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Bill would require school districts to clarify the role of campus police
Unlike most school safety legislation introduced after the Newtown shootings, which called for increased security measures and beefing up school police forces, a bill by one California assemblyman takes a different tack: It seeks to limit the police role on school campuses. Concerned about an overreaction to the shootings, Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, introduced Assembly Bill 549, which would encourage school districts to clarify the roles of school police, limiting them to handling dangerous or physically … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discipline, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Legislature, Bills, Reporting & Analysis, School Safety
As legislators debate adult ed proposal, Oakland reinstates its program
The Oakland school board has called off plans to shutter its adult education programs, voting Wednesday to fund the programs for at least one more year. The board’s unanimous vote allocates $1 million next year for the 142-year-old adult education program, the second-oldest and once the fifth-largest in the state. The program, now a shadow of its former self, became the poster child of the movement to save K-12 adult schools after the board voted earlier … Read entire article »
Filed under: Adult education, California Colleges, Career Technical Education, College and Career Preparation, Community Colleges, Jerry Brown, Legislature, Bills, Reporting & Analysis, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula), Workforce preparation
Bill aims to help expelled and truant students get back on track
The purpose of a complicated bill aimed at preventing students from languishing in alternative schools became much clearer after the testimony of a former student who got stuck in one. Jessie Camargo, now 18, was transferred to a community school two weeks before his eighth grade graduation. That summer he completed all the requirements set by his district, which included drug and alcohol counseling classes, 140 hours of community service, and an anger management class, but … Read entire article »
Filed under: Absence, Truancy, Discipline, Dropout prevention, Equity issues, Featured, Governance, High School Completion, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Legislature, Bills, Reporting & Analysis
Bonds would fund business investment in schools under Steinberg proposal
The leader of the California State Senate says the way to encourage more and stronger bonds between industry and education is through, well, bonds. With California facing a shortage of qualified workers for 21st century jobs, Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg wants to entice businesses to become more involved in job training by asking them to invest in a new type of school bond that would fund programs that infuse career education into traditional academic courses. Businesses … Read entire article »
Filed under: Career Technical Education, College and Career Preparation, Community Colleges, Featured, Internships, Service Learning, Legislature, Bills, Multiple pathways, Multiple Pathways, Partnership Academies, Reporting & Analysis, Twenty-first Century Learning, Workforce preparation
Bill restricting ‘willful defiance’ for suspending students moves ahead
With new data showing that more than half of all suspensions and a quarter of expulsions in California schools are for “willful defiance” of school authorities, the Assembly Education Committee voted 6-0 on Wednesday to move forward a bill that would restrict the use of the vague category by school administrators. Assemblymember Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, who introduced Assembly Bill 420, said that current law enumerates 23 other reasons why a student can be suspended or expelled, yet … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discipline, Equity issues, Featured, Governance, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Legislature, Bills, Race, Ethnicity, Reporting & Analysis, Students
Teacher dismissal bill off and running with committee approval
A bill intended to make it quicker and less costly to dismiss teachers received a 7-0 approval from the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday, and its author – the chair of the committee, Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo – received much praise from her colleagues for taking on a contentious issue. Unanimous passage of AB 375, without opposition in public testimony, does not necessarily mean the bill will face a conflict-free path to Gov. Brown’s desk, however. The California Teachers Association, which adamantly opposed an alternate version that died in the same committee last year, has tentatively supported Buchanan’s bill. But its State Council meets this weekend and may recommend amendments. Those advocating a stronger version will suggest technical amendments to ensure that the bill meets its goal of a dismissal process taking … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Legislature, Bills, Quick Hits
In meeting of the minds, CTA also backs teacher dismissal bill
With unusual speed, the California Teachers Association on Friday endorsed a bill Assemblymember Joan Buchanan introduced three days ago that would quicken the process for dismissing teachers. The teachers association joins Sen. Alex Padilla, who is dropping his own dismissal bill in support of Buchanan’s, thus creating a consensus among opposite sides of one of the most contentious issues last year in the Legislature. The teachers union also supports another bill by Buchanan, D-Alamo, that would require school staff to receive annual training on their obligations to report suspected child abuse. “CTA supports these bills because they provide immediate protections for students and streamline and shorten the dismissal process to ensure charges are handled fairly and in a timely manner,” the union said in a statement. “We commend Assembly Education Committee Chair Joan … Read entire article »
Filed under: Legislature, Bills, Quick Hits, Teachers
Ed Committee backs crackdown on interest-deferred bonds
Despite opposition from several education organizations, the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday voted 6-0 for a bill that would severely restrict school districts’ ability to float construction bonds that would saddle future taxpayers with huge balloon payments. These financial instruments are known as capital appreciation bonds, or CABs, and they have become common over the past decade. By deferring payments on the bonds for sometimes decades and extending the term of the bonds to 30 or … Read entire article »
Filed under: California Colleges, Facilities, Featured, Legislature, Bills, Reporting & Analysis
Assembly committee rejects moving adult ed to community colleges
In a clear message to Gov. Jerry Brown, an Assembly subcommittee voted unanimously Tuesday to reject his proposal to shift responsibility for adult education programs from K-12 districts to community colleges. The bipartisan 4-0 vote, with one subcommittee member absent, followed a flurry of pink slips issued by school districts to adult educators last week. The vote was also meant as a message to school districts considering abandoning their adult ed schools that the Assembly supports current … Read entire article »
Filed under: Adult education, College and Career Preparation, Funding and Taxation, Jerry Brown, Legislature, Bills, Reporting & Analysis, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
Questions surround bill proposing online course network at colleges
California could lead the charge in developing a network of online public college courses open to all students enrolled in the University of California, California State University and the California Community College system. Senate Bill 520, introduced by Senate president pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), would allow the thousands of students shut out of required classes due to budget cuts to enroll in an online version of the course in order to stay on track to … Read entire article »
Filed under: California Colleges, College Completion, College Enrollment, Community Colleges, Featured, Jerry Brown, Legislature, Bills, Reporting & Analysis, UC and CSU
Video Highlights from
2013 EdSource Symposium
Transforming Public Education: What's Next For
Students, Teachers and Schools
- In Partnership with the California State PTA -
May 4th symposium in San Jose featured a number of prominent speakers on key challenges in education today, including Linda Darling-Hammond, Martha Kanter, and Pedro Noguera.
You can find video of those speakers and more at our new YouTube channel by clicking below.
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