Sunday, April 25, 2010

Upending a Seniority System: Senate bill could create more problems than it resolves - The Reporter

Upending a Seniority System: Senate bill could create more problems than it resolves

PUBLISHED BY THE REPORTER

Posted: 04/25/2010 01:03:00 AM PDT

A proposal backed by the governor that would change how public schools handle teacher layoffs -- including ending the practice of last-hired, first-fired -- cleared a legislative hurdle last week and appears headed for the state Senate floor.
But Senate Bill 955 isn't ready to become law. As it stands now, the bill would upend an admittedly imperfect system and replace it with one that has not been well thought out.
That said, there is at least one piece of the bill, by Republican state Sen. Bob Huff of Walnut, that could and should be implemented quickly. It would eliminate the requirement that school districts issue preliminary layoff notices to teachers by March 15.
In the days before computer job postings became standard, it might have made sense to give teachers an early warning that their positions were in peril. But no longer. Now all the March notices do is to upset a lot of people, often needlessly, since few school districts have a clear picture of finances for the coming school year that early. That forces them to issue more notices than they usually end up implementing.
At least by May 15, when final layoff notices are due, districts have more accurate information to work with. And that still gives teachers plenty of time to secure another job -- not that California has a lot of them available right now. Statewide, some 30,000 preliminary layoff notices were issued last month.
SB 955's other provisions are more troubling, not because they
are bad ideas, but because they are badly thought out.
Gov. Schwarzenegger promoted the bill last week, saying schools should be allowed to retain effective teachers, rather than being forced to let them go because someone else has more seniority. He gave his backing to the bill while attending a press conference at a low-income and low-performing Los Angeles middle school, which lost

K-12 State Testing Resources (2009-2010)

What better way to prepare for your own state exam than to practice one or more tests from another state!

Most states in the US are currently developing and implementing K-12 tests which are designed to test student proficiency in their state frameworks and curriculum. In most states, promotion will be linked to performance on these test. To access your states curriculum use the Edinformatics curriculum page

STATE TEST PAGES MAY CONTAIN SAMPLE OR RELEASED QUESTIONS. IN SOME CASES A FULL TEST IS RELEASED.

Last Updated April 15, 2010

EDinformatics Select
New York State --- The Grades 3 - 8 Mathematics and English Tests from 2009
are now available for downloading.
Massachusetts releases 2009 Test Items

Politics - Community College Tax on Ballot in San Mateo - NYTimes.com

Community College Tax on Ballot in San Mateo

By DANIEL WEINTRAUB

Published: April 23, 2010

San Mateo County voters could soon become the first in California to approve a special parcel tax on property to help pay for community college education in the county.

A June 8 vote on the issue is being closely watched in the Bay Area and across the state by other community college districts and by anti-tax groups. Both sides say the concept could become a model for districts struggling with their finances amid cuts in state spending brought about by the recession.

The tax would cost the owners of each parcel of property $34 per year and raise an estimated $6 million to boost the district’s $80 million budget.

“We’re doing something that would be the first of its kind,” said Ron Galatolo, chancellor for the three-campus system that serves 40,000 students. “Just because someone has not done it before does not mean we shouldn’t try it.”

Mr. Galatolo said none of the money raised by the tax would go toward administration. The proceeds would be placed in a separate fund and used to restore some of the part-time faculty, whose jobs the district cut to cope with a $24 million reduction in its budget.

“I am going to bring those faculty back and put them into the classroom,” Mr. Galatolo said. “We had 14,000 students on our waiting list last fall. There is a huge demand out there for our services. We’re not providing the academic support they need because we

SB City Unified's number of poor kids ranks at top - ContraCostaTimes.com

SB City Unified's number of poor kids ranks at top

SAN BERNARDINO - The school district has more poor students than any other large school district in California, a fact that academics and district leaders say is at least partly responsible for the district's chronic low performance.

But with existing resources, it's not clear what more the San Bernardino City Unified School District can do to ease the problems poverty creates, raise student test scores and put poor students on an even playing field with their more affluent peers.

"Poverty is at least one of the components that affects how well students do in school," said Superintendent Arturo Delgado. "But that's not an indicator that kids can't learn."

Last school year, more than 45,000 students - nearly 83percent of the district's 54,727 total students - qualified for free or reduced-price lunches. The statistic is commonly used by public schools to measure poverty.

That percentage puts San Bernardino City Unified, the eighth largest school district in the state, above any other district in the Top 10, including the Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Ana and Fresno districts.

