Saturday, February 20, 2010

Ammiano calls for 'homeowner-exempt' revision of prop 13 to mitigate budget deficit | California Progress Report

Following the surprising reception for his 'pot initiative' last year, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) begins his sophomore year in Sacramento by taking another bold political step as he introduces a split roll property tax reform measure that would significantly alter Prop 13, long considered California’s political third rail.

Ammiano’s measure would call for taxing and assessing commercial property differently from residential property, which would remain unchanged.

The measure would effectively exempt California homeowners from the revision Ammiano claims is necessary to correct an unintended consequence of Prop 13 - a growing tax burden onto residential property owners and increasingly away from "corporate landowners" and commercial property.

The second year progressive Assemblymember is calling for a split roll to reverse "what has been a shift in California 's property tax burden to homeowners from business owners" under Proposition 13 caused by the different assessment of taxes for commercial and industrial property from residential property, according to Ammiano's press release.

“For over thirty years, Proposition 13 has allowed corporate landowners to benefit from tax loopholes while shifting the real tax burden to individual homeowners and reducing

Glendale News Press > Archives > Education > IN DEPTH:
The many faces of bilingual education:English learners’ struggle

Glendale News Press > Archives > Education > IN DEPTH:<br />The many faces of bilingual education:English learners’ struggle:

"Shushanna Petrosyan wrapped up the Pledge of Allegiance and instructed everyone at a recent Glendale Unified School District Board of Education meeting to be seated.

“I’m in fifth grade at Horace Mann Elementary School,” she began.

Born in Armenia, Shushanna said she enrolled in Glendale Unified four years ago.

“I didn’t know a word of English,” she continued. “Three months later, I was speaking faster than all my friends.”

Glendale Unified is no stranger to students like Shushanna. Twenty-five percent of the district’s students are learning English as a second language, and another 39% have learned and worked their way into fluency, according to the district’s most recent language census report released in March 2009. Combined, 64% of the roughly 26,660 students are bilingual in the sixth-largest school district in Los Angeles County.

“That’s definitely on the high end,” said David Moguel, a professor at Cal State Northridge."

California Designates 6 Innovation Hubs to Sharpen State's Competitive Edge

California Designates 6 Innovation Hubs to Sharpen State's Competitive Edge:

"No amount of brainpower or world-class technology could save Silicon Valley last year from the wrath of the recession.

In the San Francisco Bay Area's high-tech hub, the economic downturn caused jobs, patents and venture capital investment to decline in 2009, according to a study released in February by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The survey, titled the '2010 Index of Silicon Valley,' also shows office vacancy at its highest rate since 1998 as the focus has shifted from software to green energy, the media, biotech and medical devices.

With the loss of 90,000 jobs between the second quarters of 2008 and 2009, the cutting-edge innovators of Silicon Valley 'could not insulate ourselves from the larger economic downturn,' said Russell Hancock, Joint Venture president and CEO, and Silicon Valley Community Foundation CEO Emmett Carson, in a joint statement.

'At a time when we need to engage more actively in the global economy, the very foundations for that engagement are weakening,' according to the statement. 'We're"

The State Hornet - CFA forum highlights budget crisis, urges student involvement

hair in the Redwood Room was occupied and students lined the walls during today's forum, which highlighted the California Master Plan for Higher Education, its history and what it means in today's budget crisis.

About 175 students and faculty members attended "The People's University in Peril," which was hosted by the California Faculty Association.

"I think we all need to understand that the words 'Master Plan' have become symbolic of everything we do," former Sacramento State President Donald Gerth said. "It's a symbol of everything we can do here and in the University of California and in the California community colleges."

The 1960s Master Plan created a system for postsecondary education by defining the roles of California's three segments of public higher education: the UC schools, California State University system and community colleges.

Government professor Jeff Lustig said the Master Plan "crystallized" a promise of education in California.

"The constitutional founders of the state were very clear that they didn't want California to be as class bound as other societies," Lustig said. "They wanted to prepare a higher education system that would be open to everybody, a gateway of opportunity rather than a bulwark of privilege."

Lustig said those “good days are over,” and all segments of public higher education must come together to oppose fee increases and class and salary reductions.

"The educational community needs to organize

UC San Diego officials meet with students angry about off-campus 'Compton Cookout' | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

UC San Diego administrators met Friday with more than 100 students who gathered to protest a Feb. 15 ghetto-themed “Compton Cookout” and to ask for improved conditions for black students on the campus.

The students also were angered by a Thursday segment on a student-run television station that used racial epithets to defend the off-campus party, officials said.

