Tuition Turmoil

Protests recently broke out at many Calif. College Campuses following a steep hike in tuition at state schools. As Ben Tracy reports, a severe budget crisis is the cause.

Parent volunteers hit roadblock in Dixon - ContraCostaTimes.com

Parent volunteers hit roadblock in Dixon - ContraCostaTimes.com:

"Hoping to fill in the gap left by laid-off school crossing guards, a group of Dixon parents has been volunteering their time to do the work but have run into a legal roadblock with no clear answer on how to get around it.

Joe DiPaola, former candidate for the Dixon Unified Governing Board and parent of a child at Tremont Elementary School, at 355 Pheasant Run Drive, said it was a group of about eight parents who took turns as crossing guards in front of the school. But their good deed was brought to a screeching halt after a member of law enforcement informed a parent, who was crossing students without a STOP sign, that crossing guards must be trained and failure to comply would result in a ticket."

"We realized it was a big problem and we needed to do something," said Sally Moore, a Tremont parent. "It was actually kind of fun to get out there and, with a little common sense, it's very easy to get kids across the street safely."

California Highway Patrol spokesman Marvin Williford cited California Vehicle Code section 21100(e), which states that local authorities may adopt rules requiring a person who directs traffic, in this case a crossing guard, be trained.

The city of Dixon and the Dixon Unified School District have an agreement that crossing guards, while funded by the city, will be trained by district personnel.

"Everyday good Samaritans can't be good Samaritans," said Moore. "Parents want to be involved but can't help."

Push for charter schools sparks segregation concerns | montgomeryadvertiser.com | Montgomery Advertiser

Push for charter schools sparks segregation concerns montgomeryadvertiser.com Montgomery Advertiser:

"With the promise of massive amounts of federal funds pressing a decision on whether the state should have charter schools, some legislators and education groups are urging the state to slow down.

Alabama is in the hunt for its share of more than $4 billion in federal funds and the quest for that money has sparked a debate about charter schools that some say the state shouldn’t be having if the goal is rushing legislation through during the 2010 session.

States must apply for the first round of federal Race to the Top funds by mid-January. States that don’t receive any grants or didn’t apply during the first round can apply during a second round in June 2010. The U.S. Department of Education will make all awards by Sept. 30, 2010."

A Letter of Discontent from those Occupying Kerr Hall at UCSC : Indybay

A Letter of Discontent from those Occupying Kerr Hall at UCSC : Indybay:

"We are a group of students dynamically and peacefully participating in the reformation of our California public higher education system, aligned with Clark Kerr's ideals that education should be accessible to all, regardless of economic means. The 32% increase in student fees is a direct product of structural failures in California's political and economic system; the dire threat to accessibility this creates has prompted us to occupy our University spaces.
A Letter of Discontent 11/21/09

From: An Autonomous Group of Students Occupying UCSC

We are a group of students dynamically and peacefully participating in the reformation of our California public higher education system, aligned with Clark Kerr's ideals that education should be accessible to all, regardless of economic means. The 32% increase in student fees is a direct product of structural failures in California's political and economic system; the dire threat to accessibility this creates has prompted us to occupy our University spaces.

With drastically increasing student fees, insulting cuts to workers' hours, diminishing academic programs, and increasing privatization of this public institution, many of us are appalled and outraged. Across the UC system we are paying more for less – class sizes are growing, students are being denied access to essential classes, and vital student services are facing cuts. We want change and are committed to achieving it nonviolently."

Ramp up entrepreneurship education, training

Ramp up entrepreneurship education, training:

"California's unemployment rate is now officially 12.5 percent, but the real unemployment rate, including discouraged and part-time workers who want full-time jobs, is more than 20 percent. Members of the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity report that in African American and Latino populations, the rate is closer to 30 percent. Where are the jobs, and how do we train and educate for them?"

We believe that self-employment and micro-business is the labor trend of the future.

Data from the Small Business Administration show that rates of self-employment increased by 8 percent over each of the past two years - up from 4 percent per year during the previous five years. As in any downturn, many people turn to self-employment to supplement family income; they sharpen their skills, they network, they take risks and they pursue a dream of self-sufficiency.