At the same time, San Bernardino City Unified also has more students attending low-performing schools than any of those districts. More than 1-in-4 San Bernardino City Unified students attends one of what the California Department of Education has ranked as the lowest-performing 188 schools in California.

Delgado said he believes those two facts are related

and that San Bernardino City Unified's poverty is partly behind its troubles.

But poverty, Delgado and others said, is a predictor of more than just financial problems.

"The poverty in the home oftentimes determines how much support a student will get at home," Delgado said. "Are there books in the home? What kind of experiences do children have in their off-time? ... The lack of resources makes a big difference."

Poor students are more likely to do poorly on standardized tests and more likely to start school with fewer skills

The Associated Press: Chinese gov't school grant divides SoCal community

Chinese gov't school grant divides SoCal community

By JACOB ADELMAN (AP) – 19 hours ago

HACIENDA HEIGHTS, Calif. — Bobby Fraker is taking a stand against what she perceives to be a sinister threat from across the Pacific, right here in her suburban Southern California community of tree-lined streets and stucco homes.

At a recent school-board meeting, Fraker and a dozen or more older, mostly white opponents of a Chinese government program that will fund a middle-school language class delivered fist-shaking denunciations.

"These children have young brains that are very malleable and they can be indoctrinated with things that America would not like," Fraker, a diminutive woman with tight auburn curls, implored board members, who approved the plan in January.

Communities across the United States, from Smithfield, R.I., to Medford, Ore., have welcomed with open palms the so-called Confucius Classroom grants from the Chinese government, like the one proposed here for Cedarlane Middle School.

But Confucius is not going down smoothly in Hacienda Heights, a middle-class town about 16 miles east of downtown Los Angeles with a history of racial tensions between longtime residents and relatively recent Chinese newcomers. Ethnic Chinese comprise the majority of the school board.

The Cedarlane student body, meanwhile, is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with three out of every five students at the school qualifying for free or reduced-price meals, a poverty indicator, according to state data.

The dustup may portend trouble for China's efforts to expand its cultural clout by bankrolling language programs in primary and secondary schools across the United States.

"I'm sure this will become a standard dispute," said University of Southern California public policy professor Nicholas Cull, who tracks China's efforts to shape its image abroad through

Budget woes hit schools hard and harder | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/25/2010

Budget woes hit schools hard and harder

By Rita Giordano and Edward Colimore

Inquirer Staff Writers

The New Jersey taxpayer revolt that led to the defeat of almost 59 percent of the school district budgets before voters attracted nationwide attention last week.

In most states, including Pennsylvania, school budgets are not put to a popular vote. But the fiscal tsunami that has swamped New Jersey - state-aid cuts, a bad economy, the end of federal stimulus aid - has rocked districts, threatening greater education cutbacks and job losses than most have ever seen.
Less than a week before residents here went to the polls, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan warned Congress of a "catastrophe unfolding across this country" in the form of stripped-down state budgets that imperil 100,000 to 300,000 education jobs.
Locally, as municipal boards take up the task of reopening district spending plans in search of more possible cuts, school officials have expressed fear of program eliminations, growing class sizes, and further teacher layoffs.
Nationally, "literally tens of millions of students will experience these budget cuts in one way or another," Duncan testified. "Schools, districts, and states that are working so hard to improve will see their reforms undermined by these budget problems."
Even in districts where state funding has not been cut, the effects of local economic ills and the end of jobs-sparing stimulus money are being felt.
Duncan urged Congress to consider another round of funding as "emergency support for America's schools."
Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa) - and 20 cosponsors, including New Jersey Democratic Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg and Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) - recently introduced the Keep Our Educators Working Act. It calls for creating a $23 billion Education Jobs Fund that could bring about $600 million to New Jersey and $900 million to Pennsylvania, according to a National Education Association analysis.
The money would spare or create more than 256,000 teaching positions in kindergarten through Grade 12 and

State superintendent race tests education reforms, union power - SGVTribune.com

State superintendent race tests education reforms, union power

By Rebecca Kimitch, Staff Writer

Posted: 04/24/2010 07:14:52 AM PDT

California residents looking for their chance to sound off on charter schools, open enrollment between districts, and other major education reforms will find an opportunity on the June ballot.

The race for the state's highest elected education official, Superintendent of Public Instruction, is shaping up to be a referendum on much-debated school reforms, as well as a test of the enduring power of California's teachers unions.

