Ramon Cortines resigns from Scholastic board | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Ramon Cortines resigns from Scholastic board | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines resigned Thursday from the board of Scholastic Inc., a position that paid him compensation worth more than $150,000 last year.

Cortines’ dual role with the company and the district received scrutiny in the wake of an articleon that subject last week in The Times. In defending his position with Scholastic in a recent interview, Cortines said he avoided any issue at the district involving the leading educational publishing company. And his senior staff said this recusal included any decision involving academic intervention programs.

Scholastic provides the district’s primary reading intervention program for high schools. And, as of this year, Scholastic’s program also became a key component for middle schools. The company has earned more than $5.2 million from the L.A. Unified School District since Cortines joined the school system as its No. 2 administrator in April 2008. He became superintendent in December 2008.

Cortines is paid $250,000 a year by L.A. Unified.

The superintendent’s brief letter to Scholastic's president and chief executive officer, Richard Robinson, read as follows:

“Per my telephone conversation with you and attorney Andy Hedden on Thursday, February 18, 2010, this correspondence serves as a formal notice of resignation from the corporate board at Scholastic Corporation. A hard copy of this correspondence has been mailed to you.”

Copies of the letter were sent to members of the Board of Education and school district general counsel David Holmquist.

Board members had been placing no pressure on Cortines to resign from Scholastic last week, but it’s 

Melinda French Gates - Education reform, one classroom at a time - washingtonpost.com

Melinda French Gates - Education reform, one classroom at a time - washingtonpost.com:

"Sitting on the desk of the secretary of education are dozens of ideas bold enough to finally start solving our country's education crisis. They are contained in applications by 40 states and the District of Columbia for grants from the Race to the Top fund, a $4.35 billion piece of the stimulus package designed to dramatically improve student achievement.

Congress established strong guidelines to guarantee that states spend Race to the Top money on audacious reforms. Many states responded with equal fortitude, submitting proposals to radically improve how they use data or to adopt college- and career-ready standards -- concepts that used to be considered third rails in the world of education. Never before has this country had such an opportunity to remake the way we teach young people."

Assemblyman disputes cost of free student MetroCards - NYPOST.com

Assemblyman disputes cost of free student MetroCards - NYPOST.com:

"Someone needs to take an accounting class.

The MTA and the assemblyman who oversees the agency have a $214 million disagreement over how much it costs the system to transport 500,000 students for free every school day.

The dispute was set off by the MTA's plan to eliminate free student MetroCards starting in September.

The agency says the city and state have not increased their contributions to the program as costs went up.

But Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) charged in a letter yesterday that it barely costs the MTA a dime to transport the students.

'They're using these kids as pawns,' Brodsky charged, saying MTA officials told him they would still run the same number of buses and subways with or without the free fares.

MTA officials said it would rake in an additional $214 million a year by charging the kids.

Meanwhile, students and teachers rallied yesterday in lower Manhattan to keep the free fares.

If Valerie Bynaar, a Philip Randolph HS student, had to pay the full amount, 'that would be another $1,000 a year for my mother -- it means I won't get new clothes for the new school year,' she said."

Teacher Seniority Rules Resisted Amid Layoffs - WSJ.com

Teacher Seniority Rules Resisted Amid Layoffs - WSJ.com:

"Teacher seniority rules are meeting resistance from government officials and parents as a wave of layoffs is hitting public schools and driving newer teachers out of classrooms.

In a majority of the country's school districts, teacher layoffs are handled on a 'last in, first out' basis. Critics of seniority rules worry that many effective and talented teachers who have been hired in recent years will lose their jobs.

Unions say that seniority rules are the only objective way to carry out layoffs, and that they protect teachers from the whims and bias of managers, who might fire effective teachers they don't like.

This year, because of cuts in state aid to New York City, the city could be facing a loss of about 8,500 teacher jobs out of a total of 80,000. The last time the nation's largest school system laid off a teacher was 1976.

If New York City is forced to lay off some of the more than 30,000 new teachers it has hired in the past five years, it is 'going to be catastrophic,' said Joel Klein, chancellor of the city's school system. 'We're going to be losing a lot of great new teachers that we hired' in recent years, the chancellor said."

