District Budget Advisory Committee (DBAC) - Sacramento City Unified School District

2013-2014 DAC Regular Meeting Agendas - Sacramento City Unified School District:

September 16, 2013 Three important meetings coming this week. One call for a DAC Bylaws discussion

Hello, First an apology. Some of you may have received an email from my company, Alpine Adventures, about skiing in Europe and Canada. I am using the same email sending company -Constant Contact- for both my Company email and the SCUSD email. Unfortunately some of you got mixed in with my skiing clients. I have taken precautions to prevent this from happening again, but if you do receive something from Alpine Adventures again just ignore it (or just go skiing with me in Canada and Europe!) There are three important meetings coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday. Community Advisory Committee for Special Ed (CAC): Tuesday 9/17, 6:30 PM. McClatchy High School CAC meeting info  District Budget Advisory Committee (DBAC): Tuesday 9/17 at 6:30 p.m. Serna Center (5735 47th Avenue) Parent Resource Center. DBAC is hosting a Data Dashboard Information Session - Chief Accountability Officer Dr. Teresa Cummings will explain the district's new online tool, Data Dashboard. The Data Dashboard can be used to access data about both individual schools and the district as a whole. No individual student data is shared, but an overview of successes and challenges can be viewed in an open and transparent way. Background-There are many changes in our future which will impact our children.  It is important we (SCUSD staff, parents and community leaders) understand the importance of data.  Data analysis will influence the allocation of resources, funds and staff, especially with Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF).  The Data Dashboard has been designed to assist in increasing our ability to access data used to make decisions for our children. All decision makers should attend. DBAC meeting info Funding for Common Core Implementation, Meeting #2- Wednesday 9/18 at 6:00 p.m. Serna Center (5735 47th Avenue) Community Rooms I hope you are coming up with suggestions on how $8,000,000 (8 million dollars- that's the approximate equivalent of 80 teachers) in one time state funds should be allocated. If you are not sure, talk with your principals and teachers to receive their input. The purpose of this ongoing meeting is to receive comments and feedback from parent advisory groups regarding District recommendations for how they will spend the 8 million in state funds provided for Common Core implementation. It may be your last chance to give input before the recommendations go to the board. Childcare and translation provided. Upcoming meetings and training: School Site Council trainings SCUSD training 9/25 & 10/8    SCTA training 9/24      DAC Bylaws discussion Tuesday 9/24 at 6:45 p.m. Espresso Metro (2104 11th Ave) Open to all. A roundtable discussion on potential changes to the DAC Bylaws. Results from this meeting will be given to the DAC Bylaws committee to consider. Initial areas for discussion: Membership qualifications Term of office Parliamentarian position added to the executive board     More LCFF information For some short audio training clips go to: http://lcff.wested.org/lcff-channel There are currently 5 clips audio clips on LCFF. Very helpful for understanding LCFF, and well worth your time to listen to.  With the new LCFF (Local Control Funding Formula) the DAC can be a powerful voice for district parents.  But, for that voice to be heard you must actively support it. I invite you to join with me in supporting the DAC. Dave Ross

Chicago Teacher: Inhumane Working Conditions are Inhumane Learning Conditions - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Chicago Teacher: Inhumane Working Conditions are Inhumane Learning Conditions - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Chicago Teacher: Inhumane Working Conditions are Inhumane Learning Conditions

By Anthony Cody on September 16, 2013 5:45 PM

Guest post by Sarah Chambers.

At my large elementary school on Chicago's southwest side, the mercury on the thermometer soars to a scorching 90 degrees. Sweat drips down the students' little round faces, their hair plastered to their foreheads. It's only 9am, not even at the peak of the day's heat. Already, a student has become ill. Another student tries to cover his nose with a wad of blood-soaked Kleenex as it drips onto his shirt and down to the floor. The boy runs to the bathroom holding his nose with bloodstains on his palms. He stands over the sink with blood gushing out for over 10 minutes, covering the sink a crimson red. His nose does not stop bleeding. Never have I ever seen such a horrendous nose bleed.

As the Chicago Public Schools opened for the year, scenes like this one were not unusual as hundreds of schools have regularly used classrooms without air conditioning. The exact numbers are unknown as when we asked them, CPS themselves didn't know. Unable or unwilling to maintain a solid count or communicate with the power company, we are left to alleviate the suffering of our students. It is important to understand that this is not only incompetence, but also a genuine plan to sabotage and destroy traditional schools and open charter schools. Just this year, the Board took out a multi-decade loan and spent millions to close 50 schools because they said there were too many schools and we had a deficit. Many of the schools were high performing and parents and students fought hard to save the schools they loved and had chosen. CPS ignored their choices and destroyed those schools. The next month, plans were released to approve the opening of a dozen new charter schools at an even greater cost.

