Gavin Newsom: Shake the System

Gavin Newsom: Shake the System:

"This is a tremendous opportunity to create real, long-term reform.

Let's repeal the two-thirds vote requirement to pass a budget so a few members of the minority party can't hold up the budget process and California won't have to issue IOUs. Let's consider instituting a more robust rainy day fund, so we save when times are good for those times when things aren't so good. We need to think about a multi-year budget cycle, something that will force the legislature to take a longer view when considering priorities. And it's time to give more local control to counties and municipalities - after all, they know what is best for their communities, and they should have more discretion on how to spend funds.

There is nothing that is stopping us from building a new foundation."

Sacramento State president nominated to Student Aid Commission - Sacramento Business Journal:

Sacramento State president nominated to Student Aid Commission - Sacramento Business Journal::


"The president of California State University Sacramento has been tagged to serve on the California Student Aid Commission.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appointment of Alexander Gonzalez needs state Senate confirmation. Gonzalez would serve through next October.

The commission’s mission is to make education beyond high school financially accessible to all Californians. The commission, which consists of 15 appointed members, manages financial aid initiatives such as the Cal Grant program.

“I have seen thousands of students achieve their dreams through higher education, and I look forward to working with the commission so future generations can go to college and make positive contributions to California’s culture and economy,” Gonzalez said in a news release."

Saving California - California Progress Report

Saving California - California Progress Report:

"Even the state’s leading historian, Dr. Kevin Starr, has his doubts about California’s ability to recover from its current downward spiral. Quoted in a recent article in Great Britain’s Sunday Guardian, Starr warned that California may become “America’s first failed state.”

Foreclosures have leveled suburbs from Riverside to Merced. California is home to one of every four mortgages in the country where the loan is worth more than the property.

Employment numbers have plunged even more dramatically. At 12.2 percent, the state’s unemployment rate is the highest it has been since the 1940s. In many areas of the state, the job picture is almost surreal. The central valley town of Mendota, for example, is grappling with 38 percent unemployment. Nearly 5,000 East Bay jobs will disappear in one broad stroke when Fremont’s NUMMI auto plant closes early next year.

There are other alarming crisis indicators as well. The poverty rate in Los Angeles has climbed to 20 percent. Our schools, once the backbone of California’s ingenuity and progress, are now ranked 47th out of 50 states. This, coupled with spiraling higher education costs, has resulted in a 13-percent reduction over eight years in the number of 19-year-old Californians enrolled in college."

CSU Enrollment Cuts Leave Prospective Transfer Students Uncertain - The Daily Californian

CSU Enrollment Cuts Leave Prospective Transfer Students Uncertain - The Daily Californian:

"Students looking to transfer from Berkeley City College to a CSU next school year are going to be facing an uphill battle.

All CSUs are cutting their enrollment by approximately 10 percent and campuses on the semester system have stopped offering spring admission and moved up fall application deadlines in an effort to close budget gaps and counteract overcrowding. The cuts have left many prospective transfer students worried for their futures.

Amela Alijagic, a Berkeley City College freshman who hopes to transfer to San Francisco State University and study medicine, initially attended Cal State Sacramento but was unhappy there, so she came to Berkeley to 'start over.' Now she is not sure she will get that chance."

College professor, a breast cancer survivor, will replace Moran on debate panel | Politicker NJ

College professor, a breast cancer survivor, will replace Moran on debate panel Politicker NJ:

"The addition of Lee to the debate panel potentially offers an interesting dynamic to a campaign that has seen coverage of the cost of mammograms emerge as a major issue: in 2003, Lee resigned as the journalism dean at the University of Nevada, Reno after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Her cancer was discovered early during a routine mammography. She had a partial mastectomy a month after taking her new job, and returned to the New York area to be closer to her family during her radiation treatments. She joined William Paterson in 2007.

Prior to her career in education, Lee was CNN's first New York correspondent. She also worked as a reporter for ABC and CBS local affiliates in Sacramento, Chicago and Philadelphia. She chairs the William Paterson University Communications Department."

CSUB faculty question administrator numbers - Bakersfield.com

CSUB faculty question administrator numbers - Bakersfield.com:

"This year CSUB employs 71 administrators, compared to 57 in 2002, according to the university. That's a 25 percent jump.

Faculty numbers have decreased from 550 to 465, or 15 percent, in that time.

Over seven years, full-time student enrollment has grown slowly, by about 400 students, to 6,948 in 2008."