Haitian Students Hit Placement Roadblock - NY1.com

Haitian Students Hit Placement Roadblock - NY1.com

Most New Yorkers may not know it but city schools have already become a refuge for hundreds of students who have escaped the devastation in Haiti -- a transition that's proving to be anything but smooth. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed the following report.

Chesna Gelin, 17, has had many reasons to cry since her house in Port-au-Prince, Haiti fell down around her last month, but she says the latest was how hard it's been to enroll in a New York City school.

"It was very, very sad. I even cried," said Gelin.

The Department of Education says 219 Haitian students have enrolled in city schools since the earthquake -- a process that should take five days at most.

It often takes longer for high schoolers since they have to go to an enrollment center to get placed. As a result, schools can refuse to take them for a variety of reasons, which means back to the enrollment center to start the process over.

"When you have immigrant students who still need to learn English, who are coming in mid-year, there aren't many spots for them, there aren't very good programs to begin with, and now we are going to have a number of students coming -- some now, some later, some down the road -- and the system still isn't equipped to deal with them," said Guisela Alvarez of Advocates for Children of New York.

Chesna joined her father in New York on January 26th. But she still hasn't started school. She waited hours in an enrollment center three times during the past three weeks before she was assigned to a school that said it had no room until next fall.

Educational Symposium: Educating African-Americans for The 21st Century: 'A Call to Action' - Education and Schools News - Send2Press Feb 18, 2010

Educational Symposium: Educating African-Americans for The 21st Century: 'A Call to Action' - Education and Schools News - Send2Press Feb 18, 2010

OAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 18 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Inward Journeys Consulting, an educational consulting company founded by Dr. Chris Harrison and NNeka Harrison, Ed.D. (ABD) is hosting an educational symposium titled Educating African-Americans for the 21st Century: "A Call to Action." This symposium will be held on Saturday, April 24, 2010 at Mills College (in Lisser Hall) in Oakland, Calif.

Academic preparation for the 21st Century is essential for African-Americans to successfully compete in the global marketplace. This seminar will address key topics and issues in education, motivate attendees to take action, and provide direction for educators, parents, school leaders, and other concerned community-stakeholders on how to improve the quality of education for African-Americans.

Inward Journeys Consulting is honored to host its Co-Founder and COO, Dr. Chris Harrison, as the keynote speaker. Dr. Chris Harrison, who is a native of Oakland, Calif., is a graduate of Oakland Public Schools, Morehouse College, and the Mills College School of Education. He is a man on a mission and is known as a passionate educator who is committed to raising the bar for the delivery of quality education to African-American and other students of color. Over a 14-year span, Dr. Harrison has developed expertise as a classroom teacher, researcher, educational administrator, curriculum developer, and professional development trainer. Dr. Harrison is the co-author (with his wife NNeka) of "How to Help Your Child Achieve Academic Success in School: Educating Your Child During the Elementary, Middle, & High School Years."

Accomplished and committed guest speakers who are leaders and practitioners in education have also partnered with Inward Journeys Consulting for this event. Attendees will also be graced with a special message from the former California Superintendent of Public Instruction, Delaine Eastin.

Each attendee will receive handouts, freebies, and have the opportunity to interact with community vendors who will provide information, books, CDs, and other resources related to education.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
When registering for this symposium titled, Educating African-Americans for the 21st Century, registrants will have the option to pay online by credit card or check. Registrants will also have the option to complete their registration information online, print out a confirmation page, and mail a check (with a copy of their confirmation page) to the following address: Acteva, c/o Inward 

02.18.2010 - 'Faculty need to participate directly in remaking the State of California,' says Academic Senate chair

02.18.2010 - 'Faculty need to participate directly in remaking the State of California,' says Academic Senate chair

BERKELEY — A law professor specializing in ethics, criminal law, and legal and political philosophy, Chris Kutz has served since August 2009 as chair, and before that as vice chair, of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate. Faced with an alarming budget crisis, the Senate has become a hub for faculty deliberation and activity on an array of important decisions — "some of them reversible," he says, "some not" — concerning the character and structure of the campus and the UC system. He sat down recently with NewsCenter writer Cathy Cockrell to share his perspective on the challenges of shared governance in a time of unprecedented change.

