Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Colorado House ready to vote on controversial teacher reform bill - The Denver Post

Colorado House ready to vote on controversial teacher reform bill

By Jeremy P. Meyer
The Denver Post

POSTED: 05/11/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT

UPDATED: 05/11/2010 05:56:18 AM MDT

2010 Colorado Education Bill
May 10:
Colorado education bill narrowly clears committee
May 8:
Tenure bill hits next hurdle Monday
May 6:
Smaller teachers union backs Colo. reform bill

A controversial teacher bill took another step forward in its legislative journey Monday as it narrowly passed the House appropriations committee to set up a vote today on the House floor.

But Monday's 7-6 approval in committee of Senate Bill 191 was fraught with emotion, a recurring theme as the bitterly fought legislation linking teacher evaluations to student academic growth and changing the way teachers get and keep nonprobationary status makes its way through the legislature.

"This is the most difficult bill that I've dealt with since I've been down here," said Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, whose parents are teachers.

"There is a lot of emotion on this bill from both sides," said Ferrandino, who broke down in tears before voting for the bill.

Ferrandino, who credited special-education teachers for getting him through school, said he understands "how hard teachers work."

"To go against them and hear their reactions and come down on a different side was very hard," he said.

Ferrandino and Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, were the only Democrats in committee to vote for the bill.

All Republican committee members supported it, repeating the party-line theme of the bill's progress.

Colorado education bill narrowly clears committee 1905/10/2010 - The House today delayed a vote on Senate Bill 191, scheduling consideration of the controversial teacher reform bill for Tuesday. Earlier today, the House Appropriations Committee passed the bill on a 7-6 vote.

CU confers 5,825 degrees in Boulder05/08/2010 - Adelita Mendoza returned to college because she wants to find the cure for cancer.

Panel OKs teacher reform bill05/07/2010 - The House education committee heard more than eight hours of testimony before approving a controversial teacher reform bill today in an emotional meeting that stretched into the morning.

Gun-rights group to drop concealed-weapons lawsuit against CSU05/07/2010 - A gun-rights group plans to drop its lawsuit challenging Colorado State University's prohibition of concealed weapons on campus.

“School to Parents: Volunteer or Else!” | Engaging Parents In School...

“School to Parents: Volunteer or Else!”

by Larry Ferlazzo

School to Parents: Volunteer or Else! is the title of a post on one of the New York Times’ blogs. It’s about a school district in San Jose that is planning to require 30 volunteer hours a year from each of their 13,000 students (88% of which are poor, according the the article).
Now, that’s going to work out well….
Why not make something mandatory — which is not going to be enforceable anyway (are they going to punish the child if a parent doesn’t participate?) — instead of putting energy into building trusting and reciprocal relationships with parents; learning their concerns, visions for themselves, and visions for their children; helping

“Get Real About Parental Accountability”

by Larry Ferlazzo

Renee Moore, a talented teacher in the Mississippi Delta (who I will be interviewing in my other blog next month)

”The problem is that the teachers don’t have to listen to us”

“Put the Parent Voice back in Public Education!”

Family Engagement in Education Act Introduced In Congress Today

Transcript of Secretary’s Duncan Speech On Family Involvement

Several colleges make below-market loans to top officials, IRS finds | California Watch

Several colleges make below-market loans to top officials, IRS finds

by Erica Perez

Erica Perez

A new, wide-ranging report on colleges and universities by the Internal Revenue Service has found that a number of institutions make loans with below-market interest rates to their top administrators.
The May 7 report was part of an IRS review into universities' compliance with tax laws. The agency is looking for possible targets for investigation as the federal budget gets tighter, Inside Higher Ed reports.
While the report zeroes in most sharply on executive compensation and taxes on unrelated business income, it also notes that a number of colleges make loans to their six highest paid officers, directors, trustees and key employees.
Of the 344 colleges and universities that responded to the IRS survey, 28 reported making loans or offering lines of credit to these top administrators. In a large percentage of these cases, the loans were offered on terms below

