Thursday, February 4, 2010

10 amazing finalist: #1 Cathy Speck , Davis, CA

One of five in her family impacted by ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's Disease; Cathy was diagnosed only months after losing her brother to ALS. Having lost her mother to ALS at the age of 13, Cathy is well educated about the disease and has spent a lifetime coping with its devastating impact. While caretaking for her brother she began to recognize symptoms that he was experiencing in herself. Knowing that her family could not cope with losing her too, she kept her suspicions to herself.

Once diagnosed, Cathy became the biggest advocate ALS has ever seen! From teaching junior high school students to educating her co-workers at the Davis Food Co-op, Cathy shares her story with all who will listen. Honestly, it's not hard to listen either. Her spirit is kind. Her voice is soft. And her words eloquently deliver the powerful story of the disease that is so devastatingly killing her motor neurons and will ultimately lead to her passing.

Cathy knows that her days with us are limited and her biggest concern is for her wife Linda, who she is struggling with leaving behind. Federal laws don’t recognize their union, so Linda will not be able to receive her social security checks. They live in a one-bedroom apartment, have been living paycheck-to-paycheck most of their relationship (more than 16 years), and Linda has no family to support her. Cathy is also very worried about her other siblings, each of whom have a 50% chance of inheriting the gene mutation that leads to ALS.

Cathy insists that future generations of children should not have to endure the ravaging effects of ALS. Her courage and strength is unprecedented as she loses mobility with each passing day. Together with Linda, Cathy is often times found performing (music and singing are her passion). Whether it's at a local Farmers Market or a holiday party for other patients facing this disease, she uses this medium to share her words of

Cathy Speck
Davis, CA
The ALS Association

One of five in her family impacted by ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's Disease; Cathy was diagnosed only months after losing her brother to ALS. Having lost her mother to ALS at the age of 13,...

Learn more about Cathy

vote for Cathy

S.F. City College cancels summer session

S.F. City College cancels summer session:

"Thousands of students who expected to make up missed courses or simply move their education forward will have to put those plans on hold this year because City College of San Francisco is canceling its popular summer session."

The cost-cutting move has angered many students who say they were depending on summer school this year in particular because the college cut hundreds of courses during the fall and spring semesters, and they have been unable to get into basic classes they need.
"It's messed up," said Giselle Rouede, 18, who wants to be an emergency medical technician. She tried to take the EMT course in the fall, but it was full. It was full again this semester, so she planned to take it over during the summer.
"I was really disappointed," Rouede said. "If people want to be educated, they should be able to take classes."
College trustees axed the $4 million summer school program to help close a budget gap expected to top $12 million. All but some state-mandated vocational classes will vanish, leaving more than 2,000 City College students wondering what to do

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/02/04/MNGF1BS143.DTL#ixzz0ebYplLUC

Teacher pension fund lost $9 billion last year while costs rose | GothamSchools

In Albany this week, UFT President Michael Mulgrew floated a plan to save the city money by letting teachers retire earlier. But a new report on the health of the city’s teachers pension fund suggests that Mulgrew’s proposal would only compound the fund’s potentially crippling budget crunch.

The fund’s annual report, released last week, shows that it lost 29 percent of its value, more than $9 billion, last school year, even as the portion the city is required to pay reached unprecedented heights.

The mix of rising costs and declining value raises serious questions about how the city will be able to afford to pay the pensions it has promised in the future without major concessions by the teachers union.

The fund, called the Teachers Retirement System (TRS), is a collection of investments paid for with a combination of taxpayer dollars and teacher salaries. Every year a chunk of it is used to pay retired teachers and principals the pensions state law says they are owed.

Last year’s financial crisis sunk the fund to its lowest level in more than 15 years, effectively erasing all of the gains made in the past decade’s bull market, according to a database of TRS’s financial reports. Over that time span, the fund’s value, adjusted for inflation, has shrunk by more than $11 billion.

This leaves a $15 billion gap between what the fund expects to pay out in the next 30 or so years and what it will have saved by that time, according to the TRS’s preferred accounting method. Another way of calculating these “unfunded liabilities” used in the private sector puts the number even higher, at $27 billion.