Q. What was your initial agenda as Senate chair? Have you had to switch course as the campus's financial situation has deteriorated?

Academic Senate Chair Chris Kutz teaches in the Jurisprudence & Social Policy Program and directs the Kadish Center for Law, Morality & Public Affairs, both at Berkeley Law. He earned a Ph.D. in philosophy at Berkeley and his law degree at Yale. (Peg Skorpinski photo)

A. When I agreed to take the job two years ago, I thought we would be dealing with very different issues. I had been co-chair of a task force on large-scale industrial partnerships like the BP/Energy Biosciences Institute. I thought the Senate would be thinking a lot about private funding in relation to our public mission. We have, in fact, but in a very different context. Not "How do we maintain our autonomy in a shower of private dollars?" but "How do we get some of those dollars to replace the public ones that are disappearing?"

I was also eager to try to make the Senate a more efficient governing body, by taking greater care in how we ask for and use the extraordinarily limited resource of faculty time and deliberation. We have made a little headway here, in trimming back on standing committees so that we can ask more faculty to serve on specific "task forces," for example those dealing with athletics or the budget.

It became clear last year that the funding of intercollegiate athletics was going to be a big issue. Athletics would have been an issue even without the budget crisis, but the huge budget shortfall has given it steam, even though it accounts  for a fairly small fraction of the campus's budget. Athletics — while it's significant and needs attention — has more symbolic than financial impact.

One thing I was not ready for is the degree of anger in the community. You cut people's salaries, hike their tuitions, or threaten layoffs, and they get angry.

Q. How has that anger manifested?

A. It has manifested, for example, in the Nov. 5 faculty meeting about the funding of athletics, in which tempers were very short. I'm greatly concerned about the poor state of our labor relations, which I think is hindering UC politically. We need to mount a unified front politically in support of higher education — represented workers, non-represented workers, and faculty, together. We have a common institution and a common future.

Q. What is the Academic Senate's central challenge at this time, in your view?

outinlosangeles.com - Equality California Sponsors First Bill in Nation to Include Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation in State Government Forms

outinlosangeles.com - Equality California Sponsors First Bill in Nation to Include Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation in State Government Forms

Introduced by Assemblymember Ted Lieu, the bill would enable the state to gather vital data about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community

Sacramento – Equality California is sponsoring a new bill that would require the state to add questions about sexual orientation, gender identity and domestic partnership status in the voluntary demographic section of California's government forms, enabling the state to gather vital data about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community's use of public services. With such data, the state can then deliver the appropriate level of services to the community.

The bill, AB 1878, was introduced by Assemblymember Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) Tuesday.

"This bill will improve the state's ability to measure the community's needs for such crucial public services as job training, and it will ultimately enable California to ensure that LGBT Californians, especially those living in poverty, receive the services they need to take care of their families and to lead healthy lives," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California. "Currently the state collects little data on the LGBT community, and this bill would help close the information gap."

Nationwide Education Compact Benefits Military Children | KPBS.org

Nationwide Education Compact Benefits Military Children| KPBS.org:

"Rear Admiral William French, the commander of Navy Region Southwest, and Marine Corp General Anthony L. Jackson held a press conference today to highlight new legislation. AB 343 removes obstacles that affected children in military families.

More than 60,000 students in California schools are children of military families. Their parents often move frequently from one military base to another. But moving from school to school, sometimes in different states, can set back their education and make it harder to qualify for college.

State Assemblywoman Lori Saldana sponsored a bill in California as part of a nationwide initiative to make it easier for military kids to transfer from a school in one state to a school in another."

Schwarzenegger to Speak at Graduation | The Emory Wheel

Schwarzenegger to Speak at Graduation | The Emory Wheel

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) will give the keynote address at this year’s Commencement ceremony, the University announced yesterday.

Vice President and Deputy to the President Gary Hauk, who oversees the selection process, said Schwarzenegger’s work as a politician has been aligned with Emory’s commitments — including his promotion of sustainability, the Special Olympics and physical education and after-school programs in inner-city schools.