Parents using lemonade, other resources to stave off school budget cuts

by Corey G. Johnson

Corey G. Johnson

The lemonade stand used to be the go-to fundraiser for children wanting field trips, new sports uniforms and marching band outfits. In the Santa Cruz mountains, parents hope the tangy homemade drink can help save their schools.
Disappointed that voters in the recent election defeated a $95-a-year-tax that would have raised about $200,000 for schools, parents in the Loma Prieta Joint Union School District have turned to lemonade.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, Loma Prieta parents worry that school budget woes would lead to staff job losses, mushrooming class sizes, and the elimination of music and art classes. So this Sunday, expect to see adults manning lemonade stands. The price? $95 a-cup.
"Hopefully, we will get $100,000 if the people who said yes will still contribute," said Jennifer Straw, one of the

Former CalPERS chief received $200k for unused leave

by Chase Davis

Chase Davis

Federico Buenrostro Jr., former head of the California Public Employees' Retirement System, allegedly received the keys to a Lake Tahoe condominium and a six-figure salary when he left state service in 2008 to start work for an investment consulting firm, according to a civil fraud lawsuit filed last week by Attorney General Jerry Brown.

Monday, May 10, 2010

The Education Report On the agenda: Layoffs, recruiters and preschool

The Education Report

On the agenda: Layoffs, recruiters and preschool

By Katy Murphy
Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 6:04 pm in School board news, budget, finances,teachers
3 Comments »

Military recruiters in Illinois. Tribune file photo (Associated Press)

At its 5 p.m. Wednesday meeting, the Oakland school board will consider:

making it easier for high school students to keep their personal information away from military recruiters, by including “opt-out” forms as part of the student emergency card, among other measures - Page 3
a proposal to more closely link preschool — academically and administratively — with kindergarten through third grades. At seven schools, principals will supervise the pre-K program on campus, as well. (The initiative is called P-3.) – Page 4
creating a Promise Neighborhood, a la Harlem Children’s Zone. - Page 6

Ackerman quizzed about revenue worries | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Ackerman quizzed about revenue worries

by Paul Socolar on May 10 2010 Posted in Eye on the budget

Tags:

In sparsely attended City Council hearings on the2010-11 School District budget Monday, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and Chief Business Officer Michael Masch said that District administrative and operational costs have already been cut by $76 million, but could be cut deeper if Gov. Rendell's proposed education funding increase for school districts is not fully funded.

In response to questioning by Councilman Bill Green, the superintendent said that while the District is currently working with a budget that includes a 6 percent across the board cut in non-instructional costs, her staff has also explored the contingency of an 8 percent cut.

The savings already achieved by the District help cover recently negotiated raises and increased charter school costs, while allowing the funding of more than $60 million in new initiatives from the District's Imagine 2014 strategic plan, including a major expansion of summer school.

Councilman Green, who issued his own white paper on school reform, questioned whether administrative cuts would be adequate to cope with the possible shortfall if the District doesn't get the $95 million increase in basic education funding for Philadelphia embedded in the Rendell budget.

Masch said after the hearing that the additional 2 percent cut to non-instructional expenses would net the District only $15 million. But he emphasized that funding

Oregon State University to construct $50 million business building | OregonLive.com

Oregon State University to construct $50 million business building

By Bill Graves, The Oregonian

May 10, 2010, 6:04PM

Oregon State University business building.jpg

DECA Architecture Inc.Artist rendering shows the exterior of the proposed new $50 million College of Business building at Oregon State University. The five-story brick building, scheduled to be complete in 2015, will be constructed to fit the character of the OSU campus and to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s gold certification standards for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design.
Oregon State University will open a state-of-the-art, $50 million five-story building for its business school in five years, thanks to substantial donations from key alumni.

The 100,000-square-foot building will double the college's space and provide modern professional meeting rooms where students can work together on projects and presentations, said Ilene Kleinsorge, dean of the college of business. It also will be conveniently across the street for the 290 undergraduates in the Austin Entrepreneurship Program at Weatherford Residential College, which offers hands-on entrepreneurship courses.

