Dems’ supermajority doesn’t preclude real differences on budget with Brown SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:

Dems’ supermajority doesn’t preclude real differences on budget with Brown

 Even as a key state Senate committee engaged last week in a thorough rebuke of Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan for restructuring school finance, panel chair Mark Leno noted that legislative leaders probably still agree with 96 percent of what the governor has proposed.

The observation would seem out of context to developments in recent days as lawmakers in both houses adopted confrontational spending plans that will add billions in spending beyond what Brown has said he would support – and would  also tinker with programs that the governor has already warned will provoke the “battle of their lives.”

While it might seem unlikely that Democrats, who control both houses, as well as the governor’s office won’t be able to sort out a compromise before the June 15 deadline, some observe that the divide among allies is real and the politics complicated.

“Just because there’s a Democratic supermajority – it doesn’t mean all Democrats agree,” said Barbara O’Connor, emeritus professor of communications at California State University, Sacramento and a long-time student of California politics.

“It is a battle over priorities,” she said. “The governor wants to see a conservative fiscal budget that will ensure forward growth – something I don’t think any Democrat in the Legislature would disagree with. The question is, how do you 

Study looks at teacher evaluations in ‘untested’ early grades

So far 20 states and the District of Columbia have requirements that student learning play a role in the evaluation of teacher performance. Setting aside the many problems and uncertainties of the mandates, a new study out this month focuses attention on how an evaluation system can be applied to grades not included in statewide testing programs.