Tuesday, July 12, 2011

California Schools Suffering as Proposition 13 Tax Cap Breeds Fiscal Chaos - Bloomberg

California Schools Suffering as Proposition 13 Tax Cap Breeds Fiscal Chaos

By Michael B. Marois and James Nash - Jul 11, 2011 9:01 PM PT

Ammiano Says Companies Must `Man Up' on Land Taxes

July 12 (Bloomberg) -- California State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat, talks with Bloomberg's Michael B. Marois about the state's property-tax law known as Proposition 13. The measure, passed by voters in 1978, chopped tax rates by more than half and is also blamed for California's perennial budget crises, the proliferation of strip malls and auto dealerships, a slide in education spending and unequal tax bills among neighbors. They spoke on July 7. (Source: Bloomberg)

Three decades after Californians voted to limit their property taxes and helped start a national revolt with Proposition 13, some consequences are still emerging.

The average California real-estate tax rate is 60 percent lower than when the law passed in 1978, according to the Board of Equalization, the state’s tax administrator. The most populous U.S. state ranks 28th nationally in combined state and local property-tax collections per person in a 2011 study by the Washington-based Tax Foundation.

Yet the measure that inspired tax-limiting laws in New York and New Jersey is also blamed for California’s perennial budget crises, the proliferation of strip malls and auto dealerships, a decline in the state’s once top-10 ranking for spending on students and unequal tax bills among neighbors.

“Prop. 13 helped usher in the modern anti-tax movement,” said Robert Ward, the deputy director of the Rockefeller Institute of Government inAlbany, New York. “Now, other states look at Prop. 13 as an example of what to avoid.”

Proposition 13 was born in a petition drive that gathered enough

Your morning jolt: Georgia K-12 education 'abysmal,' says No. 2 Senate leader | Political Insider

Your morning jolt: Georgia K-12 education ‘abysmal,’ says No. 2 Senate leader

9:18 am July 12, 2011, by jgalloway

Those who live outside the city of Atlanta and its cheating scandal ought not get cocky, says the state Senate’s No. 2 leader.

From Blake Aued and the Athens Banner-Herald:

The U.S. is near the bottom of developed nations in education, and Georgia’s schools are among the worst of any state, Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, told Athens Republicans on Monday.
“It is abysmal in this state on the K-through-12 level,” Rogers said.
Rogers proposed using technology like online classes to improve learning. Students also need more options and flexibility, such as the freedom to take some classes online and others at brick-and-mortar schools, or to home-school some days and attend public school on others.

***
As part of the ongoing debt-ceiling fight in Washington, Tea Party Patriots say they’re

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Barack Obama Global Prep: LAUSD DECISION HAS SOUTH LOS ANGELES SMOKING HOT

Barack Obama Global Prep: LAUSD DECISION HAS SOUTH LOS ANGELES SMOKING HOT

BY JANET DENISE KELLY VIEW FROM HERE | CITYWATCH LA - HTTP://BIT.LY/QANBRK

07.11.2011 - It is smoking hot in South Los Angeles. Unfortunately, it is not the weather. It is the parents, teachers, and community members who are enraged over the recent removal of Principal Veronique Wills at Barack Obama Global Preparatory Academy on 46th and Western Ave; and the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) calculated move to hinder community involvement in the decision making process of its local schools as part of its reform efforts.
When I say “smoking mad”, the community is at odds with LAUSD and its handling of schools in the area and think that socio-economic status have a lot to do with it.
The community is blaming LAUSD Superintendent, John Deasy and Local District 7, George McKenna of circumventing plans and processes and under resourcing South Los Angeles public schools intentionally to turn them over to independent charter school operators.
The community is not holding down. It is barging forward with a full force assault on the District and its leadership.
First, let’s start with Barack Obama Global Preparatory Academy. From inception to the opening of its doors in September 2010, the

Publicopoly Exposed -- In These Times

This article is permanently archived at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/main/article/11603/

Publicopoly Exposed

How ALEC, the Koch brothers and their corporate allies plan to privatize government.

By Beau Hodai

July 11, 2011

On February 25, 2011, Florida State Representative Chris Dorworth (R-Lake Mary) introduced HB 1021. The bill sought to curtail the political power of unions by prohibiting public employers from deducting any amount from an employee's pay for use by an employee organization (i.e., union dues) or for any political activity (i.e., the portion of union dues used for lobbying or for supporting candidates for office).