"This elevates our ability to address some of the critical needs on campus, and it is part of our vision for being a college of business here," said

Remainders: DOE official: 2/3rds of teachers need improvement | GothamSchools

Remainders: DOE official: 2/3rds of teachers need improvement

by Anna Phillips

Deputy Chancellor Eric Nadelstern says two-thirds of city teachers need improvement.
For the second year, parents associations can pay for non-union classroom aides.
Bloomberg says he’ll stay out of state races, except to support charter-backer Sen. Craig Johnson.
A son remembers his mother’s extraordinary year teaching a gifted class before they were common.
Arthur Goldstein wins his case to lower class sizes at Francis Lewis HS and the DOE ignores the decision.
What’s in a 3? A teacher grades students’ state English tests and finds the standards are too lax.
PTA fund raisers are becoming more important as city schools’ budgets take a hit.
Elana Kagan could become Hunter College HS’s second most well-known alumna.
Miss Brave describes the seven students who are causing all the trouble in her class.
After watching another teacher’s class, a Bronx teacher argues for required observations.
Michael Regnier: charter school critics’ talking points are like Yogi-isms.
On Wednesday mornings, P.S. 29 students bound into school for “cool clusters.”
Should “reforms” go into the jobs bill? Education experts weigh in.
The Hechinger Institute launched a new national education news website: Hechinger Report.
And WNYC’s Beth Fertig is looking for your city school memorabilia.

Florida’s Power Brokers Hate Amendment 4 � Tangerine, Florida

Florida’s Power Brokers Hate Amendment 4

by tangerineflorida

One citizen’s view of Amendment 4 as posted on Ocala.com:

Of course, the one resident initiative Florida’s corporate elite really hates – and is terrified of – is Amendment 4, appearing on the upcoming November ballot. Amendment 4 will empower residents to veto any comprehensive land-use changes made by elected officials that the community doesn’t want.
Amendment 4, in fact, may very well give Floridians the power to prevent future development madness that is bound to re-emerge when the recession ends.
This state belongs to all of us, even if it is ruled by the top dogs. One way to fight back against corporate power brokers and their sycophants in Tallahassee is to vote “Yes” on Amendment 4. The fact that architects of the current assault on government public workers and the public – Sen. John Thrasher, Jeb Bush

AllPrep charter school network leaves hundreds in lurch | OregonLive.com

AllPrep charter school network leaves hundreds in lurch

By The Oregonian staff and wire reports

May 10, 2010, 5:38PM

SISTERS --Suzanne Moore spent almost two years teaching at Sisters AllPrep Web Academy, but what she described as the "best job in the whole world" became a precarious one in mid-March.

That's when administrators told Moore that the Clackamas-based company that operated the school was struggling to pay her March salary. She was told to expect a paycheck in her bank account by April 5.

The paycheck didn't appear, and on April 9, the school closed.

She is one of hundreds of people affected when a network of at least 10 publicly funded charter schools ran into deep financial troubles this year. Three of them, based in Sisters and Marcola but serving students across the state, shut their doors in March and April.

Teachers have gone unpaid or lost their jobs, students have had to find new schools, and some families have been asked to pay community college tuition after the charter schools failed to make those payments.

Schools in the network mostly offered online instruction or college-credit courses in partnership with local community colleges. Most were calledAllPrep academies and all were founded by educational entrepreneur Tim King, a former North Clackamas School District teacher.

Trail of financial problems

Nearly a decade ago, King founded three charter schools in that district: New Urban High, Clackamas Middle College and Clackamas Web Academy. In 2008, he left to start the AllPrep and other charter schools in a half-dozen small districts across the state, from Sheridan to Estacada to Sisters to Burns.

After he left, serious financial problems were discovered at the Clackamas charters, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in questioned

Twin Rivers votes on teacher layoffs - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Twin Rivers votes on teacher layoffs

by mgutierrez@sacbee.com (Melody Gutierrez)

The Twin Rivers Unified School District school board will vote Tuesday night to issue final layoff notices to 203 teachers.
Hundreds of teachers are expected to attend the school board meeting to encourage the district to rescind as many as possible after the governor unveils his May budget revision, said Twin Rivers United Educators President John Ennis.
"We just think the number is exorbitant," Ennis said. "We really hope half are rescinded by June 1, so they can get their classroom assignments and it's less disruptive."