Penny Rue, vice chancellor for student affairs, called the clip “very racially offensive.”

She said officials had agreed to student demands to create a task force aimed at boosting African American faculty hiring and addressing under-representation of black students on the campus. Less than 2% of UC San Diego undergraduates are African American.

But students, faculty and activists said the administration’s reaction had been tepid. History professor Danny Widener, who directs the university’s African American Studies program, said students and faculty members “are pushing for some kind of punitive action and some broader redress.”

“The administration would prefer to continue to solve the problem through education, outreach and town hall grievance-airing,” Widener said. “So there’s a little bit of an impasse.”

Tensions have escalated since a Facebook invitation filled with racial stereotypes advertised the gathering last weekend. The invitation included references to "dat Purple Drank," an apparent mix of “sugar, water, and the color purple, chicken, coolade, and of course Watermelon.”

High schools put new emphasis on career training - Vallejo Times Herald

High schools put new emphasis on career training - Vallejo Times Herald:

"It's becoming harder to get into college and more difficult to get a job in the down economy.
On behalf of their students, Vallejo and Benicia school leaders are trying to improve their chances.

School district officials are pushing for more career technical education as an alternative -- or complement -- to a university-focused learning plan.

But where Vallejo has a high dropout rate -- 39.9 percent -- and a low state college preparation rate -- 21 percent -- the Benicia school district has little trouble keeping students and sending them off to college.

About 90 percent of Benicia students go on to four-year universities, officials said. That high rate led board member Steve Messina at Thursday's board meeting to question whether career technical education spending was the best use of district money.

The programs are typically geared for students who will go right into the workforce instead of attending universities.

Other Benicia board members and a community member said that the programs are worth it, even if only a few students benefit directly."

United Teachers Los Angeles protests school district reform | 89.3 KPCC

United Teachers Los Angeles protests school district reform| 89.3 KPCC:

"L.A. Unified’s teachers’ union organized protests today and for next week against school district administrators. The union is upset that the superintendent has tentatively allowed outside groups to assume control of new and low-performing campuses.

The school district received 85 proposals to run three dozen campuses. Teachers, charter school companies and other nonprofits crafted the plans. The superintendent is recommending teacher and district-written plans for more than half the schools. Outside groups could run another quarter of the schools."

Opinion: A bailout out for Greece, a cold shoulder for California - San Jose Mercury News

If I were the governor of California, cursed with an insoluble budget crisis, and if I had asked the federal government for help and been rebuffed, and if I hailed from Europe and noticed that the European Union had agreed — in principle at least — to bail out Greece, I might be mumbling, "Vut gives?"

When Greece (a charming though relatively piddling land) comes calling in Brussels, it gets embraced (and lectured); when California (an economic powerhouse) comes calling in Washington, it gets, almost universally, the cold shoulder.

The reason France and the other economic powerhouses of Europe have said they will ride to Greece's rescue is that they share a common currency, and Greece's default could wreak havoc with the value and viability of the euro and, by extension, with the whole of the European economy. But California and the United States share a common currency as well.

And talk about wreaking havoc: There is no legal provision under which an American state can default, whether Carly Fiorina knows it or not, so California can't repudiate its debts. What it can do, however, is raise taxes and tuition and lay off teachers, cops and nurses. And to truly bring its budget more into balance, it must do this on a massive scale, surely engendering a new round of disastrous foreclosures and bank failures.

Besides, California matters economically a lot more to the United States than Greece does to Europe. California

is, of course, the largest state; one out of eight Americans is Californian, and the state's economy makes up roughly 13 percent of the nation's gross domestic product.

World Sentinel | CALIFORNIA�S "MOBILIZATION FOR EDUCATION" BECOMES A NATIONAL EFFORT

alifornia Faculty Association members will join with students and education workers from all segments of public education in California to "Mobilize for Education." Turns out, California will not be marching alone.

Organizations have planned similar actions in 17 other states, including Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and Washington (state). See the listings below to learn more about events in California and around the nation.

Rallies, demonstrations, sit-ins and marches are planned to be on or near all 23 Cal State University campuses, which have experienced over $1 billion in funding cuts over the last two years.

Major regional events of all California public education segments are shaping up to take place at the State Capitol in Sacramento, the San Francisco Civic Center, Pershing Square in Los Angeles and the CSU Northridge campus

Last fall, more than 800 students and faculty members from all over the state met at UC Berkeley to plan one, unified day of action on which the education community would band together to advocate for public education at every campus and school.