Governor Schwarzenegger takes on tax reform in California for the 21st Century Economy | The Gov Monitor

Governor Schwarzenegger takes on tax reform in California for the 21st Century Economy The Gov Monitor:

"The people elected me to fix what was broken in Sacramento. Together, we have tackled the big issues, whether it is workers’ compensation, infrastructure, redistricting or the budget.

Now, we have a historic opportunity to reform another broken system and help unleash a new wave of prosperity across our state.
California’s tax system was created nearly 100 years ago, before the Great Depression. It is outdated and antiquated, and no longer works in our technology and information-based economy.
That’s why last October, I joined Democrat and Republican leaders to form a bipartisan Commission on the 21st Century Economy."

Education Week: States Stung by Criticism on Use of Stimulus Aid

Education Week: States Stung by Criticism on Use of Stimulus Aid:

"Several states are defending their use of federal stimulus money after receiving an official scolding from the U.S. Department of Education’s internal watchdog.

The memorandum issued by the department’s inspector general pointed to Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania as examples of how states are undermining the school improvement aims of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in their use of fiscal-stabilization funds to avert or minimize cuts to their education budgets."

Education Week: Education Secretary Leads Chorus Calling for Big City-Hall Role

Education Week: Education Secretary Leads Chorus Calling for Big City-Hall Role:

"The troubles that plague many local school boards prompt some observers to throw up their hands. But when it comes to big-city districts, there’s a popular remedy that continues to gain momentum: mayoral control.

This governance arrangement sidelines school boards, for the most part, in favor of a strong chief executive handpicked by the mayor."

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who for seven years ran Chicago’s public schools under Mayor Richard M. Daley, is using his bully pulpit to aggressively promote the approach as a necessity for reversing decades of abysmal academic performance in some cities. In a speech to mayors and school superintendents last spring, in fact, Duncan said he would consider his time as education secretary a “failure” if more mayors didn’t take over city school systems by the end of his tenure.

Education News & Comment

Education News & Comment:

"“Two people working together who have the best interest of the child in mind
lead to better outcomes for students.”

Parent-Teacher Conferences:
Oct 23 – Nov 24, 2009

ELEMENTARY SHORTENED DAYS
Check with your school"

U.S. Standards Initiative Seeks to Equalize Benchmarks - washingtonpost.com

U.S. Standards Initiative Seeks to Equalize Benchmarks - washingtonpost.com:

"The opening of Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice.' Toni Morrison's 1993 Nobel lecture. Walt Whitman's poem 'O Captain! My Captain!' The Declaration of Independence. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'Letter From Birmingham Jail.'

Those were among a handful of texts chosen to illustrate proposed standards for skills and knowledge that every high school graduate should have in English language arts.
And that should be the cue for another 'great works' debate. Every so often, educators, politicians, parents, students and those who care about schools will tussle over lists of works deemed essential (or not) for a culturally literate young adult. It gets especially fierce when the nation's academic reputation is perceived to be at stake."

‘Mama’ Shines Her Light - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

‘Mama’ Shines Her Light - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos:

"In its Editor’s note, NAM wrote: “In early September, on schoolyards and in hallways across the country, the same excited, anxious question rings out: ‘Who’d you get?’

“While parents and politicians worry about crumbling facilities and decimated budgets, students know that the heart of education beats inside the individual teacher. More than spacious playgrounds or sparkling cafeterias; more, even, than top-notch textbooks and state-of-the art computers, it’s the teacher who makes the difference. When NAM asked young people in our youth communications programs to write about the one teacher who’d really made a difference, they barely had to think before the keys were flying. This collection of pieces was underwritten by a project funded through the California Teachers Association.”)"

Sweetwater teachers rally for a contract | SocialistWorker.org

Sweetwater teachers rally for a contract SocialistWorker.org:

"CHULA VISTA, Calif.--One day after an estimated 1,000 members of the Sweetwater Education Association (SEA), the California Teachers Association and the National Education Association, rallied along with students, parents and community members in front of the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) building, a tentative agreement was reached between the district and SEA bargaining teams.

On October 7, protesters marched in South Bay San Diego to confront the SUHSD, which had failed to bargain a union contract in good faith for well over a year. The rally picked up steam when a large group of students, gathered next to the building opposite where SUHSD administrators were holding a 'fact finding' meeting, started chanting on behalf of their teachers: 'What do we want? A contract! When do we want it? Now.'"