For those with financial and emotional support networks, as well as the drive to succeed, the entrepreneurial path is a viable option and a positive alternative to job training. We believe that 5 percent of our state's unemployed are entrepreneurial in nature and could be successfully self-employed if supported with the tools, training and education.

California has an important infrastructure of nonprofit organizations that focus on micro-business development. These organizations provide services ranging from technical assistance to financing for California's micro-businesses (businesses that have five or fewer employees and are capitalized with $35,000 or less). Micro-businesses start small but can grow to be large enterprises.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/22/IN2H1ALDO1.DTL#ixzz0XavX6xQ7

As We See It: Protesting UC fees - Santa Cruz Sentinel

As We See It: Protesting UC fees - Santa Cruz Sentinel:

"It's probably not coincidental that for nearly two weeks one of the most popular, and searched for, items on the Sentinel's Web site has been a database listing salaries of UC Santa Cruz employees.

A survey of that database revealed that 25 administrators and professors made more than $200,000 in 2008 -- but that overall, UCSC compensation lags behind most other University of California campuses.

Public interest in what the top echelon is getting paid correlates directly with what UC regents did last week. They raised student fees by 32 percent over the next two years -- which will cost many students, or their parents, an additional $2,500 to attend a UC campus. The cost of attending UC, including room and board, will soon be close to $30,000 a year."

Poor California: No money and no leadership -- latimes.com

Poor California: No money and no leadership -- latimes.com:

"In the new movie '2012,' whose video trailers were bombarding television airwaves last week, the world as we know it gives way three years hence under a siege of floods, eruptions, undulating continents and earthquakes. In other words, it's not much different from what is happening in California, fiscally speaking, except that the state will be lucky to hang on that long.
To recap: the state's chief budget analyst reported last week that California faces a $21-billion deficit through the next fiscal year. For the two budget years after that, deficits will total $44 billion more, the analyst said. Those are not updates on the budget deficits that California twice faced earlier this year; these are new projections. We are getting to the point when, if you take a long nap, you're at risk of missing the next dire pronouncement."

Opinion: Dan Walters: California's budget morass could lead to default on debts - San Jose Mercury News

Opinion: Dan Walters: California's budget morass could lead to default on debts - San Jose Mercury News:

"When Mac Taylor, the California Legislature's chief budget adviser, declared last week that the state budget enacted just four months ago is already billions of dollars upside down, no one in the Capitol should have been surprised.

Anyone with half a brain and a hand calculator could figure out that many assumptions on which the budget was based, both spending and revenues, were unrealistic, some of them conjured out of thin air to 'balance' an inherently unbalanced budget for political reasons.

Taylor reported that the current budget is $6.3 billion out of balance and the 2010-11 budget has another $14.4 billion hole. But, as grim as it sounds, that's really a best-case scenario because Taylor has a relatively benign forecast of revenues and the underlying economy."

The Signal - Santa Clarita Valley News - School workers hit hard

The Signal - Santa Clarita Valley News - School workers hit hard:

"While many Santa Clarita Valley teachers saw their jobs saved by federal stimulus money, school classified employees — including clerks, instructional aides and custodians — have been hit hard by layoffs and pay cuts, officials said last week.

“We have to balance our budgets, but the state doesn’t have to balance theirs,” said Pam Castagna, president of the California School Employees Association Chapter 349, which represents more than 700 non-teaching employees at the William S. Hart Union High School District."

Commentary: The right to a great public education | McClatchy

Commentary: The right to a great public education McClatchy:

"We've got to stop cutting public education. To ease the budget crisis, one state after another is taking an ax to higher education. This is cruel and shortsighted.

Cruel because it denies students the right to a decent education. Shortsighted because how will this generation of students get prepared to compete globally or even to clean up the financial mess brought about by Wall Street?"

I'm a product of the worst and best public education California has to offer. I grew up in an East Los Angeles housing project in the 1970s and 1980s. I attended overcrowded public schools in the inner city. Like many racial minorities from America's barrios and ghettos, I received an inadequate education.

