News Impacting CA School Districts Through July 16
Federal News
Demand is far out pacing resources in one hot segment of the education innovation market, as districts, schools, and nonprofit organizations pitch reform proposals worth $12.8 billion for competitive grants to be awarded under the federal Investing in Innovation Fund, or “i3”—nearly 20 times what the U.S. Department of Education has available. The $650 million competition financed by the economic-stimulus package drew 1,698 applicants by the May 12 application deadline, creating a wish list that ranges from a $22,282 proposal to improve students’ writing in Connecticut’s Preston district to a $50 million plan to expand the Teach For America corps.
Sacramento News
The California State Board of Education declared an emergency in 1,000 public schools the state has designated as among the lowest performing in the state. The law sets out a timeline allowing parents to apply to transfer their children to schools in other districts by Jan. 1 preceding the school year they wish to transfer. But the state board wants the law implemented immediately, to allow students who wish to enroll in other districts by November 1, rather than the fall of 2011, as the law seemed to envisage.
As if California doesn’t have enough to deal with, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has opened up a new front in the education and political wars: He wants to abolish the office of the superintendent of public instruction.
Reforming State and Local Governance
A 17-page CalPERS sales brochure told legislators a decade ago that a major increase in state worker pension benefits would not increase state costs, but annual state payments to the pension fund have soared from $159 million to $3.9 billion since then. Contribution from school districts have grown from $0 to $1.2 billion.
School District Impacts
Just as education experts are encouraging more classroom time to improve student grades and test scores, many California districts are moving in the opposite direction by shortening their school year amid a sustained and draining budget crisis. Of the state’s 30 largest school districts, 16 are reducing the number of days in the academic year, according to a survey by California Watch. The changes are expected to affect about 1.4 million students in these districts alone.
A five-year parcel tax to generate money for San Diego schools will go before voters in November, potentially reigniting a dispute between business and labor. The parcel tax would cost single-family homeowners $98 a year. Apartment and condominium owners would pay $60 per unit. Low-income senior citizens would be exempt from the tax. Commercial and industrial properties would pay a flat yearly tax of $450 under a scaled-back version of the original plan, which would have charged nonresidential parcels based on size and development up to $25,000.
With no news on the final details of state budget, school districts like Hayward made the difficult decision to suspend preschool programs.
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