voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - Parents: Cut Back on Testing

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - Parents: Cut Back on Testing:

"The ideas ran fast and furious at the third budget meeting held by San Diego Unified, this one at Madison High, which was hosted Tuesday night by school board member John Lee Evans.
Parents, teachers and other attendees flung out ideas to help schools weather the financial storm: Close schools. Protest in the streets and write letters to legislators. Relax labor rules to let parent volunteers pick up work that they can't do now. Raise our taxes and fees. One parent even invoked the idea of renaming Madison as Qualcomm High -- but only if the company ponied up the cash, of course."

By the way, if you want to get all the gory details live about meetings like this, you might want to check out read on:

Community Journalist Emily Alpert "TWEETS"

San Diego Unified School District Budget Forum

1. 
   
   Evans: "This group understands that it requires something from us."about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
   • Reply
   • Retweet
2. Former Unified PTA leader adds, "You need to join the PTA!"about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
3. Another person asks: could we rename Madison High as Qualcomm High and get corporate dollars?about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
4. Cutting back on testing is getting major props from parents here.about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
5. (That one got MAJOR applause!)about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
6. More ideas from parents: Tax gasoline. Switch to online communication. Pare back to half day kindergarten. Reduce to a four day school week.about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
7. Another mom: Cut some of the outsourcing. Close some schools.about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
8. Curie Elem mom: Free up parent groups to pay for more things. Splittig the district could make things easier. Don't cut extra curriculars.about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
9. Hage dad: Willing to pay money to help schools.about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
10. Spreckels Elementary dad: Class sizes should not be increased any further. We have to go after the state revenue to preserve ed.about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
11. Another suggestion: Suspend No Child Left Behind to save money.about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
12. Mt Everest principal: cut out the fluff. Get back to basics at school.about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
13. Mom and former teacher: March on the streets for education funding!about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
14. One dad: start branding buses, pencils, etc for cash.about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
15. After breaking into small groups, everyone gathers to share ideas on cuts and new revenuesabout 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
16. That should have been cutting, not xutting. As you might have guessed.about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
17. Evans: what we're doing right now isn't really belt tightening--- it's xutting off one of your arms.about 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
18. Evans: "we really need both" revenues and cuts to get out of his crisis.about 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
19. Evans: saving all the money by shortening the school year would mean cutting three months from the calendar.about 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
20. Evans: 600 fewer teachers this year than last, despite no layoffs. The staff was shrunk with a golden handshake.about 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
21. Evans said he had to pay for some of the handouts at this meeting himself. Every little bit counts...about 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
22. Interim Superintendent Bill Kowba: Freezing salaries would mean we owed employees money later.about 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
23. Notable folks here: bond oversight committee member, school law attorney, adorable childrenabout 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
24. Another handout cites "low hanging fruit" for new Calif. revenues, such as an oil severance taxabout 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
25. Handout asks parents to pick one priority: maintaining class size, keeping the school year its usual length, or keeping all programsabout 14 hours ago from TweetDeck
26. Library at Madison High is packed. School board member John Lee Evans says, "We're not going to sugarcoat it" about budget cuts.about 14 hours ago from TweetDeckRetweeted by you
27. En route to Madison High for a town hall meeting on the budget cuts. Look for tweets!about 14 hours ago from TweetDeckRetweeted by you

MI GOP candidate: Privatize most school services -- chicagotribune.com

MI GOP candidate: Privatize most school services -- chicagotribune.com:

"LANSING, Mich. - Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Bouchard said Tuesday that school districts could save money by having intermediate school districts contract out transportation, food and janitorial services for schools within their jurisdiction.

The Oakland County sheriff said he has saved $1.6 million a year by privatizing food services at the county jail, and that school districts could see their own savings by consolidating services and leveraging their purchasing power.

'The Troy School District in Oakland County is saving $4 million a year by working with the private sector,' Bouchard said in a release. 'It's time that more schools partner with the private sector as well as other districts to deliver support services. It ... eliminates the false choice of either slashing funding for schools or raising taxes.'"

Record Low Test Scores In Detroit Underscore The Need For Greater Parental Involvement In The Public Schools - The Detroit Blog - TIME.com

Record Low Test Scores In Detroit Underscore The Need For Greater Parental Involvement In The Public Schools - The Detroit Blog - TIME.com:

"Simply put, this is nothing short of collective child abuse...

'These numbers are only slightly better than what one would expect by chance as if the kids had never gone to school and simply guessed at the answers,' said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Washington-based Council of the Great City Schools, which represents large urban school districts. 'These numbers ... are shocking and appalling and should not be allowed to stand.'

