Medicaid for Kids: California “Naughty;” 15 Other States “Nice” | California Progress Report

Medicaid for Kids: California “Naughty;” 15 Other States “Nice” | California Progress Report

Medicaid for Kids: California “Naughty;” 15 Other States “Nice”

by megan

Kelly Hardy
Children Now

On Monday, the federal Centers for Medicare&Medicaid Services (CMS) announced $206 million in awards to 15 states that were able to significantly boost children’s enrollment in Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California). Unfortunately, California will not receive any award money. 



The federal Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 set up two conditions for earning these performance bonuses: 1) streamlining the enrollment process, by enacting at least five of eight specific strategies, and 2) meeting ambitious targets for increasing enrollment.

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California Labor’s Top Moments of 2010

by megan

Rebecca Greenberg
California Labor Federation

It’s been a tough year on a lot of fronts. Economic recovery has been slow, and job growth has been even slower. Furloughs, layoffs and wage freezes have become all too common. Working families are being forced to do more with less, and Schwarzenegger’s devastating budget cuts have made a bad situation even worse.

But despite these hurdles, California’s unions and workers are out there every day, fighting to make our state a better place to live, work and raise a family, and we’ve accomplished some truly remarkable things over the last 12 months.

As 2010 comes to close, let’s take a look back at some of our favorite moments from the last year:

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Damn Good Education Daily

Damn Good Education Daily

Damn Good Education Daily

False data and fraudulent claims

nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com - In the movie Waiting for Superman, nominated for an Oscar as the best Documentary of 2010, the following statement is made: " ...in Illinois, 1 in 57 doctors loses his or her medical license, and 1...

leoniehaimson

Go To Hell, Mayor Bloomberg: This Is Why We’re Angry

sheepsheadbites.com - Left: The street Mayor Bloomberg lives on; Right: The street I live on Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t get it. He’s urging patience, and seems somewhat bewildered that us yokels in the outerborough...

leoniehaimson

This Week In Education: Thompson: Fact-Checking the LA Times

scholasticadministrator.typepad.com - Someone needs to introduce reporters Jason Felch et. al at the Los Angeles Times to the hyperlink concept. They are trying to soften the paper's latest attacks on teachers by praising Park Elementa...

alexanderrusso

Chicago schools confront an uncertain future

chicagobreakingnews.com - Like the menu at a potluck supper, Chicago Public Schools has a dizzying array of offerings, from classical, magnet, selective enrollment and gifted schools to charters and contract schools and car...

mikeklonsky

Inside The Times

latimes.com - Local school officials reluctantly allowed a reality television show onto campuses with promises of remodeling, then got stuck with a substandard paint job at one school and at another an embarrass...

emilyschoolsyou

Comcast May Soon Offer Low Cost Broadband Internet |

Comcast May Soon Offer Low Cost Broadband Internet

By

V_Geek

– December 28, 2010

Comcast is attempting to woo the FCC into to speeding up the merger with NBC with a consumer minded plan. In a letter that Comcast sent to the FCC, it outlined a plan of rolling out low-cost broadband to qualifying households under very strict criteria. To qualify for the $10/month option the household would need to make $20,000 or less per year AND there needs to be a child living in the home that is part of the No Child Left Behind program. So, if you don’t have any children and/or make too much money the low-cost option isn’t a possibility for you. But don’t be upset that you’re left out of the low-cost option because you may be upset over nothing. No where in the letter sent by Comcast did they say that they will go through with the plan. It wa

Charter schools don't work

Charter schools don't work

THE GAZETTE DECEMBER 29, 2010

Re: "Charter schools are the answer" (Gazette, Dec. 23).

Chris Eustace has grumpily side-swiped the Quebec English School Boards Association and universally elected school boards while offering nothing to defend his preference for charter schools, which have been shown to be expensive, exclusionary and unworkable in almost every place they've been tried.

Eustace doesn't offer much in the way of fact for reasoned debate. He and others will get their chance, however. First of all, QESBA's community-engagement plan now under discussion will invite the wider community served by our school boards to express their views and offer their solutions for improving public schooling and the governance of it.