“It’s not a crisis. It’s a long-run big problem: The pension system is

Sacramento Press / California Masons Team up with Sacramento Catholic School

The Freemasons of Eureka Lodge No 16 of Auburn attended St Philomene Catholic School in Sacramento on Parents Day and provided FREE Kids ID thumbprinting and photo identification for all the children. The lodge also donated free stuffed animal toys for the appreciative students, while parents received an identification sheet that includes space to record child's height, weight, eye, hair color and space for a DNA sample. This sheet will be extremely valuable to authorities if a child ever becomes missing or abducted.

The California Mason's Kids ID Program gives parents the peace of mind that they are prepared for the unthinkable. Each year approximately 725,000 children are reported missing in the United States. Since the Masons started this program, more than 800,000 California children have received this important documentation. Freemasons provide this free service in communities throughout the state.

Democrats for Education Reform: UCLA Civil Rights Projec

Democrats for Education Reform released the following statement on the newly released Civil Rights Project report on charter schools:
"The UCLA Civil Rights Project seemingly wants to block minority parents from choosing to enroll their children in better schools simply because it feels those schools aren't white enough. What's up with that?"

PTA Takes Action: Public Policy

Public Policy

PTA Takes Action

Legislative Alerts and Updates

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Current Legislation

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Capitol Hill Basics

Action Alert


President’s Education Budget Eliminates Sole Federal Parent Engagement Program

On February 1, 2010, the Obama Administration released its FY 2011 Budget Request, which included an unprecedented $3 billion increase for education. While PTA applauds the historic investment in education, we are greatly concerned about the consolidation and proposed elimination of the Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs). There is at least one PIRC in every state and territory. This program elimination affects all PTAs and parents. Under this consolidation, the sole funding stream for family engagement would be redirected to charter schools. Placing PIRCs under this fund means that there is no longer a dedicated funding stream for family engagement and PIRCs will not be able reach all families with children in public schools.

Elimination of PIRCs negatively impacts PTAs, schools and parents.

Why PIRCs matter:

They provide schools and districts with tools to effectively partner with parents.
They empower parents to advocate for their children and school reform.
They provide training and professional development on effective family engagement to districts and school staff.
They collaborate with state PTAs to engage all public school parents in their children's education.
They train family engagement coordinators in schools.
They convene parent leadership academies to equip parents with skills needed to help their children to succeed.

Annually, PIRCs served over 16.4 million parents by connecting them to their schools to improve their child's education. Parents need PIRCs. You can help! Please urge the Obama Administration, both of your Senators and Representative not to eliminate PIRCs.

Take Action

1	COMPOSE MESSAGE

Message Recipients:

Barack Obama (D), President

Your U.S. Senators

Your U.S. House Representative

Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, Secretary

Delivery Method:

Printed Letter

How to Address Corporate Political Spending After Conservative Supreme Court Ruling

In Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court late last month ruled that corporations are permitted to spend unlimited amounts of money on independent political advertising in U.S. elections. While conservatives and libertarians are cheering the ruling as a victory for free speech, many progressives are warning of a coming flood of corporate money buying elections, and pushing for a legislative response.

The Court’s ruling is simple: Laws that prohibit corporations from buying political advertising, simply because they are corporations, violate the First Amendment. Hence, the63-year-old law prohibiting corporations from making “independent expenditures” expressly advocating the election or defeat of a federal candidate, as well as the prohibition of corporate “electioneering communications,” enacted by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, were struck down.

Corporations are now permitted to spend as much as they want to say whatever they want about candidates, at any time and in any medium, provided they do not coordinate their efforts with a candidate. The Court’s holding applies with equal force to the mirror-image laws that had limited the electoral spending of labor unions.