"Public education is under attack and we´ve had enough," said California Faculty Association President Lillian Taiz. "The future of our country and our state are at stake.

Elk Grove Citizen : Archives > Lifestyle > February history headlines

February history headlines

Published: Friday, February 19, 2010 11:47 AM PST

People often ask me how I find history items for this column. What happens is that I really do not have to look very far—stories just seem to fall out of the sky and into my lap. Folks call or e-mail me, they tell me about items when we meet in the store or at city council meetings, or I notice something in the Citizen or the Bee that reminds me of something I should write about. Right now I have many good stories lined up, and if this keeps up in 2010, I could almost be writing a column each day. So, today, I am going to give readers some quick looks at some of the stories that I will be writing about in the coming weeks.

Bob Fletcher and the JACL – Mr. Fletcher was recognized last week in a ceremony during the Time of Remembrance at the Secretary of State Building in Sacramento for his “unsung hero” actions during World War II. Mr. Fletcher, now 98 years young, saved three family farms of Japanese Americans who were sent to internment camps, one of which was the farm of Mary and Al Tsukamoto. The Florin Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) recently celebrated its 75th anniversary and was instrumental in recognizing Mr. Fletcher, and I applaud their efforts now as well as over the years.

Louis Silveira and Elk Grove High School Yearbooks – Louis is an EGHS Supergrad, Class of 1967, who has taken it on himself to preserve the history of Elk Grove High through the school yearbooks. He has painstakingly scanned all the yearbooks he has been able to obtain and placed them on a special Web site which can be found atwww.alumniclass.com.elkgroveca. Since I am not a graduate of EG, I was not sure how I could access the site, but suddenly, I found a solution. There was a place to sign in as faculty, and since I was vice principal of Elk Grove High in the 1980s, that is what I did—and it worked. In a future column I am going to highlight the work that Louis has done, and I also want to impress upon our present students (at the nine Elk Grove comprehensive high schools) what great contributions they are making to future history through the school yearbooks. A gold star for Louis and his creative work! Read more about him in a couple of weeks.

Sac City Unified chief opposes waiting lists for popular schools - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Sac City Unified chief opposes waiting lists for popular schools - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee:

"Popular schools in Sacramento City Unified should not be putting students on waiting lists, Superintendent Jonathan Raymond said, as long as the district has other campuses that are under-enrolled.

Raymond announced last week that the John Morse Waldorf Methods School – where more than 50 students have been wait-listed – will move to a larger campus. He said the district eventually will move or expand other affected programs.

Sacramento City Unified offers open enrollment at several campuses; 31 schools and programs have waiting lists."

Sac City schools chief details plan to close $30 million deficit - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

The Sacramento City Unified School District is looking to shave $6 million from its central administration costs next year, according to a preliminary budget released this week.

That would amount to 20.1 percent of the district's administrative costs – a cut that would surpass Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's edict earlier this year that California school districts cut administrative costs by 10 percent. In his January budget address, the governor said he wants districts to keep cuts out of the classroom.

But, with a $30 million deficit, Sacramento CityUnified Superintendent Jonathan Raymond said it's impossible to avoid cutting programs that directly affect students.

The district's total 2009-10 budget is $384.2 million.

Raymond's proposed budget would increase class sizes from 25 to 30 students in kindergarten through third grade, trim adult education and eliminate all school counselors and psychologists.

Raymond told hundreds of anxious parents and teachers at a school board meeting Thursday: "Increasing the number of students in the classroom will remain an option if the employee organizations do not work with us to find other areas to reduce

Friday, February 19, 2010

Sacramento Press / Students help harvest fruit from neighbors to supply area food banks

Students help harvest fruit from neighbors to supply area food banks

Gleaning effort facing possible shut down
By Maria L. Lopez & Randy Stannard

Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010 at 9:30 a.m.

More than 50 students from Theodore Judah Elementary School and community volunteers will walk from their McKinley Park area campus to harvest fruit from their neighbors’ yards for local food banks on Saturday, Feb.20. Volunteers will receive an orientation at 9 a.m. and expect to begin walking to residences by 9:30. Judah is located at 3919 McKinley Blvd.

Last weekend, volunteers walked to neighbors’ homes to ask for permission to gather the fruit. Randy Stannard of Harvest Sacramento, and a coordinator for the project, said the young harvesters will gather the fresh fruit, mostly citrus, from 70 homes. Stannard said the effort will slow down in March as the citrus season ends, but future efforts could be jeopardy due to funding.