Inland educators not counting on federal stimulus dollars, despite governor's effort | Inland News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

Inland educators not counting on federal stimulus dollars, despite governor's effort Inland News PE.com Southern California News News for Inland Southern California:

"California could get about $500 million out of the $4.3 billion up for grabs in the federal Race to the Top education program, said David Sanchez, president of the California Teachers Association. The state had cut about $4.5 billion from the education budget for kindergarten through community college because of the fiscal crisis.

'If we were talking about significant money, we would probably be more excited about it,' Sanchez said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday signed into law Senate Bill 19, which allows student performance on standardized tests to be used in evaluating teachers and principals -- previously prohibited in California. States with such bans are prevented by federal rules from applying for the stimulus money."

Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, a former Cal and NBA star, robbed in San Francisco - San Jose Mercury News

Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, a former Cal and NBA star, robbed in San Francisco - San Jose Mercury News:

"SAN FRANCISCO — Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, former Cal and NBA star, was reportedly robbed on the streets of San Francisco over the weekend, KCRA-TV in Sacramento is reporting.

In a post on his blog, Johnson said he was near Union Square helping an elderly man get into a cab when someone stole his garment bag.
Johnson, former NBA All Star, said he lost a suit, a pair of shoes and some personal items.

'Not the end of the world, but frustrating,' Johnson wrote. 'The real crime was the vulnerability of it all, the idea that I could leave my bag on a crowded street, turn my back for 30 seconds and have my stuff stolen.'"

Helpless Mayor Blames School Violence On Parents, Feds (Again) - District 299

Helpless Mayor Blames School Violence On Parents, Feds (Again) - District 299:

"Then Mayor Daley came on and blamed everything on family problems, privacy laws, and...well, anyone but himself. There is no violence problem...or if there is it's not his fault. It was an amazing performance. Completely self-serving and convenient, full of false indignation and distractions. You'd think he wasn't mayor.

Gayle read a letter from a CPS teacher (good job!) that says 'Fenger is just a microcosm of what occurs every day in some CPS schools and in schools nation-wide. Reform after reform has yet to provide many of our children with some education foundation that is badly needed.'

Daley's response was to defend the principal of Fenger and assert that there was no real violence problem in the schools. Which would be an appropriate defense if it were true and if Daley weren't in charge of the schools AND the streets.And would be more believable if there hadn't just been a violence summit."

Privatize nonteaching services in schools | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Privatize nonteaching services in schools detnews.com The Detroit News:

"If all school privatization opportunities were realized, it would save hundreds of millions of dollars, dwarfing a $165 per-pupil foundation grant cut on the table in state budget negotiations. For example, Richmond Public Schools expects to save $823,545 annually from contracting out custodial services -- an effective per-pupil funding increase of $435.

Wyoming-Godwin Heights schools will save $69 per pupil, and Troy $14 by privatizing food service. And Benton Harbor Area Schools projects annual savings equal to $113 per pupil by privatizing transportation."

California Chronicle | Governor Signs Simitian's Education Data Bill, Ensuring Access to Federal Funds

California Chronicle Governor Signs Simitian's Education Data Bill, Ensuring Access to Federal Funds:

"State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O´Connell praised the new law as a win for reform efforts. 'The ´Race to the Top´ competition has the potential to usher in a period of bold and far-reaching structural reform of our nation´s K-12 public education system,' said O´Connell. 'Senate Bill 19 will help California move more quickly into having the right conversation about how to use data to make informed and targeted decisions that will have a great impact on improving student achievement.'"

Sarkozy aims to reform French schools, avoid protest - Forbes.com

Sarkozy aims to reform French schools, avoid protest - Forbes.com:

"Education reform is a difficult balancing act for Sarkozy, who does not want to appear weak by backing down on a hot button issue but who is wary of unleashing a new round of demonstrations that could undermine his authority."

The Associated Press: Del. 1st grader faces reform school for camp tool

The Associated Press: Del. 1st grader faces reform school for camp tool:

"NEWARK, Del. — A Delaware first-grader who wanted to eat lunch at school with his favorite camping utensil, a combination of folding fork, knife and spoon, now faces 45 days in reform school.

Hundreds of people were expected to attend a school board meeting Tuesday evening to object to the suspension of 6-year-old Zachary Christie from Downes Elementary School for bringing the camping utensil from home.

The folding knife is banned as a dangerous instrument under the Christina School District's zero-tolerance policy in the student code of conduct and officials said they have to act regardless of his age or what he planend to do with the instrument.

Zachary's mother, Debbie Christie, is appealing her son's suspension and said she'd prefer that the district's policy take into consideration a child's age and intent."