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Friday, January 4, 2013

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Special-education aid from U.S. lagging




Education Headlines

Friday, January 4, 2013

K-8 district reverses trend of declining enrollment

After nine straight years of declining enrollment, Escondido’s K-8 district has seen a slight rise in its student population this school year.

Special-education aid from U.S. lagging

California school districts increasingly are paying a greater share of special education costs as federal officials fail to make good on a pledge to pay more, according to a Legislative Analyst's Office report released Thursday.

Lempert; Resolving to transform our school finance system

We believe it is time for California to move forward and implement education finance reform that fosters local control. For far too long we have evaluated and bemoaned the failings and inequities of the current funding system, and now we have a chance to fundamentally restructure it for the better.

EdWatch 2013: School finance reform redux

Gov. Jerry Brown won’t speak the words “weighted student funding formula” when he presents a new state budget next week, along with his plan to refashion the state’s complex and inequitable school finance system. Rebranding his plan to reform school finance is one of the changes that the governor will make to seek more support than he got last year when he introduced a similar plan.

Educators, politicians have stark reaction to Gov. Jerry Brown school funding revamp

School districts that have long struggled to educate large numbers of poor students or English learners could see a massive influx of cash under a new funding formula expected to be unveiled next week by Gov. Jerry Brown.
Thursday, January 3, 2013

Fensterwald: Federal cuts to education left unresolved

Congress’ New Year’s Day drama, ending a stalemate over extending tax cuts for all but the wealthy, delays rather than resolves an across-the-board 8.2 percent decrease in federal education spending. That’s the spending piece of the “fiscal cliff” that Congress decided to put off deciding until early March.

Group won't challenge Sacramento school trustee appointee

It appears newly appointed Sacramento City Unified trustee Jay Hansen will not have his seat challenged through a petition calling for a special election. Before Hansen's selection, the district's five bargaining groups and an outside coalition urged the school board to reconsider their decision to appoint someone to fill resigning board member Ellyn Bell's seat.

Schools' year in review: Angst, accolades, scandal for O.C. schools

For much of 2012, public school officials wrestled with uncertainty over whether California voters would approve the Proposition 30 tax-hike initiative.Had the ballot measure gone down in defeat Nov. 6, schools would have been dealt a deep blow to their state funding streams. But the $4.8 billion cut in education funding that Gov. Jerry Brown had threatened never materialized, and with Prop. 30's passage came a renewed sense of optimism and zeal among the county's 28 school districts.