Stannard said the project has been a victim of its own success in that the overwhelming response from volunteers and residents with fruit has diverted time from other responsibilities. “We are trying to raise money so we can hire a staff person to help continue this effort,” Stannard said. “We want to keep this going, but we need some help.”

Harvest Sacramento is a collaborative effort of Soil Born Farms, Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services, area residents, community groups and businesses. It organizes volunteers to harvest fruits and vegetables from backyards and small orchards that might go unused. The harvests are then donated to local food agencies.

Weather permitting, the students and adults will work until 1 p.m.
Reporters may call Randy Stannard at (530) 204-8082

Visit the Sacramento City Unified School District Web Site.

Visit the Theodore Judah Elementary School Web Site.

Bucking the trend, some charter schools sat out Race to the Top | GothamSchools

Charter school advocates were some of the loudest supporters of New York State’s Race to the Top application, but a handful of charter schools mysteriously chose to sit out the competition.

Though the vast majority of New York charter schools have signed onto the state’s bid for a $700 million grant, more than a dozen opted out, making them ineligible for a share of the funds. As of last month when the state was shopping its application around, there were 164 charter schools across the state. Of those, 146 signed the state’s bid.

Unlike charter schools, district schools couldn’t individually sign onto the state’s plan. Instead, school district officials made the call, 656 of the total 700 choosing to participate. New York City was among them.

I tried asking charter school leaders who didn’t sign onto the state’s bid why they made that call, but they are likely some place tropical (it’s winter break.)

James Merriman, head of the NYC Charter School Center, said charter school leaders, unable to read the state’s full application, were wary of agreeing to more state regulation without all the details.

“My guess is that some charter schools were leery of finding themselves inadvertently brought back into the kind of regulatory structures and oversight and enmeshment with the State Education

New York State releases details of its Race to the Top bid | GothamSchools

A New School Hopes to Learn From the Charters - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

One of the main arguments for charter schools is that they will improve the school system as a whole by introducing innovations that traditional schools then adopt. But charter school critics charge that this is not happening — and they say that charters on the whole are weakening the schools around them by siphoning off their resources.

A new primary school proposed by Teachers College at Columbia Universityaims to address this issue head-on. The school’s goal, its founders say, is to transfer some of the best charter school features to a school run by the Department of Education, while showing how a primary school can benefit from a close affiliation with a college.

Called the Teachers College Community School, it is likely to open in September 2011 in northern Manhattan, and while there is no site yet, Teachers College hopes for a place somewhere between West 110th and West

GVSU president says Lansing has moral, constitutional requirements to fund higher education, lawmakers disagree | - MLive.com

GVSU president says Lansing has moral, constitutional requirements to fund higher education, lawmakers disagree

By Dave Murray | The Grand Rapids Press

February 19, 2010, 5:30PM

Grand Rapids Press File PhotoGrand Valley State University President Thomas J. Haas testified Friday before a state Senate committee.Lawmakers have a "moral obligation" to fund higher education, even if they don't think it's a priority, Grand Valley State University President Thomas J. Haas told a state Senate committee.

But two committee members say Haas has to understand that money is tight, and universities are one of many areas of public concern that lawmakers have to budget for.

"We don't have much money," state Sen. Bill Hardiman, R-Kentwood, said after the session. "It's like a family. Sometimes you can take everyone out to eat steak. And when things get tight, you have to stay home and eat hamburger. They're not quite at the hamburger level yet, but they have to understand we have other obligations."

Haas was among several university leaders testifying Friday before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Higher Education. The hearing, at Saginaw Valley State University, was first in a series of sessions as lawmakers work on the 2011 state budget.

He told senators that it is "apparent that higher education is no longer the funding priority it once was."

Education | Obama concedes he didn't always do math homework | Seattle Times Newspaper

Education | Obama concedes he didn't always do math homework| Seattle Times Newspaper:

"HENDERSON, Nev. — Go figure. President Barack Obama didn't always do his math homework.

A math teacher at Friday's town hall asked whether Obama, as a high school freshman, got math homework every night and if so, did he complete it.

The president's answer: 'Yes, and sometimes.'

Obama attended the private Punahou School in Honolulu from fifth grade until he graduated from high school. He later went on to Ivy League academics, graduating from Columbia and Harvard Law School.

Obama used the question to urge students to shut off video games and work harder, and to appeal to parents to be diligent in overseeing their children's school work."

Racism in the classroom: A WAFF 48 News special report - WAFF.com: North Alabama News, Radar, Weather, Sports and Jobs-

Racism in the classroom: A WAFF 48 News special report - WAFF.com: North Alabama News, Radar, Weather, Sports and Jobs-:

"HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - A recent report indicated 80% of childhood racial abuse occurred at school.