The race pits reform-minded Democrat Sen. Gloria Romero, who has long represented parts of the San Gabriel Valley, against her Democratic colleague, union-backed Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, who represents a district in the Bay Area.

"This is an early and significant test case of a Latino

Tom Torlakson (Courtesy Photo)

Democrat willing to take on the unions versus a traditional Democrat backed by the unions," said Bruce Fuller, a University of California at Berkeley professor of education and public policy.

Romero, who heads the Senate Education Committee, has been one of the biggest advocates of controversial education reforms backed by President Barack Obama, including increasing the number of charter schools and linking teacher evaluations to student performance.

She has also pushed legislation to allow parents to pull their children out of failing school districts and enroll them in other districts. And last week, over the objections of some of her Democratic colleagues, Romero helped advance a measure that would allow districts to

lay off teachers based on effectiveness, instead of just seniority, as currently allowed.

The state's teachers unions have objected, to varying degrees, to these reforms. As has Torlakson, winning him the endorsements of the California Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers, and California School Employees Association.

"He is in line with our philosophy of providing additional resources to the most struggling schools. In contrast, Romero has bought into outcome-based competition for schools, where you have schools competing. And if they perform better, they get rewarded, which takes resources away from the schools that need it most," CTA spokesman Frank Wells said.

Though Wells called Romero's relationship with the education community "adversarial," she isn't going at it alone. Romero has the support of EdVoice, a reform advocacy group with deep pockets - backed by reform-minded philanthropists as well as various Latino activists.

Romero also has significant name recognition, after having served as Senate Majority Leader, and a long history of support among Latino voters.

This gives her an edge, despite the lack of union support, according to University of Southern California

Long Beach teacher running for state's top education post - Press-Telegram

Long Beach teacher running for state's top education post

By Douglas Morino Staff Writer

Posted: 04/24/2010 08:17:38 PM PDT

Lydia Gutierrez has logged hundreds of miles traveling across the state and spent thousands of her own money campaigning.

She has given speeches on the steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento, shaken hands at Tea Party protests in San Francisco and spoken at candidate forums closer to home.

She may not have the name recognition of her competitors in the race for state superintendent of public instruction, but Gutierrez, 52, believes she has what it takes to overhaul the state's education system.

The San Pedro resident and elementary schoolteacher in the Long Beach Unified School District is among 12 candidates vying to become California's top elected leader of K-12 instruction.

The winner of the nonpartisan race will replace current state superintendent of school Jack O'Connell, who is termed out. If no candidate wins more than half the votes in the June 8 primary, the top two vote-getters will face each other in the Nov. 2 general election.

Gutierrez's platform is vast. She has addressed topics from charter schools and teachers unions to nutrition issues and vocational training. She said her main focus, if elected, would be trimming California's education hierarchy to restore school funding.

"Streamlining bureaucracy would be a step in the right direction," she said on a rec

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Ed. Sec. Zahorchak leaving to run Allentown schools | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Ed. Sec. Zahorchak leaving to run Allentown schools

by Erika Owens on Apr 24 2010

Zahorchak has served as education secretary since 2005. He also served as deputy secretary for elementary and secondary education and superintendent of the Greater Johnstown School District.Pennsylvania's Secretary of Education Gerald Zahorchak has resigned, effective May 7. On July 1 he will takeover as superintendent of the Allentown School District.

According to the AP, "Zahorchak cited initiatives to expand early childhood education and the development of Pennsylvania's first high-school graduation standards as among his top accomplishments."

Zahorchak leaves as Rendell's second term nears its end. Still in the works this spring and summer: the state is reapplying in round two for Race to the Top Fundsand Rendell faces another fight in the state senate over the state budget, which again includes an increase in funding for education.

Education | Surprise tucked into state budget bill: a panel to plan school-district mergers | Seattle Times Newspaper

Surprise tucked into state budget bill: a panel to plan school-district mergers

The state budget isn't all dollars and cents this year. Buried deep in the budget bill passed this month is a $250,000 line item to create a school consolidation commission.

By Rachel Schleif

The Wenatchee World

WENATCHEE — The state budget isn't all dollars and cents this year.

Buried deep in the budget bill lawmakers passed this month is a $250,000 line item to create a school consolidation commission. Their job: Come up with a plan to combine school districts, then recommend a list of possible mergers to lawmakers in December 2012.

The governor is poised to sign the bill into law this week.

Since learning of the proposed commission, area lawmakers, education groups and the state superintendent are demanding the governor veto that section of the bill.