Unh-uh, Mr. Casserly, Detroit Public Schools students posting the worst math scores in the 40-year history of the National Assessment of Educational Progress test isn't just a shock or outrage. Michael Vick's mistreatment of pitbulls is a shock and outrage. This, my man, is nothing less than an indictment of our entire city school system on the grounds of sheer criminal neglect."

Mich. anti-bullying bill could find renewed life with ‘Race to the Top’ � Michigan Messenger

Mich. anti-bullying bill could find renewed life with ‘Race to the Top’ � Michigan Messenger:

"LANSING — State lawmakers say the race to reform Michigan’s school code to qualify for millions in federal “Race to the Top” dollars should include passage of the controversial anti-bullying legislation called Matt’s Law.

“We are working on that,” said Sen. Glenn Anderson, a Westland Democrat. “To see if we can manage to work that into Race to the Top. There is an opportunity there I think that we can get something moving on the anti-bullying legislation by tying it to Race to the Top. And I think it’s a great way to do it.”

And Anderson could be right. According to the executive summary of the grant program, schools will be rewarded with additional points if their grant plan creates “school climates and cultures that remove obstacles to, and actively support, student engagement and achievement.”"

http://www.thinkb4youspeak.com/

Is School Choice the Right Choice?

Is School Choice the Right Choice?:

"Recently, Dallas Disability Examiner Steve Carter wrote about how public schools are more likely to pay for private school for students with disabilities based upon a Supreme Court decision. In its decision, the Supreme Court said that parents of students with disabilities had a right to seek reimbursement from school districts for private school tuition, “even if they did not first try their public school’s education programs.” While this seems like a win for parents, parents must first pay the cost of tuition before seeking reimbursement.

After reading that article and another article published last month in the Washington Post about the impact of charter schools, I felt that it brought up a good question – while being the never ending angst for teacher unions, should parents of students with disabilities embrace the public policy issue of school choice as a benefit for their children?"

Lake Wales News > Opinion > Our Viewpoint > Gates project could trigger school reform

Lake Wales News > Opinion > Our Viewpoint > Gates project could trigger school reform:

"One of the biggest education stories in Florida may have gotten short shrift from the media last month.

That's the decision by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to give $100 million in grants to the Hillsborough County school district to develop innovative ways to improve teacher effectiveness.

The foundation announced it was investing a total of $335 million in three public school districts and five charter school networks in Los Angeles.

According the Washington Post, this is equivalent to the size of the Obama administration's school reform efforts, so it's a big deal.

The largest grant went to Hillsborough. The district is the eighth largest school district in the country, with 191,000 students in an area roughly the size of Rhode Island."

Asian students vow to continue school boycott | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/08/2009

Asian students vow to continue school boycott | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/08/2009:

"More than 50 Asian students stayed away from South Philadelphia High yesterday, as they will all week - a boycott, they said, of the school's unsafe conditions and the district's failure to deal with long-standing violence between racial groups.

School district officials, the students say, are downplaying attacks last week on about 30 Asian students and aren't taking the problem seriously.

'They promise and promise,' said Duong Ly, one of the school's 900 students. 'Last year, same problem, and nothing changes.'"

More Money for Cash-Strapped Schools From Washington? - Politics K-12 - Education Week

More Money for Cash-Strapped Schools From Washington? - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

"I'm sure you've heard by now that many states are still having to lay off teachers and cut programs, despite $48.6 billion in aid to help shore up state budgets in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Well, there may be more federal relief coming down the pike.

Congressional leaders and the Obama administration are considering increasing aid to states and localities to prevent layoffs as part of a new 'jobs package'. (They're not using the term 'second stimulus,' but it sounds kinda like that to me.) Obama laid out the plan in a speech today. He also highlighted the need to pour more money into building the nation's infrastructure. Some folks are wondering whether that could include school facilities, even though a planned school construction grant program nearly doomed the original stimulus. No word yet whether construction's on the table."

Charter-law overhaul introduced in Pa. Senate | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/08/2009

Charter-law overhaul introduced in Pa. Senate | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/08/2009:

"The leadership of the Pennsylvania Senate's Education Committee yesterday introduced promised legislation to overhaul the state's 12-year-old charter-school law and provide greater scrutiny of charters.

The proposal, which was introduced by Sen. Jeffrey E. Piccola (R., Dauphin), the majority chair, and Sen. Andrew E. Dinniman (D., West Chester), minority chair, would require the state to increase its oversight of charters and allow colleges and universities to approve charter schools.

The wide-ranging package would require additional oversight of charter-school administrators, board members, and charter-management companies and create a an office in the state Department of Education to investigate allegations of fraud and mismanagement at charters. The bill also would modify the charter application and appeals process."