Because the Supreme Court has the final word on whether a law violates the Constitution, Congress cannot simply undo Citizens United. Only a future Supreme Court, or a new constitutional amendment, can take political speech rights back from corporations. It is difficult to predict how much of an effect Citizens United

Spoonful of Sugar: An Equity Fund for ESEA Title I, Part A

Download this memo (pdf)

Report: Bitter Pill, Better Formula: Toward a Single, Fair, and Equitable Formula for ESEA Title I, Part A

Interactive Graphic: Title I Education Spending

It’s never easy for Congress to revise the way a popular federal program is funded, but sometimes a “formula fight” is inevitable. This may be the case for Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—also called Title I-A—which is already overdue for reauthorization. Some actors may relish a fight for its own sake, but there are constructive reasons for Congress to revisit the way Title I-A funds flow. Appropriations for Title I-A have grown by more than 60 percent in real terms since Congress last tackled this challenge in 1994, well before any accountability system tied the use of Title I-A funds to expectations, results, and consequences. It seems right and prudent to consider evidence that the program is shortchanging some schools before making further investments in it.

Current allocation patterns are hard to reconcile with the purpose of the program: to enhance the educational experience for children living in areas of concentrated poverty. Consider, for example, South Carolina’s Greenville County School District, which received $1,700 per low-income child served for fiscal year 2009, while its Calhoun County School District received only $1,266 per low-income child. Calhoun serves a higher concentration of low-income students than Greenville, so it seems clear that the four formulas currently driving Title I-A funds could better target school districts serving concentrations of low-income students. This example illustrates the formulas’ bias against small school districts. Other examples also show a bias toward wealthy states, especially those spending a relatively modest fraction of public revenue on elementary and secondary education.

"The Future Is Now" In Education Advertising - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

The following two video ads are not paid ads, nor are they endorsements of any sort. Also, The Daily Riff has no affiliation with these companies. With that being said, the commercials are good:

The first one- minute video below is from Kaplan University (a Washington Post Company and also related to the Kaplan test-prep business). What we liked was its relevance and its "the future is now" message. We saw a Kaplan ad during "Meet The Press" this weekend.

The second one-minute video below is by the New Zealand Lottery . . . just fun.
Reminds me how much I like the Kiwis (been there and is a great country).

The DC VOICE Ostrich: Community Schools Lead to Better Quality Teaching in the Classroom

Community Schools Lead to Better Quality Teaching in the Classroom

| author: The DC VOICE Ostrich

Recently, DC VOICE had a long conversation with a DCPS elementary school teacher, who by all indicators is a high quality teacher. It was a very interesting conversation, and it got us thinking. We started by asking our usual questions concerning how reform has affected schools’ operations and quality of instruction. This time here’s how the answers came back:

Did you get your books and supplies on time? Check.

Class size manageable? Check.

Building repaired? Check.

Administrative and instructional support? Yes.

Sooo…what do you need to improve the quality of your instruction?

Answer: Teachers need a range of supports for the non-academic needs of children: health care, mental health counseling, family supports. High teacher quality will not result in highly effective learning in the classroom, if these other needs are not met.

The solution to the problems that can’t be fixed with more books, spackle, and infinite professional development: community schools. How do community schools improve the quality of teaching? These are schools that have extended their hours and offer multiple services, not just to their students but to families as well. A well implemented community school model directly supports the learning process and helps make classrooms a high quality environment for both students and teachers. By partnering with one or more organizations and agencies that provide medical or social services, the community school can nurture a student’s development holistically. That can mean scheduling an eye exam for

Yale Plans Staff and Research Cuts to Close $150 Million Gap - NYTimes.com

Yale University announced on Wednesday that it planned a number of steps to close a remaining $150 million budget gap, including cutting staff, freezing salaries for deans and officers, reducing the number of graduate students — even turning down all thermostats to 68 degrees.

In a memo to the faculty and staff,Richard C. Levin, Yale’s president, and Peter Salovey, its provost, said the measures were necessary because of the drop in the endowment to $16.3 billion last June from its peak of $22.9 billion in June 2008.

“Actions taken last year eliminated more than half of the total deficit, but, as we communicated in the fall, a substantial gap of nearly $150 million remained as of last September,” they wrote. “This gap needs to be closed for the next and subsequent years.”

The memo did not specify how many staff positions would be eliminated. Last year, 100 employees, out of a work force of 9,200, were laid off because of similar financial pressures, and several hundred more positions were eliminated through attrition, said Tom Conroy, a Yale spokesman. Those cuts did not affect faculty positions; nor will the current round.