While I excelled in mathematics, I was never taught to read or write at a competent level throughout my K-12 schooling. To complicate matters, the longest paper assigned to me in high school was two pages long.

I taught myself how to properly read and write while going through college to compensate for my poorly funded K-12 education. But what will happen to those without this same self-drive that I learned from my Mexican immigrant mother? Fortunately, I also benefited from affirmative action and from numerous educational outreach programs and policies like Occident College's Upward Bound - a preparatory program for students from disadvantaged communities.

The Associated Press: Report finds wide disparities in gifted education

The Associated Press: Report finds wide disparities in gifted education:

"ATLANTA — When Liz Fitzgerald realized her son and daughter were forced to read books in math class while the other children caught up, she had them moved into gifted classes at their suburban Atlanta elementary school.

Just 100 miles down the road in Taliaferro County, that wouldn't have been an option. All the gifted classes were canceled because of budget cuts.

'If they didn't have it, they would get bored and distracted easily,' said Fitzgerald, whose children are 14 and 12. 'It just wouldn't be challenging.'"

More states add jobs, but many temps - Inside Bay Area

More states add jobs, but many temps - Inside Bay Area:

"WASHINGTON — In a sharp improvement, more than half of U.S. states added jobs in October, though economists said many of the gains likely occurred in temporary employment.
That's customarily a positive sign. Employers usually hire temporary workers before they add full-time jobs. But in this case, the temporary hiring may be inflated by the auto sector, which has boosted production to replace depleted inventories. As a result, the increase might not be sustainable.

Some of last month's job gains also were in sectors such as education, health care and government, which have fared relatively well during the recession. By contrast, there's little evidence that companies in hard-hit industries are hiring full-time staff."
Overall, 28 states added jobs in October. That's up from only seven in September and eight in August. It's also the largest number to record increases since 33 states did so in February 2008, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank.

"It's a positive signal ... that states are mixed rather than uniformly bad," said Jim Diffley, a regional economist at IHS Global Insight. Previous reports have all been "doom and gloom," he said.

The unemployment rates rose in 29 states in October from the previous month, the Labor Department said Friday. Thirteen states saw their jobless rates drop.

Michigan still had the nation's highest unemployment rate in October: 15.1 percent. It was followed by

Kerr Hall at UC Santa Cruz remains occupied by protesters - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Kerr Hall at UC Santa Cruz remains occupied by protesters - Santa Cruz Sentinel:

"SANTA CRUZ -- Hundreds of students, staff and faculty crowded Clark Kerr Hall, home of the UC Santa Cruz administration, for a third day of protests Friday to rally against fee hikes and budget cuts made by the UC Board of Regents this week.

The campus has closed Kerr Hall due to safety concerns and students also are occupying Kresge Town Hall. Several hundred students and faculty rallied for an hour outside Kerr Hall beginning at noon Friday. Protesters hung a large banner that read 'Raise hell not costs.' Below the banner several speakers addressed the crowd.

'We believe that public higher education is for the public good,' said anthropology professor Shelly Errington, president of the Santa Cruz Faculty Association. 'Like a strong infrastructure and safe food and water, public education makes the quality of life worth living.'"

Author to bring backyard farming know-how to Sacramento - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Author to bring backyard farming know-how to Sacramento - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"Novella Carpenter grabs a cup of coffee, heads out to her backyard, where a Discount Market stands just beyond a chain-link fence, and watches four chickens scratch at the ground, chase bugs and lie in the sun.

It's an oddly bucolic scene for urban West Oakland, where Carpenter lives.

'It's very soothing,' she said. 'If you think about it, a chicken's life is very cool.'"

With chickens, three goats, six rabbits and a beehive, 36-year-old Carpenter has created a country oasis in a backyard that measures 1,000 square feet. That includes the wooden steps rising to the top floor of her Victorian duplex, and a side walkway leading to the front of her house.

The author of "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer" (Penguin Press, $25.95, 276 pages) speaks in Sacramento today as part of an educational series on farmers and growers, sponsored by the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op.

