For-profit companies will be banned from running charter schools in California if Gov. Jerry Brown signs a hard-fought bill that won final approval from the state Legislature on Thursday. The proposal is the latest of several attempts to crack down on what critics say amounts to profiteering at the expense of children and taxpayers, the…
Monthly Archives: September 2018
Torlakson forms team to update charter school law
September 14, 2018
It’s 26 years old and needs a tune-up. Perhaps even an overhaul. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced that he has created a panel to review the 1992 law governing California charter schools. The California Charter School Act has had few changes and little top-to-bottom review since it was enacted, Torlakson noted in…
Community college adopts a New York model that doubled graduation rates
September 14, 2018
CA is looking outside its borders for a proven approach to improving community college completion. Though the state budget has increased spending on the community college system by $2.6 billion since 2011, the system has fallen short of its goals for student graduation. As of 2017-18, less than a tenth of its students who seek…
California has big void in educational information
September 14, 2018
Knowledge, it’s been said, is power. The more you learn about something that affects you, the more you can influence that something. It’s especially true in politics, whose insiders joust constantly among themselves and with outsiders, including the media and the voting public, over access to information. One of California’s more important arenas of info-war…
What’s wrong with California?
September 14, 2018
An opinion by Steve Rees, president of SchoolWise Press At the annual conference hosted by the National Center for Education, it was stated that learning is the outcome for attendees. This is only possible because state agency leaders are ready to swap stories about their efforts to gather evidence about how schools are doing, make…
Deadline for bus safety alert systems to be extended
September 14, 2018
Local educational agencies who have struggled to meet new safety requirements on school buses will be given more time to comply, under a bill pending in the Legislature. After the death of a student with special needs who had been left unattended on a school bus, lawmakers adopted mandates on districts to install alarm systems…
Renewable diesel grows in popularity for school buses
September 14, 2018
Transportation directors at Vista Unified School District and Eugene School District 4J in southwest Oregon share why they made the decision to switch to renewable diesel for their fleets of school buses. Hesitant at first, both of the administrators at those districts are pleased with the change. The switch was easy because they could begin…
As it grapples with how to deal with its ongoing budget difficulties, one of the state’s more financially troubled districts Wednesday considered a plan that could result in hundreds of staff, including many teachers, being laid off. In the next few months, Oakland Unified officials will meet with employee unions to identify up to 340…
LA Unified board members were jolted last month when a top LACOE official showed up unannounced to tell members they were spending more money than they made and the savings account is about to run out. It got worse this week, when she returned and brought a top state official with the same message. The…
Developer fee issues? Valuable info presented to LACOE group by EH&A
September 14, 2018
The LACOE Facilities Network group held their monthly meeting this week and EH&A president Eric Hall was the featured speaker. The impressive group heard Eric’s thoughts on developer fees and how to help districts get more than the usual statutory fee. He also showed them the unique flexibility that is possible in a developer fee…