The proposal started as a bill introduced by Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, in January. Under Hunt's bill, the commission's goal was to cut the state's 295 school districts to 150. There are about 30 school districts in North Central Washington.

"I thought, especially with the budget crisis, we spent something like $20 million on superintendent salaries alone in this state," Hunt said. His staff later confirmed the total topped $36 million.

Hunt questioned the necessity of close neighboring districts such as Tumwater and Olympia or Eastmont and

Capistrano teachers strike; Oakland's storm out...& we've only just begun - California's Children

Working together, putting children first.

Capistrano teachers strike; Oakland's storm out...& we've only just begun - California's Children

Capistrano teachers strike; Oakland's storm out...& we've only just begun

Negotiations between the Capistrano Unified Education Association and the Capistrano Unified School District continued today, Saturday, and the CUEA website states "At this point, there are no plans to call off the teachers strike."

Only 10% of high school students in Capistrano showed up for class on Friday as more teachers joined a strike to protest the Capistrano Unified School District's decision to permanently cut pay by 10% to close a $34 million gap (a number ironically close to the $35 million spent in the recent past on a CUSD school administration building). As reported today by My-Thuan Tran in the Los Angeles Times:

"The particularly egregious condition is that they made the cuts permanent," said Bill Guy, a communications consultant with the California Teachers Assn. who is working with the Capistrano union. "Every other district in Orange County has settled without permanent conditions. Everybody knows that some sacrifices have to be made, but we are asking the board for temporary cuts."

School board president Anna Bryson (above, on right) said that the district is strapped for money and that the state's fiscal uncertainties make the situation untenable. "There is a tsunami of financial events that every district has to deal with," she said. "Everyone has to help us with the issue...."

(Home school bloggers, meanwhile, have jumped in with suggestions for parents to keep children busy and up to speed, as even elementary school attendance is off 55%, despite the nearly 600 strike-breaking teachers hired to substitute.)

On Wednesday, "hundreds of teachers stormed out of a meeting in which the school board unanimously approved" a no-raise contract, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and on Thursday, they went on a one-day strike.

Tony smith oakland superintendent of schools

Superintendent of Oakland schools, Tony Smith (at right), said, "It is an unfortunate and sad time. Oakland teachers are among the lowest paid in the East Bay." [Oakland teachers start at about $39K and average about $55 K; San Francisco starts teadchers at $50K; there, salaries average $62K.] The Chronicle reported the district has to cut $85 million...but "will not cut salaries or benefits. Instead, dozens of teachers will be laid off, elementary class sizes will grow, and schools and programs will close."

Teachers also claim (and Superintendent Smith, says the Chronicle, does not dispute) that Oakland is out of compliance with state law that requires 55% of a school budget to be spent on classroom costs (e.g., salaries and curriculum).

Another Report from the Frontlines at CUSD’s Teacher Strike

April 23, 2010

By Dan Chmielewski

Capo strike Photo Tribune Media Another Report from the Frontlines at CUSDs Teacher Strike

Teacher Kay Serafini is comforted by sixth-grader Nikki Sadriafter after the teacher was seen crying on the picket line at Carl Hankey K-8 School in Mission Viejo. (Photo courtesy of Tribune Media)

Editor’s note: This is a front line report on today’s CUSD strike from a CUSD teacher; we’re protecting the writer’s identity so the district doesn’t go after this person onc ethe dispute is resolved. We encourage any striking teacher or CUSD parent to comment to this post and tell us what you’re hearing and how you feel about how your CUSD school board is handling this crisis.
-Dan Chmielewski
……………………
Attendance on the line was down in some ways, and up in others. Some teachers had their layoff hearings today and couldn’t be there, but on the bright side, several teachers who worked yesterday came out and struck with us today – awesome! Think about that – teachers who are under risk of being laid off are striking. This should indicate just how serious this whole strike is to the future of our profession.
It’s hard walking the line, but we’re still feeling good and spirits overall are high. Several of our teachers were interviewed by TV reporters, plus many teachers from other schools have been on the air.
Several of the scabs were aggressive with their vehicles, one trying to bump striking teachers. You can legally walk across an entryway or driveway without immediately yielding to a vehicle. After all, in driver’s education I was taught that the pedestrian always had the right of way. Some of these

VIDEO: Union turns up the heat - The ReporterNews: Serving North Penn, Indian Valley and neighboring communities

VIDEO: Union turns up the heat

MORE PHOTOS

Click thumbnails to enlarge

By: Dan Sokil

Click to enlarge

LANSDALE — The North Penn Education Association is calling in the big guns, and ratcheted up its rhetoric against the district’s school board Friday afternoon.