“He has risen from relative obscurity into worldwide recognition,” Hauk said of the bodybuilder turned actor turned “Governator.” “There’s a clear resonance there between his life and career and what Emory hopes its graduates will carry forth in the way of aspiration.”

Schwarzenegger will receive an honorary doctor-of-laws degree at the 165th Commencement ceremony on May 10.

Schwarzenegger was not initially considered as a speaker for this year’s ceremony. The 

State to audit UC finances - San Jose Mercury News

State to audit UC finances - San Jose Mercury News:

"The state will audit the University of California's finances at the request of a state senator who has criticized UC's spending decisions.

A legislative committee voted unanimously this week to approve the request by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, who had asked that the state auditor examine the university's use of public funds and money raised from rapidly increasing student fees. Yee has often chastised UC administrators for their secrecy and compensation decisions.

'The UC administration expects taxpayers and students to foot the bill without asking any questions,' he said in a written statement. 'It is long overdue for the UC administration to start acting like a public institution and not a private country club.'"

Democrats trying to deal deficit a blow

Democrats trying to deal deficit a blow: 

"Following a brief Olympic torch-bearing stint in Vancouver, B.C., Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is nearing the end of another work week of plotting cost-cutting schemes and hamming it up for camera-toting spectators.


It appears the governor's beloved spotlight has shifted outside his party this week.


The Senate Budget Committee Tuesday voted in favor of a Democratic tax strategy aimed at diverting state property and gasoline revenue toward California's massive deficit."


Following the 8-2 vote, state lawmakers are optimistic that an effort to phase out California's sales tax on gasoline and create a 4 percent residential and commercial property insurance fee will generate nearly $6 billion in debt relief by the end of the fiscal year beginning in July. The plan, which has the support of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger following failed attempts to borrow large sums of federal bailout dollars, could spare education and social service cuts in the coming months. The proposal still requires approval from the Senate and Assembly.

Gov. Schwarzenegger this week is also seeking a replacement for former Employment Development Department Director Patrick Henning, who resigned last year amid pressure by state officials over the 

Golden Gate [X]press : SFSUnited prepares for statewide walkout

Golden Gate [X]press : SFSUnited prepares for statewide walkout

Students Faculty Staff United, an SF State-based coalition that organizes against cuts to higher education in California, conducted a SF State General Assembly meeting Feb. 17 to discuss the upcoming day of statewide action for public education.

On March 4, rallies, demonstrations and teach-ins will be held throughout California to unite supporters of public education from pre-kindergarten to the university level.

"We're having this meeting to build and broaden the efforts towards March 4," Queer Association Director Spencer Young, 23, said. "This is just the beginning."

Although SFSUnited is not officially recognized by SF State, it is comprised of students and faculty from a wide range of on-campus organizations who combined their efforts after the Business building was occupied in December 2009.

"The only reason we have SFSUnited is because faculty came out that day and it forged an alliance," SFSUnited member Akasha Perez, 20, said.

The Soulvine: Why not Cortines?! | Los Angeles Wave - Community News, Sports & Entertainment | Opinion

The Soulvine: Why not Cortines?! | Los Angeles Wave - Community News, Sports & Entertainment| Opinion

Why isn’t LAUSD school Superintendent Ramon Cortines under arrest? Why is Cortines’ prolonged, blatant and lucrative conflict of interest activity being ignored? Where is the district attorney when you need one? My friend Howard Blume reported in last Friday’s Times that Cortines, head of the second largest school district in the U.S., was paid $150,000 last year for serving on the board of Scholastic Inc., the country’s leading educational publishing company which sells its books to LAUSD. It seems Cortines has been on Scholastic’s board for several years and Scholastic has sold LAUSD $16 million worth of educational reading material over the past five years.

Why is nobody except my next door neighbor and I outraged by this textbook example of a conflict of interest? Cortines is paid $250,000 a year to head the school district and he’s paid $150,000 a year by the company that sells the school district its books! Cortines works for two masters and that is in direct violation of sections 1090 and 87100 of the Government Code. Any other public official would be under the jail for this kind of operation. So why not Cortines?

