly Munger both want to raise taxes to help schools - - but differ on approach
If Gov. Jerry Brown and civil rights attorney Molly Munger agree on one thing, it's that California needs to raise taxes to give schools more money. Voters who share that view now have to consider two distinctly different paths devised to accomplish the goal.Franklin-McKinley launches middle-school career academy
If charter schools have thrown down the gauntlet over improving the education of poor and immigrant children, Franklin-McKinley School District in San Jose is taking up the challenge. On Tuesday, the small K-8 district will launch its Health Careers Academy, a school within Sylvandale Middle School, for 120 seventh-graders.Oakland schools launch anti-bullying campaign by showing 'Bully' documentary
In the next two weeks, 14,000 Oakland middle and high school students will watch "Bully" with their classmates. It's a wrenching documentary about the devastating and sometimes deadly consequences of bullying -- especially when school personnel don't take it seriously.Charters balk at Calif.'s new pre-kindergarten law
A California law requires public schools to add a grade level this fall designed to give the very youngest students a boost when they enroll in kindergarten, but charter schools say the law does not apply to them, pitting them against the state Department of Education.Fensterwald: Residue of once-promising finance reform bill in Brown’s hands
Introduced as a comprehensive plan for K-12 finance reform, Assembly Bill 18 is a shell of its former self. The bill that the Legislature ended up passing last month would merely create a 21-member task force to explore various options and formulas for fairer and simpler school funding and make recommendations to the Legislature by April 1.Fensterwald: 11 parcel taxes, 44 school bonds on November ballot
Gov. Jerry Brown and attorney Molly Munger aren’t the only ones asking voters for more money for schools in November. Eleven districts are asking for parcel taxes and 44 districts have put school construction bonds on the ballot, according to Mike McMahon, a school consultant and Alameda Unified trustee who tracks local ballots.Monday, September 17, 2012