FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:
Education Headlines
Monday, March 17, 2014
San Juan considers shutting 76-year-old Sylvan Middle School
The aging, deteriorating Sylvan Middle School campus in Citrus Heights would close in 2016 under one proposal before San Juan Unified School District trustees.Modesto Teachers Association weighs split with CTA
The Modesto Teachers Association will vote on breaking away from its statewide affiliate in April, President Doug Burton announced. The Modesto City Schools union will hold a series of meetings for its members before the vote.Pact reached in Tracy Unified
Negotiators for teachers and the Tracy Unified School District broke their three-month impasse late Thursday, reaching a tentative contract agreement calling for a 3 percent raise, a 1.65 percent one-time payment and several changes in working conditions teachers had requested.Stanislaus Union District special education changes unsettle families
Changes are being made to cut costs, but families say some siblings will have to go to separate schools and others students will be forced to walk farther to their bus stops.Beverly Hills principal cleared in sports camp probe
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office has concluded its investigation into Beverly Hills High School Principal Carter Paysinger and the for-profit summer sports camp he owned — clearing him of any criminal wrongdoing, authorities said Thursday.California schools issue few pink slips
This year, many fewer teachers than before are receiving the tentative pink slips. The California Teachers Association, which represents the majority of the state's K-12 teachers, on Friday estimated that just over 1,000 members would be told they risk being laid off.Parents see "sexting" discovery at middle schools as learning tool
As police continue to investigate allegations that more than a dozen East Contra Costa middle school students shared sexually explicit pictures on their cellphones, school officials and parents said Friday the case reinforces the importance of teaching kids to act responsibly on the Internet.Galt Joint Union High School District approves layoffs
At the end of the school year, the Galt Joint Union High School District will likely lay off the equivalent of five employees, including an assistant principal. The decision was made by the school board at its regular meeting this week.Centinela Valley school district spends more than double the state average on administration
The same school district that made Jose Fernandez perhaps the most highly compensated superintendent in California last year also spends two-and-a-half times the state average on its administration as a whole.How much should your school districts spend on disadvantaged students?
As the July 1 deadline for creating district spending plans is looming under the state's new Local Control Funding Formula, school officials should be asking parents how they believe money should be spent to best serve their children.Deadline passes with few teacher layoffs in Southern California
Although California public school districts aren’t exactly flush with cash, the Ides of March appears to have passed without major layoffs in Southern California school districts.Frey: National report highlights racial disparities in suspensions
In schools across the nation, African American boys receive harsher penalties than white students for the same offense; there is no evidence that “bad” students need to be removed from class so “good” students can learn; and poverty does not fully explain racial disparities in discipline, according to the findings of a series of reports released Thursday.Fensterwald: State Board makes it official: No API scores for next two year
With federal approval finally in hand to give a Common Core-aligned practice test this spring, the State Board of Education took the inevitable next step this week. It suspended the Academic Performance Index, the chief measure of schools’ academic growth or progress, for this year and next.Wave of retirements could reshape SD schools
By eliminating some of the most seasoned teachers from the district payroll, San Diego Unified would shave millions off its looming multiyear budget deficit.Mayor Garcetti’s top education deputy Thelma Meléndez leaves City Hall
Just seven months after joining Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s administration, his top education deputy Thelma Meléndez is leaving to take a position at Los Angeles Unified School District, a district spokesman said Saturday.Baron: Online test will challenge students’ computer savvy
Even with seemingly innate technical aptitude, many students will be stymied when they sit down to take the computer-based aligned to the Common Core standards starting this month.Baron: Are schools ready for the new online Common Core tests?
California is just weeks away from learning whether its test of the test will pass or fail. For nearly 12 weeks, beginning March 25, more than 3 million students in grades 3 through 8 and 11 will take the computer-based Smarter Balanced field, or practice, test aligned to the Common Core State Standards in math and English.Program will help cash-strapped teachers fund their projects
The L.A. Fund for Public Education will announce a groundbreaking initiative that will give teachers access to hundreds of millions in funding opportunities.L.A. Unified's decision to move students sparks furor
Officials didn't take into account long-standing rivalries when they decided to transfer about 280 students from Boyle Heights to Lincoln Heights, critics say.
Friday, March 14, 2014