News Impacting CA School Districts Through August 6
Federal News
The Department of Education announced a cross-section of 49 school districts, nonprofit education organizations and institutions of higher education have been selected from among nearly 1,700 applicants for potential funding under the Investing in Innovation (i3) program. To receive a share of the $650 million in i3 grants, the winning applicants must secure a commitment for a 20 percent private sector match by Sept. 8.
The U.S. Senate today approved a long-stalled measure that would provide $10 billion to prevent what supporters say would be hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs nationwide. Leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives, meanwhile, are taking the unusual step of calling for lawmakers to return from their August recess next week to pass the final version of the bill.
Sacramento News
The state Board of Education voted 9-0 to adopt the federal common core standards. By approving the national standards, the state’s application received additional points for a federal Race to the Top education grant that could be worth $700 million. Don’t expect to see changes in the classroom any time soon.
The timing of potential awards to school districts of $415 million of federal grant money late last Friday was questionable. On Monday, the state Board members sought a delay to clarify the selection process for doling out the money, which could exclude districts such as Oakland, Mt. Diablo, West Contra Costa and Los Angeles from receiving any money.
Reforming State and Local Governance
Here is an unintended consequence of term limits. Sen. Gloria Romero in an attempt to bolster her credentials for State Superintendent of Pubic Instruction sponsored legislation that identified 1,00 schools as among the lowest performing in the state. Students in those schools, for the first time, would have the right to transfer to any other school in the state, and would no longer be confined to schools in their own district. The only problem is that the list includes dozens of schools that were doing quite well, as a result of an artifact contained in the legislation which established the list. In addition, high performing school districts can reject applicants due to budgetary concerns, which most school districts are experiencing.
School District Impacts
Here is an example unintended consequences of March 15 notices and tightening budgets. In the wake of widespread layoffs, the cost of health benefits for hundreds of teachers that survived last year’s bloodbath at the Torrance Unified School District is skyrocketing.
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