LAO: Don’t tie budget to voters | Thoughts on Public Education

LAO: Don’t tie budget to voters | Thoughts on Public Education

LAO: Don’t tie budget to voters

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Leg analyst also opposes plan to cut CALPADS

Posted on 5/20/11 • Categorized as Uncategorized

By Kathryn Baron

Mac Taylor smiled a lot on Thursday during his press conference to discuss Gov. Brown’s May budget revise. The State Legislative Analyst was in the unusual position of agreeing with quite a bit of the spending proposal. “We think it has many positives,” said Taylor, and gave the governor “credit for a budget that addresses the operating shortfall we’ve been struggling with.”

Specifically, the Leg Analyst called the plan to pay down school deferrals with the unexpected tax revenues a “wise use of the funds,” adding that “we would commend him for that proposal.” Brown’s revised budget plan would use $2.5 billion of the increased Proposition 98 guarantee to rescind an upcoming $2.2 billion deferral and to start paying down those already accrued. The Legislative Analyst’s Office report, Overview of the May Revision, also

NYC Educator: UFT to the Rescue?

NYC Educator: UFT to the Rescue?

UFT to the Rescue?

by NYC Educator

In Long Island City High School Wednesday night, there was a PEP meeting. I was very surprised when Chancellor Dennis Walcott got up and spoke of a UFT lawsuit. Walcott decried the timing of the lawsuit, citing the inconvenience it would cause kids planning to go to school in September. This was the first I'd heard of it.

Now Walcott is absolutely correct that this suit will inconvenience the kids. Of course, closing their schools didn't exactly help them very much either. If Walcott is truly concerned about these kids, he can simply stop closing schools, start fixing them, and the mean old UFT will leave him alone.

Meanwhile, I know for a fact the city is doing nothing to help closing schools. They send people who give ridiculous useless criticism and pay them big bucks, while improving facilities only in parts of

Schools Matter: How to reduce the dropout rate

Schools Matter: How to reduce the dropout rate

How to reduce the dropout rate

by skrashen

Sent to the Daily Breeze (California), May 20

Thomas Elias warns us that the dropout rate is higher than we think it is, and that we need to know the true dropout rate so that schools can take appropriate action ("State dropout reports whitewash local schools," May 19).

But the figures presented to the public overestimate dropout rates because they are based on four-year completion of high school. This means that students with the perseverance to graduate in more than four years, or who get GEDs, are counted as dropouts. These late completers, most of whom have to work at least part-

An Invitation to the Save Our Schools March and Rally, July 28-31

by Jim Horn

From TeacherSabrina:

Just in case you need a formal invitation, here it is. (We can’t help you decide between the chicken or the fish, but we’re happy to help you choose between top-down education reform and real reform!)

We’re just two and a half months away from the main event! As we start making final plans for things like Port-o-Potties, audio/visual equipment, and the like, we need to get a sense of who’s coming. Help us get a head count by taking 30 seconds to click here and RSVP as soon as you can. When you’re finished, tweet or share it on Facebook (and consider making a tax-deductible donation to help defray some of the costs of the event– we really appreciate it).

In Solidarity,
The Save Our Schools March Organizing Committee

School Tech Connect: Henry Bayer on Chicago Tonight

School Tech Connect: Henry Bayer on Chicago Tonight

Henry Bayer on Chicago Tonight

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

Henry Bayer kicked ass in this recent episode of Chicago Tonight, by the way. I skipped right to the part where the Civic Federation guy finally stops talking and Henry starts telling the truth. (about 9:20)



Just to summarize--- even Laurence Msall agrees that the teachers have been paying their share. The problem is that the state has not paid its. He seems to think the taxpayers are these Innocent Abroad-types who've been

More Boneheaddery

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

Another bad idea.

In education, it's all the rage to be furious when your school idea is turned down. Just go around the elected board--- invent an appointed panel to get your way. Seriously, we don't need any elected bodies at all, just

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On that lost highway -- the Pennsylvania Turnpike

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On that lost highway -- the Pennsylvania Turnpike

On that lost highway -- the Pennsylvania Turnpike

by Mike Klonsky

Headed east on the Turnpike, I'm hearning plenty about the devastation to public education now taking place under the banner of "reform". Massive cuts to the education budget, firings of teachers and increased class sizes are expected to reverse many, if not all gains schools may have made in the past few decades.