Furthermore, HB 1021 stated that, should a union seek to use any portion of dues independently collected from members for political activity, the union must obtain annual written authorization from each member.

In effect, this bill defunds public-sector unions--like AFSCME, SEIU, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association--by making the collection of member dues an onerous, costly task. With public-sector unions denatured, they would no longer be able to stand in the way of radical free marketeers who plan to profit from the privatization of public services.

Given the similarities between HB 1021 and a rash of like-minded bills in states across the country, including Wisconsin, on March 30 a public records request was sent to Dorworth's office seeking

Utterly feckless, lethargic D.C. cheating probe exposed, WaPost

by admin

Written by Jay Mathews for the Washington Post. Read the entire article here. Also read the comment on US DOE Arne Duncan’s statement that appears to clear DCPS in advance.

“Turque exposed the utter fecklessness and lethargy of the D.C. investigation of unusual numbers of wrong-to-right erasures on answer sheets for the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System tests. He compared what D.C. has been doing to what the state of Georgia did to expose cheating by nearly 180 educators in Atlanta………Do we need to know any more to see that D.C. is on a path to kiss this issue off big time?

Imagine the future press conference where the D.C. Inspector General reveals he is satisfied that just a few schools were involved in the cheating and that all that is necessary is to fire some rookie teachers and provide

That early morning phone call telling you that school has been canceled today! « Fred Klonsky's blog

That early morning phone call telling you that school has been canceled today!

by Fred Klonsky

Here is what a lot of people don’t understand about a teacher’s contract and the work year.

I work a per diem contract. 185 days. No paid vacations. No paid holidays.

If the state legislature decides to proclaim the second Tuesday in April “Fred Klonsky Day” and close the schools in honor of me, our district will simply add another day to the end of the year.

I’m not complaining. As long as we’ve been able to collectively bargain a fair contract (which is now being threatened), we’ve been able to bargain fair compensation.

Still, summers off means no pay (unless you’ve chosen to have your paychecks divided up over 12 months instead of 10). Martin Luther King gets honored by giving teachers an unpaid holiday.

While people who work in the private sector will complain about teachers getting summers off, our work year

What Can I Say That Hasn’t Already Been Said? « EducationCEO's Blog

What Can I Say That Hasn’t Already Been Said?

by educationceo

What Can I Say That Hasn’t Already Been Said? Leave a comment

DISCLAIMER: I tried to avoid writing this because I knew I could go on and on. I suggest you only read this if you have time to read from start to finish! You’ve been warned!

Well, aside from the childhood favorite: ‘I told you so.’ I am no longer a child, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t think that exact thought in my head when ~~what I and anyone else with common sense already knew~~ the final report regarding the cheating allegations within the Atlanta Public School System was released. There was, in fact, cheating going on during the previous years’ CRCT administrations. And by ‘cheating’ I do not mean students looking on other students’ test sheets. I mean teachers and administrators erased answers in an effort to boost the schools’ and district’s test scores and ensure that both made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

Quite honestly, I do not know where to begin with this tomfoolery. On the one hand, you have the students who thought they passed the test on their own

Follow up on Stand for Children’s Jonah Edelman and His Backers | Seattle Education

Follow up on Stand for Children’s Jonah Edelman and His Backers

by seattleducation2011

Jim Horn with Schools Matter just posted information on the PIE Network, an organization that backs the likes of Jonah Edelman.

It’s a must read.

Below is an excerpt from Jim’s post titled The Business Roundtable’s PIE: Post Partisan Corporatism at Its Most Virulent

What is PIE? If you don’t know, you should. They are behind pipsqueaks like Jonah Edelman and his little charade group. They have 25 members of the PIE Network located in 18 states, and they are buying starving legislatures left and right and center. Get to know them, and never turn your

What do we do with the cheaters? | Taking Note

What do we do with the cheaters?

by JOHN MERROW on 12. JUL, 2011 in ARNE DUNCAN, CHEATING, EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION, POLITICS, STANDARIZED TESTS,TESTING, INNOVATION, RACE, TEACHING

As always, remember that John’s book The Influence of Teachers is for sale at Amazon.

