Teacher tenure ruling energizes race for state school chief
(Calif.) Last week’s decision that invalidated the state’s teacher tenure law sent proponents on both sides scrambling to prepare for the appeals process and to do battle in other states over similar protections.
But pundits say the Vergara decision has also energized the already bitter race for state superintendent of schools – a contest where simmering hostilities over education reforms, mostly among Democrats, have broken into the mainstream.
“This is a battle that has been raging with the Democratic Party for about 20 years but it has today become quite fierce,” said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles. “In California, with the Democrats so dominant, you look for issues that are going to divide the majority party and I think this one is pretty close to the top.”
The first days of the charter movement might serve as the starting point of confrontation but the issues today include a variety of policies aimed at shaking up the status quo such as teacher evaluations, school choice, parent rights and interventions of struggling schools.
Teacher tenure and dismissal laws are probably most polarizing, a status that has only grown since Los Angeles County Judge Rolf M. Treu issued his 16-page ruling striking down state laws that Teacher tenure ruling energizes race for state school chief :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:
Reserve cap blemishes otherwise good news budget
(Calif.) Despite strong opposition from school management groups, the final state budget approved Sunday night includes provisions restricting the size of reserves that districts can accumulate under certain economic conditions.