Report: Kevin Johnson Offered Money to Accuser | News10.net | Sacramento, California | News

Report: Kevin Johnson Offered Money to Accuser News10.net Sacramento, California News:

"SACRAMENTO, CA (AP) -- One of three girls who accused Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson of inappropriately touching her while she attended his St. Hope's Academy Hood Corps program was allegedly offered $1,000 a month to keep quiet, according to a Congressional report made public Friday.

The report was released by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. The girl was not named in the 62-page report.

Johnson was in Boston and could not be reached for comment. His spokesman Steve Maviglio denied the girl's claim."

"These are all allegations," Maviglio told News10. "They've been looked at by the Sacramento Police Department, by the U.S. Attorney, by the FBI, by Americorps, and nobody has found any merit in them because there is no merit."

"We've all known about these interviews and these allegations for months and months, more than a year actually. But there's nothing new other than they're coming to light to the public for the first time," Maviglio added.

Read report

Issa and Grassley claim federal prosecutors rushed into a settlement with St. Hope. They say the settlement whitewashed a 2008 government investigation into whether the nonprofit misused federal money.

Other Links to this story:

Was IG Walpin fired because he uncovered hush money scandal?

GOP report: Deal with Sacramento mayor was rushed

The Associated Press - Juliet Williams - ‎12 hours ago‎

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two congressional Republicans say federal prosecutors rushed into a settlement with a nonprofit operated by Sacramento Mayor Kevin ...

GOP Report Connects Official to Fiancé's Case

New York Times - Ian Urbina, Jesse McKinley - ‎13 hours ago‎

WASHINGTON — A report by Republicans in Congress about the Obama administration's firing of a government agency's internal watchdog suggests ...

Girl accuses Sacramento mayor of offering her hush money

MiamiHerald.com - Ryan Lillis, Sam Stanton - ‎15 hours ago‎

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson offered to pay $1000 a month to one of three girls who had accused him of inappropriately ...

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"The report details everything we were able to learn," Mr. Grassley said Friday in a statement. "So people can judge for themselves." more by Charles Grassley - 13 hours ago - New York Times (3 occurrences)

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Republicans criticize dismissal of AmeriCorps watchdog

Los Angeles Times - Tom Hamburger, Alexander C. Hart - ‎Nov 19, 2009‎

A GOP report contends that the Obama White House was politically motivated when it fired inspector general Gerald Walpin after his 2008 investigation of ...

Was IG Walpin fired because he uncovered hush money scandal?

American Thinker - Rick Moran - ‎36 minutes ago‎

In normal America, this would be a hot story; Inspector General fired by the White House (illegally) for uncovering a scandal involving a friend of the ...

GOP Inquiry Fails To Show Obama's Firing Of AmeriCorps IG Was Politicized

TPMMuckraker (blog) - Justin Elliott - ‎15 hours ago‎

A congressional GOP inquiry into the firing of the inspector general for AmeriCorps has been garnering headlines mostly for revealing details of allegations ...

Report: Rhee spoke to feds on Johnson's behalf

Washington Post (blog) - Bill Turque - ‎22 hours ago‎

DC Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee had several conversations last year with a federal inspector general investigating Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson for ...

Was Walpin on the trail of hush money when Obama fired him?

Hot Air (blog) - Ed Morrissey - ‎22 hours ago‎

Why did the White House act so quickly to fire Gerald Walpin and attempt to discredit him with allegations of senility? Until now, it appeared that the ...

SCUSD Observer: The plot grows thick legs...

SCUSD Observer: The plot grows thick legs...

The plot grows thick legs...

Today, an eye-opening 62-page report was released by two Republican members of Congress, (Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley) who directed their staff members to gather factual evidence and investigate the June 11, 2009 firing of Inspector General Gerald Walpin.

The report also suggests that Michelle Rhee, the school chancellor in Washington, intervened on behalf of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, her current fiancé, who was under investigation by Walpin.

"The facts outlined in the referral give rise to reasonable suspicions about potential hush money payments and witness tampering at a federally funded entity," the congressmen wrote.