Cortines: LAUSD should be in charge - ContraCostaTimes.com

Cortines: LAUSD should be in charge - ContraCostaTimes.com

Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines recommended Thursday that the district keep control of a majority of schools that are part of a reform effort allowing outside groups to compete to run campuses.

Cortines' list of suggested operators for the 36 new and underperforming schools would allow outside groups to run 10 campuses. The rest would remain under LAUSD control.

His recommendations follow months of heated exchanges and accusations between the teachers, nonprofit groups and charters that bid to run schools under LAUSD's School Choice reform plan.

The Board of Education is set to decide on Feb. 23 based largely on Cortines' recommendations.

Some applicants hope that the elected officials will push a "bolder" agenda that would transfer more schools to control of outside groups.

"We feel the superintendent has not gone far enough down the road of true reform ... to ensure that all public school students are served by operators that have shown they can get the job done," said Allison Bajracharya, a policy director for the California Charter Schools Association.

Out of 36 schools, charter school operators applied to run 18 campuses. Cortines recommended they receive control of seven - including four that would share space with

City Brights: Zennie Abraham : UC San Diego party mocking Black History Month shows racism

City Brights: Zennie Abraham : UC San Diego party mocking Black History Month shows racism:

"Last weekend, UC San Diego was the site of an off-campus party held that mocked Black History Month. The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity was pointed to as the organization that held the party, but its president says that's not the case.
California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass called for an investigation and issued this video statement:"

In the video, Bass said "It seems as though every single year this situation happens." That, in itself, is a chilling report on the state of race relations on California's college campuses.
At the party, called "Compton Cookout" women were given these instructions:

"Ghetto chicks have a very limited vocabulary, and attempt to make up for it, by forming new words, such as 'constipulated', or simply cursing persistently, or using other types of vulgarities, and making noises, such as 'hmmg!', or smacking their lips, and making other angry noises, grunts, and faces."

Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity President Garron Engstrom released this statement:

The UCSD chapter of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity denies any association with the controversial "Compton Cookout" party held by a "group of [UCSD] students", identified by the University. Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) strongly condemns such actions and prejudices as the fraternity prides itself of representing a diverse cross-section of the UCSD student body.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail?entry_id=57506#ixzz0fzItjV9p

The Daily Campus - Free speech doesn't extend to silencing others

The Daily Campus - Free speech doesn't extend to silencing others

Janis Joplin once sang, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”  But for a group of 11 students at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) who were arrested for interrupting a campus speaker, freedom of speech is more than just a phrase – it is a right they feel has been violated. 

Last week, Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, gave a guest lecture at the college.  “USA Today” reports that every few minutes during Oren’s speech, students would stand up and shout critical statements concerning Israel.  Oren was frequently forced to stop his speech to ask the students for his right to proceed. Ultimately, the 11 students were arrested for disobeying university rules. 

The students who interrupted Oren are strong opponents of Israel and believed that they must draw attention to the Palestinian cause. Although they managed to consistently disrupt a campus lecture, they contend that their actions should be a protected form of speech. 

Every student has the right to voice his or her opinion in a respectful manner; but while these students were expressing their views, they were also suppressing Oren’s voice.  Regardless of the topic he was discussing, Oren had the right to the floor and should have been able to give his speech without the unruly shouts and insults. 

The students arrested are college-educated individuals. It would behoove them to have done their homework before causing a commotion that resulted in their arrests.  UCI is a public educational institution and is government-funded.  Therefore, the First Amendment applies to the school.  But the First Amendment right to freedom of speech is not absolute. Government officials (like public university administrators) can impose reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on speech. In this case, a school policy prohibiting the vocal interruption of a guest lecturer is an entirely reasonable restriction.

In wake of U.C. Irvine debacle, Israel’s ambassador brings message to Bay Area | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

In wake of U.C. Irvine debacle, Israel’s ambassador brings message to Bay Area | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States since last May, made headlines last week, and not the kind he prefers.

News outlets around the world reported on the relentless heckling Oren received during a Feb. 8 speech at U.C. Irvine — par for the course for high-profile Israeli officials.

