FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:
Fensterwald: State Board poised to elevate parents’ role in setting district priorities
Fensterwald: Hundreds expected to speak their 1-minute piece to State Board
Farmersville students, parents seek superintendent's ouster
About 80 Farmersville High students and parents sought the removal of Superintendent Christina Luna at a protest rally Tuesday morning. Protesters told reporters that Luna should be fired for allegedly launching a campaign to fire popular principals and teachers and for allegedly mismanaging district funds.Parent: School ceremony at church violates law
For the past two years, Los Alamitos Unified School District’s two middle schools have held their combined graduation ceremony in the large auditorium at Cottonwood Church. Now, the district is determining whether it can continue holding school events at Cottonwood and other churches after a parent, along with a national atheist group, objected to the arrangement, arguing that it violates the separation of church and state.New GED testing requires computer skills, more knowledge
Adults who dropped out of school will have to dig deeper to pass the new GED, which was revamped this year for the first time since 2002. Rather than answer multiple-choice questions on paper, test-takers have to solve interactive math problems, analyze social studies passages and demonstrate critical thinking through essay responses on a computer.San Juan district trustees censure board member in 3-1 vote
San Juan school district trustees narrowly approved a resolution Tuesday night censuring board member Larry Masuoka for what investigators said was his failure to report complaints of employees’ bullying and intimidation by the district superintendent.Bond funded modernizations to begin at Chula Vista schools
Glamorous, they ain’t. Yet, the renovations and modernizations slated this year for three of Chula Vista Elementary School District’s oldest schools have got officials downright giddy.Luza takes helm of Salinas City Schools
The educator who has led the Salinas City Elementary School District as interim superintendent for the past six months has been given the job full time.Board of Education approves CORE Butte Charter School renewal
A charter school that serves students from throughout the county at facilities in Chico and Paradise will continue to operate following renewal of its charter Monday by the Butte County Board of Education.Adams: School lunch still healthy despite rule change, nutritionists say
The two-ounce hamburger is no longer the rule for school lunches, after the federal government this month permanently removed limits on the amount of protein and grain allowed in meals under the federally subsidized National School Lunch Program. But does this mean the much-heralded healthier school lunches are returning to super-sized portions?Baron: New math textbooks aligned to Common Core up for State Board vote
One plus one still equals two, but quite a bit else has changed in the new math textbooks and instructional materials under consideration for California classrooms.California gets D+ in school achievement
California lags most of the U.S. for student performance in math and reading, sinking the state's scores in a new national report ranking quality of education. Education Week Research Center's Quality Counts report places California lower than the nation in K-12 achievement, chance for success and school finance – three updated measures out of six included in the review.Fensterwald: State Board poised to elevate parents’ role in setting district priorities
Engaging parents is one of eight priorities that school districts must address under the law creating the new state finance system, the Local Control Funding Formula. Parental and community involvement will also soon become a guiding force behind the funding system’s central element: a three-year budget plan explicitly tying spending to student achievement goals that every district must create.Fensterwald: Hundreds expected to speak their 1-minute piece to State Board
In an advocacy arms race, groups representing school boards and district administrators on one side and advocates for low-income children and English learners on the other are lining up hundreds of speakers for a State Board of Education hearing Thursday on proposed Local Control Funding Formula regulations.L.A. Unified negotiates lower price for iPads
L.A. school district officials are negotiating a lower price for thousands of iPads that are part of a $1-billion effort to provide tablets to every student, teacher and administrator.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014