Sacramento Press / GPA opens camp in Compton

GPA opens camp in Compton

by Brent Pottenger

Above: Brent Pottenger with former Sacramento Kings player, Tyus Edney (and his son)
"You have to have a backup plan," shared one student-athlete this past weekend at GPACompton.
Game Plan Academy (GPA) opened camp this past Saturday in Compton, California (Los Angeles). Over the past few months, my brother, Kai Pottenger, and I have worked collaboratively with the Compton Unified School District, Revolution Test Prep, and the University of Southern California to create a small pilot program for male and female basketball players at Dominguez, Centennial, and Compton high schools. The goal of GPA is to provide students (for free) with personalized and professional academic and athletic mentorship services that they may not normally have access to, including SAT/ACT test prep materials and tutoring. The hope is that this coupling of sports and education will help empower and motivate students to pursue their higher education and career goals. Sports are great vehicles for broad human development, but the reality of "life after athletics" means that youth need support and encouragement with their studies too. In the classroom in Compton, students understood this dynamic quite well, expressing their intentions to integrate and balance basketball with their school work in order to go to college and prepare for life after basketball: "I'm going to keep playing basketball as long as possible and see how far that takes me. But, I'm also going to keep going to class so that I can eventually run my own business one day too," said one student perceptively. This is the type of feedback

Colorado education bill narrowly clears committee - The Denver Post

Colorado education bill narrowly clears committee

House postpones vote until Tuesday

By Jeremy P. Meyer
The Denver Post

POSTED: 05/10/2010 03:14:38 PM MDT

UPDATED: 05/10/2010 05:52:10 PM MDT

2010 Colorado Education Bill
May 8:
Tenure bill hits next hurdle Monday
May 6:
Smaller teachers union backs Colo. reform bill
Apr 30:
Senate OKs teacher reform bill

The House today delayed a vote on Senate Bill 191, scheduling consideration of the controversial teacher reform bill for Tuesday.

Earlier today, the House Appropriations Committee passed the bill on a 7-6 vote, with the panel's five Republicans and Democrats Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, and Jim Reisberg, D-Greeley, casting ballots in favor of Senate Bill 191.

SB 191 — offered by Sen. Michael Johnston, D-Denver — seeks to tie student academic growth to teacher evaluations and change the way teachers obtain and keep tenure.

To survive the bill will have to gather 33 votes on the House floor. Bill sponsors say they appear to have the support of all 27 House Republicans, plus bill sponsors Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, Joe Rice, D-Littleton, and Christine Scanlan, D-Dillon, and Karen Middleton, D-Aurora, who

NorthJersey.com: N.J. education commissioner Schundler pitches plan to tie student performance to teacher pay and tenure

N.J. education commissioner Schundler pitches plan to tie student performance to teacher pay and tenure

Monday, May 10, 2010
LAST UPDATED: MONDAY MAY 10, 2010, 6:37 PM

BY LESLIE BRODY

THE RECORD

STAFF WRITER

0 Comments

Confronting an often skeptical crowd of nearly 400 school leaders and union representatives Monday, Education Commissioner Bret Schundler pitched his plan to make student growth a key factor driving teacher pay, tenure and job retention decisions.
Schundler repeatedly stressed that he wanted to use “data, not ideology” to determine whether teachers, principals and programs were succeeding. Echoing the New Jersey Education Association’s long-held view, some teachers there argued it wasn’t fair to judge them by student test scores because many factors outside the classroom, such as poverty and parental absence, influenced test results, and data can be skewed or misused.
“Assessments are not perfect, but they’re effective enough that if students move from the 20th percentile rank to the 60th percentile rank something spectacular has happened,” Schundler countered. He stressed that many periodic assessments would be used to evaluate student progress, and therefore teachers, rather than a single test.
The Christie administration wants to pass legislation by June 1 requiring that student performance become the yardstick for measuring faculty, curriculum and schools. Schundler wants at least half of a teacher’s evaluation to reflect student academic progress, but he said the details of how that evaluation would be calculated, and what else would be included, would be hammered out by a committee of stakeholders, including teachers and principals.
This proposal is part of New Jersey’s second application for $400 million in federal Race to the Top funds. Local buy-in helps applications, which are due June 1, and Schundler pressed the educators in the audience

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