Laura Smith, president of Local 34 of the Federation of University Employees, which represents 3,400 clerical and technical workers at Yale, said the union would try to blunt the impact of any cuts on its members. “It’s disappointing over all that the university feels it has to do more cuts,” she said, noting that the union and Yale had reached agreement last April on a new contract with strong job security, eight months ahead of schedule.

Education | King County judge rules that state isn't providing ample money for schools | Seattle Times Newspaper

A coalition of parents, school districts and teachers has won its argument in King County Superior Court that the state is not providing ample funding for public schools.

King County Superior Court Judge John Erlick presided over a two-month trial that started last September. The case is the biggest lawsuit over school financing in three decades, and most expect that however Erlick were to rule, it will be appealed.

"I think this decision is just the beginning of the conversation," said University of Washington Associate Professor Marge Plecki, an expert in school finance issues.

The plaintiffs sued because they think the Legislature has failed to live up to its duty, under the state Constitution, to provide ample funding for public education, leaving districts struggling to fill the gap with local levies, grants and other means.

Washington's Constitution says the state has a "paramount duty" to make "ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders."

Few — if any — other states are charged with giving education such a high priority. However, Washington ranks 42nd in the nation in per-pupil spending.

The state's attorneys argued that the state is living up to its Constitutional duty and that it's up to the Legislature, not the courts, to determine what's ample when it comes to education.

They also say that the lawsuit is moot because state lawmakers agreed last year to expand state support for public schools, and pledged to add more than $1 billion to the state education budget by 2018.

Eduflack: Finding Value in The Flat World and Education

Eduflack: Finding Value in The Flat World and Education:

"This week's Presidential budget is further raising attention on pressing education issues such as teacher quality, closing the achievement gap, and ensuring our communities have the systems in place to drive the levels of improvement we are so desperately thinking. With all of the rhetoric, both this week and in recent years, we seem to be focusing on promising ideas without necessarily looking for the research, evidence, proof, and data that should be separating the good ideas from the great ideas.

While Eduflack seems to spend a great deal of my time talking and opining, every so often I do find the time to actually read and learn from others. And even more infrequently, I actually find what I read to be of the sort of import that I want to make sure others are aware of it, positioning the latest book or article so it is influencing the current policy discussions. Today is such a day. The book is 'The Flat World and Education: How America's Commitment to Equity WIll Determine Our Future.' And The Flat World and Education is brought to us by dear Eduflack friend Linda Darling-Hammond (who really needs no introduction)."

The Educated Guess: Report: rescind most mandated programs

The Educated Guess
Report: rescind most mandated programs
Tags: exit exam, LAO, mandates
Posted in State Budget

Recognizing schools’ financial plight, the Legislature and Gov. Schwarzenegger have given districts considerable latitude over how they can spend money for 40 programs known as categoricals. They include important programs: summer school, teacher training and textbook purchases

But when it comes to dozens of smaller, mandated programs – many unneeded – the governor and legislators have been devious. They have either allotted a token amount in the budget, creating IOUs now totaling more than $3 billion, or they have suspended the mandates year by year, creating headaches and confusion for local districts.
In a report issued this week, Education Mandates: Overhauling a Broken System, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, says, Enough. Eliminate dozens of the 51 mandated programs that are not critical, start paying back the money owed districts, and clarify the reimbursement system for ones that should be kept, such as expenditures related to the high school exit exam expenditures. Doing so would save the state more than $350 million yearly, the LAO said.
(Read more and comment on this post)

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence.

Bright and Early: The Education Newsblitz

Thanks to everyone who turned out for our fifth anniversary last night -- it was a blast! It's an honor to be part of something like VOSD. Now for the newsblitz:

We blog that a demoted Sweetwater schools official could run for school board. We also give you a rundown of how much the candidates have raised and spent on another school board race. And we report that Shelia Jackson won't run for county supervisor.
Also in our blog: How does teacher pay in San Diego compare to elsewhere? And bits that got left on the cutting room floor from my story on counseling.
The Union-Tribune reports that students at Southwestern College are worried about their school going on probation.

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