John King USA: Blog Archive - Vicki Kennedy visits husband's grave on day of historic vote � - Blogs from CNN.com

John King USA: Blog Archive - Vicki Kennedy visits husband's grave on day of historic vote � - Blogs from CNN.com

Vicki Kennedy visits husband's grave on day of historic vote

Posted: 01:29 PM ET

Vicki Kennedy talks with John King Monday about her late husband’s legacy and the passage of health care reform—a goal Sen. Edward Kennedy worked towards for nine terms in the U.S. Senate.

Washington (CNN) – As the House was debating the controversial health care bill Sunday, Vicki Kennedy visited Arlington National Cemetery where she said she "spent some time" with her husband. Arlington is the final resting place for Sen. Edward Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who made health care reform his passion and lifelong goal.

"I thought yesterday was an important day to be there, because I had hope and confidence and certainly, you know, wish that the bill would pass," she said in an exclusive interview with CNN's John King.

The full interview appears on CNN's new political program "John King, USA," which debuts Monday at 7 p.m. ET.

Kennedy talked about a letter her husband wrote in his final days to the President Obama. It said, in part, "When I thought of all the years, all the battles, and all the memories of my long public life, I felt confident in these closing days that while I will not be there when it happens, you will be the president to at long last sign into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society." Sen. Kennedy added, "It was the cause of my life."

Vicki Kennedy told John King her husband was not sad when he wrote those words, because he "wasn't a man who had self pity, ever."

Blogs: Feds Ask Schools For More Civil Rights Data This Week In Education

This Week In Education

Blogs: Feds Ask Schools For More Civil Rights Data

Sizing Up The New Blueprint National Journal: Could Duncan's catchphrase "tight on goals, loose on means" translate into a loss of accountability under the new Elementary and Secondary Education Act? What does the blueprint get right? What does it get wrong? Obama on Education Lead From The Start: I thought Obama was going to be an early education president. Turns out he isn't even an education president. 'Education Does Not Begin Or End At The Schoolhouse Door' Liam Goldrick: A lot of us in education policy get lost within our own locus of control [image]. Feds Add New Categories for Civil Rights Reporting Mary Ann Zehr: The U.S. Department of Education has announced that for the 2009-10 school year, school districts will have to collect data in a number of new categories that relate to students' civil rights. Claims of Resegregation in North Carolina Newsweek: Previously a model of desegregation, the state's classrooms have begun to divide again along racial lines. Democrats miss an obvious lesson plan for deprived children George Will: Duncan seems

Fiscal Early Warning List - Year 2010 (CA Dept of Education)

Fiscal Early Warning List - Year 2010 (CA Dept of Education)

Budget Crisis Leads to Dramatic Rise
in School Districts on Fiscal Early Warning List

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today announced a 17 percent increase in the number of school districts that may be unable to meet future financial obligations because of the continuing state budget crisis and cuts to public education. The list of school districts is at First Interim Status Report, FY 2009-10 - Fiscal Status.

"Massive state budget cuts are crippling our public school system's ability to operate," O'Connell said. "Public education in California received $17 billion less in state funding than anticipated over the last two budget years. School districts already have made draconian cuts to programs and services, eliminated summer school, increased class sizes, and cut art, music, libraries, school nurses, and sports. The Governor has proposed cutting another $2.4 billion this year. Districts now are forced to lay off even more teachers and make deep cuts to educational programs to address projected budget shortfalls or face possible bankruptcy and state receivership. In the first interim status report of the 2009-10 fiscal year, 126 local educational agencies are now on the watch list, which is up an alarming 17 percent from the 108 school districts on the watch list we reported last June.

"I urge the Governor to reconsider the cuts proposed for public schools, and I also continue to call on the Governor and the Legislature to approve SCA 6 so that local communities can have more control over the financial destiny of their school districts."

California has an early warning system designed to detect which districts are in danger of failing to meet their financial obligations. Interim status reports on the fiscal health of school districts and county offices of education are prepared semi-annually. The certifications are classified as positive, qualified, or negative.

