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Fensterwald: A new K-12 funding system demands new thinking in building local budgets

Education Headlines

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Fresno Unified officials plan for extra $15 million

Fresno Unified could get millions of dollars in public funding through the state's new local control funding formula, which some local officials say should be used to enhance career technical education programs and slash class sizes.

Ex-superintendent will temporarily run San Juan Unified School District

General Davie Jr., a former superintendent of the San Juan Unified School District, has been selected for a return engagement. The district board, during a special meeting Wednesday night, appointed Davie as the district's acting superintendent, effective immediately, according to a district news release.

Upgrades coming to Anaheim schools

Modernization projects are underway at several campuses within the Anaheim City School District, including the $30 million reconstruction of Marshall Elementary School.

LAUSD's grumpy old man Richard Vladovic could squelch reform

For the first time in six years, the politicians on the L.A. Unified School District Board of Education, responsible for educating one in every 10 children in California, have chosen a new president, the inscrutable Richard Vladovic. A

Santa Cruz County middle school students begin career development camps

Santa Cruz County middle school students are learning job skills such as editing videos with FinalCutPro, creating Flash animation and installing computer hard drives at Santa Cruz County College Commitment's Cabrillo Youth Summer Institute camps this summer.

Small Calif. publisher wins public records case

A state Court of Appeal has ruled that a small-town California newspaper publisher does not have to pay legal fees to a school board he sued over his public records request —a decision hailed by First Amendment advocates as a victory for government transparency.

Fensterwald: A new K-12 funding system demands new thinking in building local budgets

As the most sweeping change in K-12 school funding in decades, the new school finance system that took effect this month will require school officials to clear their minds of old formulas and assumptions and to think anew in constructing their budgets.

Hall selected Bonita assistant superintendent

Long-time Bonita Unified administrator Nanette Hall has been selected as the district's new assistant superintendent of educational services.

Chico schools will see more math added to graduation requirements

Math offerings and graduation requirements are going to be changing in Chico high schools, but precisely how the program will be implemented won't be known for at least several months. The discussion of math classes on the high school level has been spurred by change in admissions requirements at both the University of California and the California State University systems.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

New system offers schools hope

Gloom has been replaced by optimism, and empty pockets have been supplanted by visions of overflowing coffers. But amid California's increasingly sunny financial outlook, the experts who provide direction to the business officials from the state's school districts continue to preach caution.

Monterey and other coastal school districts are looking for teachers

Wanted: special education teachers. Apply almost anywhere in California. Usually by this time of year, most school districts are fully staffed and ready to start the upcoming school cycle. But teachers in some districts had until July 1 to confirm whether they would return in the fall, and in an effort to help fill those last-minute vacancies, the Monterey County Office of Education was recruiting replacements Tuesday. 

Upland Unified School District board hears update on budget

The district submitted the budget in June with $7 million in deficit spending, which did not include concessions recently agreed upon by employee groups. The Upland Unified School District Board of Trustees was updated Tuesday on the county's rejection of their adopted 2013-14 fiscal year budget.