Right now I feel the need to vent, even though my rant might not move the ball forward. Next week I will pose the important question “Where do we go from here?” regarding the widespread cheating in Atlanta and apparently in a lot of other places as well, but that can wait.

I recall hearing former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright telling an audience of young girls that a special place in Hell was set aside for successful women who refused to help other women succeed.

An even hotter spot should be reserved for those adults who knowingly cheat children out of a decent education and lie to them about their achievements.

The cheaters in Atlanta, D.C., Philadelphia, Houston, Baltimore and elsewhere took advantage of the neediest and most vulnerable children and changed their scores so it would appear they had mastered material, when they in fact had not. They weren’t thinking about the kids, of course, but only about

NYC Educator: Gee Mister, Can I Have My Ball Back?

Gee Mister, Can I Have My Ball Back?

by NYC Educator

You hear the most remarkable things about the "Children First" crowd. For the last few days the blogosphere has be abuzz with news of Jonah Edelman's smarmy boasts about how he tricked unions into making ridiculous deals. Edelman simply forgot to mention those dear children he cared about so much. Sure.

Now Keith Olberman tweets about uber-"reformer" Joel Klein stealing a foul ball from a kid at Yankee stadium in 2009. Can you believe that? I can. There's something about demagogues like Klein and Edelman--it's not really the alleged missions they're carrying out. That's why Edelman forgets his. It's really all about them, and how clever they are. In fact, it doesn't really

NAACP files complaint on school discipline disparity • Top Stories (www.HometownAnnapolis.com - The Capital)

NAACP files complaint on school discipline disparity

Filing comes just before scheduled meeting with Superintendent Maxwell

By E.B. FURGURSON III, Staff Writer

Published 07/11/11

On the eve of a meeting with school officials to discuss disparities in minority disciplinary rates, the Anne Arundel chapter of the NAACP has filed a formal civil rights complaint on the matter with the U.S. Department of Education.

The complaint, dated Thursday, cites county school statistics to bolster its claim that African-American students continue to be disciplined in numbers out of balance with their enrollment.

That, the NAACP chapter maintains, is a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and falls short of goals outlined in an 2005 agreement between county schools and civil rights advocates mediated by the Department of Justice Community Relations Services.

That agreement, a reaction to a 2004 complaint filed with the Department of

This Week In Education: Cheating: Is NAEP Next?

Cheating: Is NAEP Next?

by Alexander Russo

Increasingly, NAEP scores are being used by big-city district leaders like former ATL head Beverly Hall as a defense against cheating allegations or other forms of gaming the accountability system. Former NYC head Joel Klein and former DC head Michelle Rhee have also used the scores as a key statistic supporting their impact. The increasingly public use of NAEP scores raises the question whether "juking" NAEP is next.

In reality, it may already be happening.

Cheating-related news coverage is everywhere, it seems -- though no one can really say whether there's more cheating or just more coverage (the shark-sighting problem, let's call it). Here's a quick sample: Officials replaced amid Atlanta cheating scandal: The fallout from the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal continued

The War on Teachers? | Think Tank | Big Think

This article is part of Re:EDUCATION, an ongoing series on educational innovation.

Like religion and politics, public education may soon be one of those subjects banned from the dinner table for the sake of family harmony. Few issues can boast so many deeply committed stakeholders with so many intensely opposing points of view. Two recent Big Think features on school reform in New Jersey, under Acting Commissioner Chris Cerf, elicited an unusually high number of passionate reader responses, many of them critical of what have become the mainstream axes of school reform: teacher accountability, data-driven evaluation of school success, and the expansion of the charter school system.

Joanne Barkan, who writes for Dissent Magazine, sees serious flaws in the "school reform" movement that went national with the 2001 enactment of No Child Left Behind, under President George W. Bush.

What's the Big Idea?

In a nation as politically and ideologically riven as ours, it’s remarkable to see so broad an agreement on what ails public schools. It’s the teachers. Democrats from various wings of the party, virtually all Republicans, most think tanks that deal with education, progressive and conservative foundations, a proliferation of nonprofit advocacy organizations, right-wing anti-union groups, hedge fund managers, writers from right leftward, and editorialists in most mainstream media—all concur that teachers, protected by their unions, deserve primary blame for the failure of 15.6 million poor children to excel academically. They also

Tuesday, July 12, 2011