A positive certification is assigned when the district will meet its financial obligations for the current and two subsequent fiscal years. A qualified certification is assigned when the district may not meet its financial obligations for the current or two subsequent fiscal years. A negative certification is assigned when a district will be unable to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the current year or for the subsequent fiscal year. In 2006-07, there were only three districts on the negative certification list and 19 on the qualified list. Today, there are 12 districts on the negative certification list and 114 districts in California with a qualified certification status.

At least 23,518 teachers and other certificated school staff in California have now received preliminary layoff notices for the coming school year. More than 16,000 teachers lost their jobs last year, and roughly 10,000 classified school employees were also laid off over the last couple years as a direct result of state budget cuts.

In light of the increased numbers of local educational agencies on the interim status lists, O'Connell is renewing his call to give local communities the ability to try to raise funds for schools locally by urging the Governor and Legislature to approve SCA 6 by Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto). This measure would allow voters to elect to lower the approval threshold for parcel taxes to 55 percent, which is the approval threshold for local school bond elections.

For more information on SCA 6, please visit sca_6_bill_20090608_amended_sen_v97 (Outside Source). For more information on the interim status list, please visit Interim Status - Fiscal Status. For the latest totals of educational personnel receiving pink slips, please visit Home - California Teachers Association (Outside Source).

# # # #

---

Jack O'Connell — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Guilty: Teenage Cyberbullies NOT Protected By Free Speech - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Guilty: Teenage Cyberbullies NOT Protected By Free Speech - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Listen Up Parents & Schools:
Your Kids Can Be Guilty Of Slander & Hate Crimes
Decrees California Court

"Beat Bullying" Video By UK Celebs Below

Schools and parents beware. The freedom of the press does not apply to Johnny or Jane's "defamatory" remarks on the Internet to one of his or her friends. That is, if California courts have anything to do with it.

So the next time you think your son or daughter is free from any charges against them, think twice. School administration and officials, if you think turning your head the other way in matters of cyberbullying, may find your institution with a lawsuit. And, private school entry fees are no protection, either.

What's more, this recent ruling raises multiple questions about constitutes private and public information. According to Wired magazine:

Intense talks on furloughs, give-backs The Educated Guess

The Educated Guess

Intense talks on furloughs, give-backs

Tags: furloughs, San Jose Unified, Stephen McMahon
Posted in State Budget, pay

The fate of the 23,000-plus teachers statewide who got pink slips by March 15 will be determined not only in Sacramento but also behind closed doors in each local school district office.
Pay cuts, give-backs and furlough days are quietly being negotiated between teachers and administrators in nearly district. The Education Coalition – the state school boards association, the California Teachers Assn. and the state school administrators association – isn’t saying much about that at this point, for good reason. After absorbing $16 billion in education cuts over the past two years, the coalition wants to keep pressure on the Legislature to restore some of the $2 billion in additional budget cuts that Gov. Schwarzenegger has proposed for next year. With state revenues projected to be perhaps a couple billion dollars higher than originally estimated, most unions and districts want to wait closer to the new fiscal year on July 1 to seal a deal.
(Read more and comment on this post)

Education Week: L.A. Unified to Halt Out-of-District Transfers

Education Week: L.A. Unified to Halt Out-of-District Transfers

L.A. Unified to Halt Out-of-District Transfers

By The Associated Press

Los Angeles

The superintendents of three Los Angeles County school districts are planning a joint appeal to their Los Angeles Unified counterpart in a bid to keep some 3,000 city students who collectively bring in millions of dollars in state funding to their districts.

Culver City, Santa Monica-Malibu and Las Virgenes are three of the districts that will be hardest hit by LAUSD's decision this week to rein in its liberal inter-district permit policy, which this school year released more than 12,200 city students to surrounding districts at a loss of $51 million in state funding.

"We're working almost as a consortium," said Culver City Unified Superintendent Myrna Rivera Cote. "We're planning to send an appeal to LAUSD. We'll see what we can do."

LAUSD's decision comes as the district faces a $640 million budget deficit and the possibility of several thousand teacher layoffs in the fall.

Because of the bleak financial picture, LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines said his district can no longer afford to lose the $4,900 per pupil the state pays the district by releasing students to other school systems.

Cortines said that although he recognizes all school districts are suffering massive cutbacks in state funding, LAUSD's budget deficit is the largest. He added that the district has made huge strides in its academic offerings, including magnet schools, small learning community campuses and several California Distinguished Schools, as well as 87 new schools.