As for the benefits of our school boards, they provide a level playing

Read more:http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Charter+schools+work/4035240/story.html#ixzz19VSudLT4

Charter schools find homes on church campuses | ajc.com

Charter schools find homes on church campuses | ajc.com

Charter schools find homes on church campuses

Setup is a financial aid for both, but critics warn of constitutional misstep

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By D. Aileen Dodd

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

On weekdays, images of Christ are covered in the classrooms at Avondale Pattillo United Methodist Church. Bibles are tucked away and crosses are stashed so public school students can learn in a neutral zone.

Enlarge photo

Vino Wong, vwong@ajc.comFulton Leadership Academy shares space inside Friendship Community Church.

Enlarge photo

Vino Wong, vwong@ajc.comPosters illustrating Old Testament stories hang inside a Friendship Community Church, where Fulton Leadership Academy students Brison Finney (left) and Kamari Smith study.

More Atlanta area news »

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To the government-supported tenant International Community School, the church is a landlord, not a gateway to salvation. The campus is safe and equipped with everything a young school needs, from offices to a cafeteria. More than 300 students pack tiny classrooms and spill onto the playground to unwind, their laughter piercing the silence of sanctity.

Another 100 kids are whisked away to learn in Stone Mountain where a second church partner has offered

More “Superman” Mendacity | DeFENSE

More “Superman” Mendacity | DeFENSE

More “Superman” Mendacity

by admin

Seriously, these people aren’t even trying anymore.

Just making it up

Leonie Haimson, the executive director of New York’s Class Size Matters, has just eviscerated the fact-checking team over at the Waiting for Superman house. It turns out that it’s ok to just spout off pseudo-facts as if they were truth…until someone actually fact-checks your story.

From Haimson’s post over at the NYC Public School Parents blog:

As a parent, I support a higher standard for teacher tenure and more rigorous teacher evaluation systems. I have seen my own children suffer as a result of poor teaching, though this has occurred as often in schools without union protections as those that were unionized. An improved evaluation

NYC Educator: Mr. Bloomberg's Neighborhood

NYC Educator: Mr. Bloomberg's Neighborhood

Mr. Bloomberg's Neighborhood

by NYC Educator

I'm struck by the simplicity of Fred Klonsky's blog post, visually contrasting Mayor Bloomberg's block, pictured at right, with that of his daughter in Brooklyn. Almost no words, yet it says everything. It's like comparing an Eva Moskowitz charter school to the public school in the rest of the building. Or comparing the vast majority of city schools to the hundred-million dollar building being prepared for charter boss Geoffrey Canada, who clearly knows Mayor Bloomberg's New York. After all, he gets a half-million a year while the principal of the most crowded public school in the city takes home a fraction of that.

And Mayor Mike made the egregious error of showing his real feelings this week. Where was that regular guy, "Mike," who appeared in his campaign commercials? Where was that character who jovially spoke the worst Spanish I'd ever heard, with no shame whatsoever? He was gone.

In his place was some character who ridiculed the struggles of everyday New Yorkers, some callous manager

Daily Kos: Cowabunga!!!

Daily Kos: Cowabunga!!!

Cowabunga!!!

by teacherken

If you are of a certain age, that word will immediately bring to mind certain images - of a freckle-faced marionette, his human companion, and the other creatures of perhaps the most important and influential children's television show ever.

On Dec 27, 1947, NBC premiered the Howdy Doody Show.

So this diary is dedicated to the immortal exchange with which each show would begin

Buffalo Bob Smith would call out, sometimes as himself, sometimes as the voice of Howdy, "Say, Kids, What

The Answer Sheet - University of Virginia reforms speech code

The Answer Sheet - University of Virginia reforms speech code

University of Virginia reforms speech code

The University of Virginia has eliminated four controversial policies that restricted the free speech of students and faculty, becoming one of a minority of schools across the country to do so. The recent decision to change the policies was led by Allen W. Groves, dean of students, who said he was alerted to the questionable policies last spring by Adam Kissel, vice president of an organization called Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, which aims to protect free speech on college campuses. The changes made at UVa:

Schools Matter: How to save more money: The California Budget

Schools Matter: How to save more money: The California Budget

How to save more money: The California Budget

by skrashen

Published in the San Francisco Examiner

How to save more money

Letters, December 28, 2010

I hope the Jerry Brown administration considers all suggestions for reducing the budget problem, including Dan Walters’ suggestion (“Closing tax loopholes could help California’s budget gap,” Friday).

Walters’ idea would save about $1 billion dollars a year. Here’s how we can save another half-billion: Eliminate