But the American-born, Princeton-educated historian doesn’t mind tough debates. While shoring up U.S.-Israeli relations back in Washington, D.C., he frequently travels the country meeting with friendly, and sometimes not so friendly, groups.

During a swing through the Bay Area last week, Oren, 55, met with business and Jewish community leaders. On the drive from the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation to Stanford University, the ambassador invited j. reporter Dan Pine along for the ride. They talked about the state of U.S.-Israel relations, the heckling incident and the skill set Oren brings to a very demanding job.

Support for charter schools in Virginia - washingtonpost.com

Support for charter schools in Virginia - washingtonpost.com

The Feb. 15 editorial "Charter schools in Virginia" perpetuated a major myth upon which so-called reform efforts are based. The Post claimed that Virginia's school boards generally oppose charters because they see them as competition. If that were true, Virginia's charter school law might need revamping. But it's not true.

Virginia has few charter schools because Virginians generally support the existing public schools. They know that local school boards are open to innovation and don't see a need to create large parallel structures outside the system, as exist in the District, Arizona, Florida and California -- where charters fail at alarming rates.
Since the law was enacted, Virginia's school boards have considered 16 charter school applications -- and granted 10. This reflects thoughtful consideration of each application, not "general opposition" to all. One of the six rejected applications came in Fairfax. There, the superintendent and school board worked with the applicants to create a program within the existing public schools that uses essential elements of the proposal and effectively serves three times as many students for the same money. The parents did not need to create a charter school to achieve the innovations they sought.

Daily Pilot - Serving Newport Beach & Costa Mesa, California

Daily Pilot - Serving Newport Beach & Costa Mesa, California:

"Majority leader urges students to join the effort to raise fees on California’s oil industry, which he said could help schools."

A California assemblyman who wants to levy a tax on the state’s oil drillers appeared Thursday at Orange Coast College, pitching his bill to a group of student senators and pointing out that California pays $2 billion more a year on prisons than higher education.

The Assembly’s majority leader, Alberto Torrico (D-Fremont), urged the senators to take part in the campaign to raise fees on California’s oil industry, a move that could raise as much as $2 billion a year, nearly a half-million of which would be earmarked for community colleges statewide.

“Alaska has raised $400 million a year by doing the same, and all that money went to higher education,” said Torrico, whose district includes the East Bay area. “Every other state in the country charges some sort of fee for drilling. Why shouldn’t we?”

Torrico, in a 90-minute sit-down with nearly a dozen student senators, painted a grim picture of Sacramento’s fiscal woes and the future of higher education, saying that if something isn’t done in the next two years, 20,000 to 50,000 students will be turned away from the UC or Cal State systems because of budget cuts.

Complacency adds to fiscal crisis in education

Complacency adds to fiscal crisis in education:

"Please. Slow down and listen before you take up your pitchforks. I am not a monster. I am merely an educator and a parent. I, too, have been complicit in allowing our education system to deteriorate."



The primary focus in education has been "equity" - addressing the low achievement of students of color, students of low socioeconomic status - but profound fiscal challenges are shifting our attention. Public school districts across the state are increasing class sizes, decreasing the length of the school year, eliminating professional development and eviscerating art, music, athletic and summer school programs.
We educators are fish swimming placidly, heedless of the political environment. Or maybe we are frogs in a pot of simmering water. Maybe it's the unwavering "can-do" attitude of teachers that contributes to the state of affairs.
Raise our class size incrementally to 40? No problem.
No school nurses or counselors? Fine. We'll insert a needle into the thigh of a girl experiencing anaphylaxis, while consoling the boy whose father passed away.
No classroom materials? We'll pay out of pocket.
Fewer custodians? We'll teach in filth.
Cut our benefits? We'll take one for the team.
Maybe it is the parents who are to blame, especially those from wealthy communities. Rather than work to change a dysfunctional educational system, we ask: "What kind of check should we write?" We take care of our own.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/18/ED501C34E9.DTL#ixzz0fzFuZI1N

California Senate starts whittling $20 billion deficit - San Jose Mercury News

California Senate starts whittling $20 billion deficit - San Jose Mercury News

SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers began chiseling away at a $20 billion deficit Thursday as part of a special legislative session ordered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Democrats in the Senate started budget votes they said would prevent a cash crisis this spring. But they postponed the hardest decisions on education and social services, which make up the bulk of state spending. The Senate approved cutting the state payroll by 5 percent and trimming spending on inmate health by $811 million. Democrats also pushed through tougher tax collection policies, including a bill that would require out-of-state retailers to collect taxes on items sold to California residents.