In an afternoon rally outside Penndale Middle School, and within shouting distance of the district’s Education Services Center, NPEA President Alan Malachowski rallied hundreds of his union’s members in favor of last week’s contract offer by a nonbinding arbitration panel.

“Always, I’m accused that I don’t speak for you, that I don’t tell you the truth and that I’m lying to you, the membership. I think there’s only one group of liars in this whole equation, and they meet right over in that building,” Malachowksi said, pointing to the ESC as teachers cheered.

Joining Malachowski and the blue-clad teachers was Jim Testerman, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), who said he stopped by to show his support for the district’s teachers.

“I’m here representing 191,000 of your colleagues across the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I’m here to remind you that this contract is not just about this

Update: Capo talks resume, recall effort bolstered | teachers, district, capistrano - The Orange County Register

Capo talks underway, recall effort bolstered

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – The Capistrano Unified School District and its teachers union resumed contract talks Saturday afternoon on Day 3 of a strike standoff, with teachers and their supporters kicking off the bargaining with a rally outside the district office.

Roughly 250 teachers, parents and students gathered outside the district office in San Juan Capistrano at 12:30 p.m. Students carried signs with slogans such as “I want my teacher back,” and others carried signs emblazoned with “Board forces strike.”

Teachers, parents and students rallied Saturday afternoon at the CUSD district office in support of the striking teachers' union. The bargaining committee kicked off a second round of negotiation Saturday.

ADAM TOWNSEND, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

MORE PHOTOS »

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Capistrano’s teachers have been walking picket lines Thursday and Friday in a strike that has crippled programs and activities across the 52,000-student district and pushed classroom attendance rates down to about 30 percent.

Jessie Klinger, 16, a sophomore at Mission Viejo’s Capistrano Valley High School, said at the rally that she wanted to get back to school because she needed to prepare for important standardized tests.

“If the teachers stay on strike, we won’t be able to take the STAR test and the AP tests,” she said.

Sherree O’Brien, a stay-at-home mom from Aliso Viejo, said that she kept her second-grade son Conor home from school Thursday and Friday. She said she wouldn’t send Conor across picket lines.

“Honestly, I don’t think they’re learning anything there,” she said of the substitute-staffed schools. “Some of the classes have 45 kids in there. We have the luxury of keeping him home – some people have to work.”

THIRD DAY OF TALKS

District and union bargaining teams have already met for the past two days – nearly nine hours in all.

At the conclusion of negotiations Friday, school board President Anna Bryson said there hadn’t been “any great progress,” though she expressed optimism that talks were continuing. Saturday’s closed-door bargaining session began at 1 p.m.

If an agreement can’t be hashed out this weekend, th

CUSD TEACHER STRIKE - The Real Story 4-23-2010

Talks set to resume in OC teachers strike | San Francisco Examiner

Talks set to resume in OC teachers strike

Orange County's second-largest school district are off for the weekend, but there's much work ahead on Saturday for district and union officials looking to end a teacher's strike.

Negotiations were set to resume Saturday afternoon as the Capistrano Unified School District strike over pay cuts saw its third day. Mediators led negotiations for most of the day Friday, but no consensus was reached.

Almost three-quarters of the 52,000 students in the South Orange County district stayed home from the district's 56 campuses on Friday.

Nearly 90 percent of the district's 2,200 instructors went on strike Thursday and Friday. About 11 percent of teachers crossed picket lines to report for work Friday, down from 12 percent on Thursday, the district said. Schools are being staffed by substitute teachers.

The Capistrano Unified Education Association, which represents the district's teachers, walked out of classrooms when the school board slashed pay by 10.1

Peeking behind the scenes at a “turnaround” school… | Reflections on Teaching

Peeking behind the scenes at a “turnaround” school…

April 24th, 2010 · No Comments · politics/policy

I realized that with all that has been going on these last few weeks, I had said explicitly what will be happening to me, and to my school. In the last week or so, some things have definitely taken a turn for the better, or have at least been decided on. So what does it look like?

I have had my pink slip “taken back” and received a letter of rescission almost four weeks ago. Most of the pink slips at our site have been taken back, due to the high number of BCLADs (bilingual certifications).
I spoke at the school board meeting about the lack of communication with our site about what would be happening, and mentioned there were many great teachers, contrary to what the popular belief may be. The district

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