I hand the student a roll of paper towels and walk him down to the office to call his mom for an early dismissal. I ask him, "Have you had bloody noses like this in the past?" He tells me that 

School leaders lobby Brown to kill teacher misconduct bill SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:

School leaders lobby Brown to kill teacher misconduct bill
By Kimberly Beltran
Monday, September 16, 2013

As the mid-point in the legislation session ended last week, advocates for school districts turned their attention to lobbying the governor to either support or veto pressing issues.

Toward that end, the Association of California School Administrators has called on members to reject AB 375, legislation designed to streamline thesuspension and dismissal hearing process for teachers and save schools time and money.

Authored by Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo, AB 375 would maintain the ability of school districts to immediately remove the teacher from the classroom as a result of allegations of child or sexual abuse. It would also provide the ability to issue a notice of dismissal at any time during the calendar year.

The bill is one of scores delivered out of the Legislature before action was gaveled down in the early hours of Friday. Brown has until mid-October to act.

AB 375 places limits on the amount of time the appeals process can last, and restricts the introduction of new evidence after a certain point in the proceedings.

While it has the support of teacher unions, the bill is opposed by various organizations representing schools, including ACSA, which represents more than 14,500 superintendents, principals and school leaders, and the California Association of School Business Officials.

“The problems created for school districts far outweigh any modest improvements contained in the bill,” ACSA 

Mother Crusader: Hebrew Immersion Charter Cheerleader Doesn't Seem To Think Hatikvah Is a "Government" School

Mother Crusader: Hebrew Immersion Charter Cheerleader Doesn't Seem To Think Hatikvah Is a "Government" School:

Hebrew Immersion Charter Cheerleader Doesn't Seem To Think Hatikvah Is a "Government" School

Silly ideologue, you think charters are public schools? 

I got a comment on a post I wrote about the impact the Hatikvah International Academy Charter School in East Brunswick has had on my district. I thought the comment not only merited a response, but a whole new post. Chime in with your thoughts in the comment section if you're so inclined, and let me and my anonymous friend know who you agree with. 

Here's the comment:

Why not let the money follow the child? If parents want their children to attend language immersion school, a Montessori school, a Core Knowledge school etc, why not let them send their children to whatever school they wish and have their per-pupil spending follow them? 

We have a balkanized education system as it is. Kids who live in East Brunswick go to EB schools, kids who live in Metuchen go to Metuchen schools, kids who live in South Brunswick go to SB schools etc. Let kids choose to go to schools that best fit their interests and personalities and this artificial 

There Joel Klein goes again…:

There Joel Klein goes again…

By Valerie Strauss, Published: September 16 at 3:45 pmE-mail the writer

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Joel Klein (The Washington Post)

A story in the latest edition of the New York Times Magazine titled “No Child Left Untableted,” by Carlo Rotella, is getting a lot of attention in part because of statements made in it by former New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein, who now runs Amplify, the education division of Rupert Murdoch’s  News Corp. The story is about a big push by school reformers to “transform” public education with technology, specifically, tablets.

In the following piece, education researcher Richard Rothstein analyzes what Klein said. Rothstein is research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit organization created to broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers. From 1999 to 2002, he was the national education columnist of The New York Times, and he has written several books, including “Grading Education: Getting Accountability Right” and “Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap.” This appeared on the institute’s website.

By Richard Rothstein

I don’t mean to pick on Joel Klein, the former New York City schools chancellor, but he has made himself such a caricature of self-styled school reformers who are undermining American public education that it would be a mistake not to respond to the claims on 

Diane in the Evening 9-16-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Eli Broad on Philanthropy

This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Many educators know Eli Broad mainly through the superintendents trained by his institute to view public education as a business: they shut down struggling public schools and replace them with privately managed charter schools. But here is Eli Broad, lover of the arts, worried about the disappearing middle class: WEEKEND CONFIDENTIAL September 13,

by dianerav / 0min 

Why Are the 1% Getting Richer?