Editorial on protests at UC Berkeley

Editorial on protests at UC Berkeley:

"It almost feels like 1968 again. Students are occupying buildings at the University of California. The police have strapped on riot gear. Officials are recalcitrant. Even some of the old slogans: 'Fight back!' and 'We can't take it no more!' have made a comeback."

The difference? This time, the students are fighting for a chance to join the system, not break free of it. It's a sign of the times that what the students want - an opportunity to establish a decent life through a college education - seems far more elusive these days than identity battles.

And there's no doubt that the UC regents' decision on Thursday to hike tuition and fees by 32 percent will cost some current students and many potential ones that opportunity. Despite the university's insistence that an expansion of the Blue and Gold Opportunity plan (wherein students who come from households of $70,000 and lower have all their systemwide fees covered if they meet financial aid criteria) will continue to make the UC accessible, there are many current students who haven't even heard of the plan. And there will be many more potential students from struggling middle-class families who will simply look at the skyrocketing sticker price and walk away. When the students say that their future is at stake, they aren't exaggerating.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/20/EDPH1ANVH9.DTL#ixzz0XSVM0eQG

Students Continue to Protest California Tuition Increases - NYTimes.com

Students Continue to Protest California Tuition Increases - NYTimes.com:

"BERKELEY, Calif. — The day after the University of California Board of Regents approved a 32 percent increase in fees that are the equivalent of tuition, protests continued on several campuses, with students occupying buildings at Santa Cruz and Berkeley."

On the Berkeley campus, at least 50 students took over a classroom building, Wheeler Hall, barricading themselves on the second floor. Hundreds of students surrounded the building, huddled under umbrellas, tarps and plastic, chanting slogans like “Fee hike! We strike!”

“We are planning to stay as long as possible,” Andi Walden, a 21-year-old senior in the building, said by cellphone. “It appears the police are getting ready to break down the doors and drag us out. We had to take direct action. The regents won’t respond to anything else.”

Ms. Walden said she and the others sneaked into the building with sleeping bags and food on Thursday night and slept in a classroom, keeping quiet until the police arrived around 7 a.m. Friday. Three students were arrested, she said.

Engaging With Your Child’s School: Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo – SmartBean

Engaging With Your Child’s School: Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo – SmartBean:

"Schools share a symbiotic relationship with parents and homes. They co-exist in an ecosystem wherein, in broad terms, all interests are aligned to achieve a unified goal – the intellectual and emotional well-being of children. No system succeeds without sustained interaction and collaboration between all stakeholders. Schooling, with its 3 key stakeholders – students, parents and school (teachers+administrators) – is no exception. That said, parents are de facto enablers and custodians of their wards’ interests and onus falls on them to kick the fly-wheel of collaboration. They cannot rely on the system to draw them in or on existing processes and protocol to foster closer collaboration; they must reach out and take the initiative to engage with their kids’ schools."

May the Best Teacher Win | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

May the Best Teacher Win LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

"Teachers should fend for themselves. May the best ones win.

That seems to be the guiding philosophy behind so many school reform ideas lately. No one can shake the really incompetent teachers out of the system, reformers tell us, and gifted teachers can't rise to the top. Listen to some reform advocates, and you'd think that the former far outnumber the latter. So you use carrots and sticks to help the market do its work."

And what about the conditions that help teachers succeed? You don't hear much about those.

The fuss over teachers who sell their lesson plans on the internet offers a case in point. As always happens in discussions of teachers and money, big questions arise about how we value teachers and their work. Do we cheapen the vocation of teaching when we assume teachers are motivated primarily by money? On the other hand, do we damage teaching as a profession when we make altruism the main job qualification? (For a great discussion of these matters, head on over to the Teacher Leaders Network.) For my money, though, blogger Corey Bower asks the most important question: "The right question is why teachers should have to buy lesson plans."

So here's the vision I see emerging from this discussion. Teachers are free agents. They pay their own way, create their own reality. Those who thrive in this marketplace gain influence. Those who do not recede into the background. Stafford Palman at the Fordham Foundation celebrates this brave new world.