A survey of Pennsylvania school districts released Thursday suggests teacher layoffs, instructional program cuts and tax increases beyond inflation are increasingly likely if Gov. Tom Corbett's cut of more than $1

14 D.C. classrooms investigated for test irregularities - USATODAY.com

14 D.C. classrooms investigated for test irregularities - USATODAY.com

14 D.C. classrooms investigated for test irregularities

By Marisol Bello, USA TODAY

Updated 24m ago |

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Washington, D.C., school officials are investigating 14 classrooms for irregularities on standardized tests this year, part of heightened scrutiny after controversy over possible cheating.

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  By Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

  A probe of testing found a security violation at Noyes Education Campus.

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By Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

A probe of testing found a security violation at Noyes Education Campus.

The incidents range from suspicions that teachers helped students with their answers to an instance of a student finishing the test in 20 minutes because he recognized it from another class.

School officials also tossed out the 2010 test scores in three classrooms after an investigation found a security violation in one classroom at Noyes Education Campus and irregularities in a classroom at two other public elementary schools.

The move follows a USA TODAY report that found 103 schools — more than half of D.C.'s public schools — with unusually high rates of wrong answers erased and

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Ownership Society News

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Ownership Society News

Ownership Society News

by Mike Klonsky

Bennett

K12 Inc. buys Inc.'s high school online program

Kaplan has been the Washington Post's main profit center. But in the past year, the company has been riddled with student loan scandals and mismangement. Kaplan remains one of the biggest testing companies and has a distance-learning component which makes it compatable with the Republican connected K12 Inc. Kaplan Virtual Education, which provides online education for grades six through 12, bought Insight Schools Inc. from Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) in February. It is now selling that brand, as well as the schools branded under Kaplan Virtual Education, to K12.

"While our experience in online learning made the Insight Schools an attractive acquisition with long-term potential, we determined that the timing was not right for us to devote intensive energy and resources to this initiative right now," a Kaplan spokesman said in an emailed statement. "Exiting this business will enable us to focus on our core businesses of higher education and test preparation." -- WSJ

K12 has been expanding rapidly, using it's political connections to win lucrative contracts, as online schooling

Families vs. Schools: The High-Stakes Battle over Special Ed Services - The Bay Citizen

Families vs. Schools: The High-Stakes Battle over Special Ed Services - The Bay Citizen

Families vs. Schools: The High-Stakes Battle over Special Ed Services

Parents take legal action against San Francisco school district over federally mandated support

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By TREY BUNDY on May 19, 2011 - 5:59 p.m. PDT

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Adithya Sambamurthy/The Bay Citizen

Russell Huerta, with his son Sebastian, 3, who has autism. Huerta and his wife took legal action against the San Francisco district over Sebastian’s education.

In October, after months of anxiety, Caroline Barwick and her husband, Russell Huerta, celebrated the arrival of their son Sebastian’s third birthday.

It was the day the San Francisco Unified School District became legally responsible for addressing Sebastian’s severe autism.

Barwick and Huerta met with school clinicians to discuss their son’s education and treatment. But the meeting did not go as they had hoped — the district offered Sebastian fewer than half of the therapeutic services recommended by three private doctors and did not offer a choice of schools.

“You’re reeling from what’s already been a tragic diagnosis,” Barwick said, “then it’s almost like you’re slapped across the face.”

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The couple took legal action against the district. Last week, an administrative law judge criticized the district for its handling of the case and ordered it to reimburse

Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/12su4)

El Departamento de Educación tiene una línea de ayuda - Univision Vida y Familia

El Departamento de Educación tiene una línea de ayuda - Univision Vida y Familia

El Departamento de Educación tiene una línea de ayuda

Fecha: 22/03/2010

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Univision.com

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El Departamento de Educación de Estados Unidos ha puesto a disposición del público hispano una línea de ayuda:800-USA-LEARN o el 800-872-5327. La línea de ayuda está disponible para padres y estudiantes de lunes a viernes de 9:00AM a 5:00PM/ET.

Si desea contestación a sus preguntas más rápidamente puede consultar el buzón de preguntas y respuestas a:http://respuestas.ed.gov/