That same study examined over 5,000 5th graders in Birmingham, Los Angeles , and Houston and found that a high percentage of students who experience this abuse were more likely to suffer from depression even as adults.

'Charles', whose identity we agreed to conceal, grew up in Athens and attended school there in the 1980's.

He said his problems began at eight years old on the school bus.

He lived in the mostly white school district but other black students were being bused in.

'Why are you not on the nigger bus? This is our bus,' Charles said students would taunt him.

He said the harassment, which included unrelenting verbal assaults and name calling eventually escalated to violence."

Sacramento Press / New SCUSD surveys yield advice from parents, teachers, students as more budget cuts loom

New SCUSD surveys yield advice from parents, teachers, students as more budget cuts loom

Superintendent wants more engagement with community

By Maria L. Lopez
Feb. 18, 2010 – New surveys of Sacramento teachers, parents and students have generated valuable advice for school district officials as they work to cut up to $30 million more from the budget and prepare a strategic plan, but Superintendent Jonathan Raymond said Thursday more community engagement is needed.
School teachers, administrators and parents surveyed agreed that keeping class sizes small is a top priority. But the Sacramento City Unified School District superintendent said at a news conference Thursday that raising class sizes must remain an option of last resort if employee unions do not agree to cuts elsewhere to make up the budget deficit.
“The survey clearly shows that parents and teachers don’t want larger class sizes, and neither do I,” Raymond said. “But increasing the number of students in class will remain an option if the employee organizations do not work with us to find other areas to reduce the budget.”
Parents and teachers surveyed also agreed that having good, up-to-date textbooks is a top budget priority.
“We received very valuable advice from the public and our employees with these surveys, but much more work needs to be done to engage the community,” said Raymond, who has made more community involvement in schools a top priority. “With these surveys, we heard most often from community members who attend school board meetings or are involved in schools in some other way. We need to do much more to reach out to and involve the thousands of parents and community members who are not normally engaged in what happens in our city’s schools. We will not reach our very high academic goals for our children unless we get broad involvement in public education by the entire community.”
The historic, first-of-its-kind effort to involve Sacramento residents in the improvement of their public schools began Jan.19 when the public and district employees were invited to respond to the online surveys regarding the school district budget and development of a strategic plan. The surveys closed on February 9. Complete results from the surveys are expected soon.
An initial report reveals that 12,855 responses were made to the surveys, including 4,609 students who responded to the survey regarding the strategic plan, and 2,087 teachers and other staff and 2,336 community members who responded to the budget and strategic plan surveys.
Among community members who responded to the survey regarding

Reiss on tap for ed secretary The Educated Guess

The Educated Guess

Reiss on tap for ed secretary

Posted in Uncategorized

The word from Sacramento is that Gov. Schwarzenegger will soon name Bonnie Reiss, long-time friend and adviser, as his sixth — and, I hope, last — secretary of state.
Reiss served as a senior adviser for the governor from 2003-07. He nominated her to the UC Board of Regents two years ago. In 1992, Reiss established Schwarzenegger’s non-profit After School All Stars, and ran it for six years. Reiss is currently a partner in the Pegasus Sustainable Century Merchant Bank.
There had been speculation that the governor might leave the job vacant or appoint Undersecretary of Education Kathy Gaither-Radtkey, who was his point person for the Race to the Top application. Or he could have abolished the office altogether, as a gesture to budget cutter and let the next governor fight to reestablish it, since the office, with little statutory power, has

Schools Matter: "Houston Oil Executives Up the Ante at YES Prep Poker Tournament

"Houston Oil Executives Up the Ante at YES Prep Poker Tournament

Hedge fund managers and banksters fund NYC charters; the Daley political machine and his cronies run Chicago charters; and one of the biggest charter chains in Houston is funded by oil and energy execs looking for tax breaks.

From Business Week:

Houston Oil Executives Up the Ante at YES Prep Poker Tournament
February 19, 2010, 11:48 AM EST
By Edward Klump
Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Houston, the energy capital of the world, seemed more like the Las Vegas Strip last night.
About 600 employees from oil and natural-gas companies gathered downtown for more than five hours of Texas Hold ‘Em as YES Prep Public Schools held its sold-out fifth annual oil and gas poker fundraiser.
Companies such as Marathon Oil Corp. paid $5,000 to $25,000 per table. Individuals could buy a seat for $600 each.

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