Proposed measures

In all, Senate Democrats have proposed measures designed to reduce the deficit by more than $5 billion. After approving half the measures Thursday, the Senate put off the tougher votes until Monday, including a change to the state gasoline tax. The Assembly is expected to act on similar measures next week. The Senate on Thursday also approved the initial pieces of a legislative package designed to create or preserve jobs, including a measure that would end three-day-a-month furloughs for tens of thousands of state employees.

It's not clear whether Schwarzenegger will support all the proposals. Democrats, who hold a majority in both houses, began pushing changes on a majority vote without Republican support.

Republicans said much of the Democrats' package involved accounting tricks that don't address the structural deficit. Democrats are hoping an economic recovery could help narrow the size of the budget gap. The state Finance Department reported January revenues came in $1.4 billion above the governor's budget forecast. Still

Equity drives science lab decision in Berkeley

Equity drives science lab decision in Berkeley:

"A recent proposal by the Berkeley school district to move high school science laboratory periods from before- and after-school periods to the regular school day has received considerable attention in the media. We in Berkeley Unified are grateful for our community's passionate concern for the education of our children."



To understand the discussion, it is important to look at overall efforts to improve education for all in Berkeley. Berkeley's citizens and school board have a long tradition of taking seriously class, race, equity and excellence in education. For decades, the citizens of Berkeley have voluntarily taxed themselves to supplement state funding for public education in order to provide high-quality instruction in core academic subjects as well as the arts for all students.
Our educational equity work in Berkeley focuses on raising all students to the high standards that some students currently achieve.
This tradition continues in a unique collaboration of school, city and community groups - the 2020 Vision. The 2020 Vision recognizes that without "the village," we cannot address systemic problems - physical and mental health issues, nutrition and preschool preparation - that keep many of our students from achieving all they can. Rescheduling the high school science labs to be part of the regular school day is just one small example

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/18/EDHU1BUEGP.DTL#ixzz0fzEmKFXe

Oxnard School District puts superintendent on leave � Ventura County Star

Oxnard School District puts superintendent on leave Ventura County Star:

"Oxnard School District trustees placed their superintendent on paid administrative leave early Thursday, less than eight months after he was hired.

Trustees declined to comment on what prompted the unanimous decision on Superintendent Anthony Monreal, saying it was a personnel issue and citing confidentiality laws. Board President Al Duff made the announcement after trustees emerged from a closed session meeting about 3 a.m.

“It would be inappropriate to make any comments,” board attorney Yuri Calderon said after the meeting adjourned. He said officials were conducting an investigation, but he would not elaborate."

Class Challenges Affirmative-Action Ban Courthouse News Service

Courthouse News Service

Class Challenges Affirmative-Action Ban

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - In a federal class action, Hispanic and black students say California Proposition 209's ban on affirmative action "has created a racial caste system" by admitting a disproportionate number of white and Asian students into the University of California system. 
     The class compares Prop. 209 to the Tuskegee experiment - in which the government left poor black sharecroppers with untreated syphilis, so it could study the progression of the fatal disease - and Plessy v. Ferguson's notorious "separate but equal" ruling. It claims that Prop. 209 passed in 1996 only because California's white majority electorate "overrode the overwhelming opposition" of minority voters. "Proposition 209 promised a 'color blind' Constitution. But that was and is a lie," the complaint states. It says that Prop. 209 actually "has been the sentry at the gate, denying the plaintiffs the chance for an equal and integrated education as promised by the Fourteenth Amendment."

     Also called the California Civil Rights Initiative, the campaign for Prop. 209 was led by African-American UC Regent Ward Connerly, an opponent of affirmative action and racial preferences, which he claims actually discriminate against minorities.

     This class action, led by the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality by Any Means Necessary (BAMN), claims Prop. 209 discriminates against poor minority