As states cut the budget for public schools, lay off teachers, increase class sizes, fire librarians and social workers, guidance counselors and teacher aides, we hear the same refrain: Sorry, the money’s all gone. But is it? Read this article and you will find where the money went.

by dianerav / 1min mark as read  //  save

Photo-Essay on the First Day of School in Chicago

A Korean camera crew showed this photo-essay to me. I think they had a hard time understanding the number of police officers that created “safe passage” for students on their way to school in Chicago. They came to interview me about how money affects the politics of education in the United States. The producer had a copy of The Death and Life of the Great American School System, translated into Ko

2 by dianerav / 18min 

Alfie Kohn: Encouraging Educator Courage

Alfie Kohn has a terrific article in Education Week with the title above. It is behind a pay wall and I can’t repost it in full, lest I get an angry scolding from Edweek. But here are a few good excerpts: “It pains me to say this, but professionals in our field often seem content to work within the constraints of traditional policies and accepted assumptions-even when they don’t make sense. Conve

9 by dianerav / 1h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-16-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: United Opt Out Will Sponsor Book Club Discussion of “Reign of Error”Three years ago, when my last book was published, I heard from a professor in Pennsylvania named Tim Slekar who asked if I would join the opt-out movement. I told him no. I thought it was too extreme. I don’t think so anymore. Testing has become extreme. It is now

by mike simpson / 2h 

Built to Last Tour - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education)

Built to Last Tour - Year 2013 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces National Best Practices Tour of California Green Ribbon Schools

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today announced that the California Department of Education (CDE) will co-host the West Coast Tour Leg of the Education Built to Last best practices tour, the national U.S. Department of Education tour of Green Ribbon School facilities.

"I'm thrilled to see these outstanding schools showcased as part of the national tour on best practices," Torlakson said. "The students, teachers, parents, and communities have made countless efforts to improve the environmental sustainability of their campuses, increase school health as well as boost academic achievement."

The school visits are designed to showcase best practices in school buildings and grounds design, construction, operations, and management; school health and wellness; and sustainability education in schools throughout the nation.

The tour was announced this past June at the national Green Ribbon Schools Award Ceremony in Washington, D.C. U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools are recognized or their achievement in the "three pillars," which are: reduce environmental impact and costs; improve the health and wellness of schools, students and staff; and provide effective environmental and sustainability literacy, incorporating STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and green career pathways.

The California Leg of the tour includes stops at Journey School (Aliso Viejo), Environmental Charter HS (Lawndale), Grand View ES (Manhattan Beach), Longfellow ES (Long Beach) and Charles Evans Hughes MS (Long Beach). This segment of the tour concludes with a best practices discussion, bringing together facilities experts and community leaders from around the state.

For information on attending the tour or questions regarding U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools in California, please visit the Green Ribbon Schools Award Program Web page or send an email togreenribbonschools@cde.ca.gov.

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Philadelphia Graph of the Day | School Finance 101

Philadelphia Graph of the Day | School Finance 101:

Philadelphia Graph of the Day

Posted on September 16, 2013

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I just can’t drop the Philly issue, because of the complete absurdity of the reformy rhetoric about Philly schools and persistent willful ignorance regarding the role of equitable and adequate funding for Philly schools and the Commonwealth’s failure to provide any reasonable level of support.

For what it’s worth – and I’ve spent a great deal of time critiquing this and similar studies – the Commonwealth in the mid-2000s took on the task of determining the “costs” per pupil of what Pennsylvania school districts needed to get the job done. This cost analysis was then used to guide development of a new formula intended to drive appropriate levels of state aid to districts facing substantive gaps between current spending (2006-07) at the time, and cost estimates developed under state supervision, by independent consultants.

 [critique of these & related methods can be found here]

At the time, state officials found that districts including Philadelphia, Allentown and Reading faced funding (relative to cost) gaps between $4,000 and $6,000+ per pupil.  So, in rather bold style, they adopted a new school finance formula with the intent to phase districts toward their adequacy targets.  Then the economy tanked, and a new era of political attacks on state school finance formulas followed (as much a Cuomo/NY issue as a Corbett one!).

So, where are Pennsylvania school districts now, with 2013-14 (July estimates) funding (holding 

REVIEW: “Reign of Error,” Ravitch 3.0 | the becoming radical

REVIEW: “Reign of Error,” Ravitch 3.0 | the becoming radical:

REVIEW: “Reign of Error,” Ravitch 3.0

Posted on September 16, 2013 by plthomasedd

When faced with the many competing narratives of the religions of the world, comparative myth/religion scholar Joseph Campbell explained to Bill Moyersthat Campbell did not reject religion, as some scholars have, but instead reached this conclusion:

Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck to its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble.

Following the unveiling of Ravitch 2.0 in The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education, Diane Ravitch now offers Ravitch 3.0 with her newly released Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.

The Death and LIfe of the Great American School System

Reign of Error

Since Ravitch is a respected historian of education, a brief history seems appropriate for context.

Ravitch 1.0 established herself as a leading scholar of the history of education. She also wrote best-selling and influential books on education beginning in the mid-1970s. During the 1970s and into the early 2000s, Ravitch was associated with conservative politics (notably because of her public service from 1991 to 1993 as Assistant Secretary of Education and Counselor to Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander under President George H.W. Bush) and traditional