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - Love Library at SDSU an Earthquake Hazard

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - Love Library at SDSU an Earthquake Hazard

Love Library at SDSU an Earthquake Hazard

• Story
• Comments
• Image (2)

Share

Send this page to your friends

Print

Create a hardcopy of this page

Font Size:

Default font size

Larger font size

• 
  
  Sam Hodgson

  Although SDSU's iconic library dome is safe in a major seismic event, state records show the older, large, white rectangular section of the library is at risk of collapse.

Related Links

• Related: MAP: Seismically Hazardous Buildings in the UC System
• Related: MAP: Seismically Hazardous Buildings in the CSU System
• Related: Interactive Map: A history of earthquakes in California
• Related: State universities slow to address seismic hazards

Posted: Sunday, March 21, 2010 5:18 pm | Updated: 8:25 pm, Sun Mar 21, 2010.

By ERICA PEREZ | California Watch

Love Library, the main library at San Diego State University, could collapse in the event of a major earthquake and threaten life, according to state records.

Despite that level of risk, people continue to flow through the building every day. University officials say it's safe to use, but are now studying how to reduce the risk of collapse.

California Progress Report

California Progress Report

At The Top Of The Ticket…Our Ho-Hum Candidates

By Peter Schrag

Last week’s Field Poll numbers on the governor’s race reconfirms two things that should have been obvious for months: (1) The people who might be good enough to deal with California’s problems weren’t going to run -- and aren’t -- and (2) the voters are understandably ho-hum about the bunch that is running:

Some 60 percent of voters either have an unfavorable opinion (27 percent) or no opinion (33 percent) about Republican Meg Whitman; Democrat Jerry Brown is close behind with a ho hum score of 59 percent. Republican Steve Poizner, hanging on for dear life in the race for the GOP nomination, scores a whopping 84 percent on the negative-undecided scale.

Understandably, (1) and (2) are closely related. Unexciting and flawed candidates make for an unexcited electorate. But given the money already spent at this stage of the campaign and the huge questions the winner will confront, the size of the ennui factor

Texas Oil Companies and Biased Studies vs. California's Future

Posted on 19 March 2010

Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

By Robert Cruickshank

As reported by Capitol Alert yesterday, Valero has donated $500,000 to the effort to suspend AB 32 and force California to stop doing anything about global warming:

Valero Services Inc. donated $500,000 to fuel a signature-gathering drive aimed at qualifying an initiative for the November ballot to suspend Assembly Bill 32, signed into law several years ago.

Much of the remaining $466,000 also has been donated by oil companies, documents show....

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association contributed $100,000 to the effort, as well as three other oil companies - Tesoro Cos., Tower Energy Group and World Oil Corp., according to the documents filed with the secretary of state.

Donating lesser amounts were Southern Counties Oil Co. -- doing business as Total Energy Products - $50,000; JACO Oil Co., $10,000; Lumber Association of California and Nevada political action committee, $5,000; and Roger Cohen, a retired physicist, $1,000.

This news comes on the heels of the Legislative Analyst's Office slamming the so-called Varshney Study, which Meg Whitman and other right-wingers have been using to claim AB 32 would somehow hurt jobs. The LAO called the study "unreliable" and "essentially useless", citing repeated instances of unsupportable biases in the estimates of AB 32's costs and understating of its benefits.

Are The Wheels Coming Off The Wagon Of The Effort To Repeal AB 32?

by christine

By Steve Maviglio
You've got to wonder why anyone would contribute to the initiative campaign to suspend AB 32 given the way this initiative has come out of the gate.
First, look at the polling. On the ballot title and summary, it gets only 37 percent. Since "Yes" campaigns are far more difficult to win (about 80 percent of them lose), conventional wisdom says you need to start out at 60 percent approval just to have a fighting chance. This isn't even close.
Then there are the internal squabbles. Ted Costa of the People's Advocate, one of the initiative's sponsors, came out loudly AGAINST the initiative last week, disgusted by the consultant-heavy campaign that he said undermines the integrity of the initiative process. Talk about a headache. Costa says he's going to continue to spill the beans about the inner-workings of the campaign, and hopes to sign the ballot argument against it.