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Brown commits $1 billion for Common Core, sticks with funding formula
Gov. Jerry Brown proposed Tuesday to direct all of the extra $2.8 billion in revenue that the state expects to receive this year to K-12 schools and community colleges, mostly for one-time uses, including $1 billion to implement the Common Core standards. There had been projections of even more money this year, but in a news conference releasing his May budget revise, Gov. Jerry Brown tempered expectations; the drag of federal tax changes, sequestration of federal spending … Read entire article »
Filed under: Categorical Funding, Common Core standards, Equity issues, Featured, Funding and Taxation, Jerry Brown, Poverty, Proposition 98, Reporting & Analysis, Revenue and taxes, Student spending, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
School funding will be focus, source of contention, of Brown’s revised budget
Democrats in the Legislature may find themselves at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on two issues that will factor large when Brown reveals his revised state budget Tuesday: how to spend billions in unanticipated revenue and how to reshape Brown’s sweeping plan for funding K-12 education. As of now, the state is on target to collect $4.5 billion more than expected in personal income taxes, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. Democratic leaders in the Legislature … Read entire article »
Filed under: Equity issues, Featured, Foster care, Funding and Taxation, Poverty, Poverty, Proposition 98, Reporting & Analysis, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
Voters favor extra funds for poor students but not English learners
A majority of Californians support Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to provide additional funding to districts with more low-income and English learner students, according to a newly released poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. Of 1,705 adults interviewed, the PPIC’s ninth annual survey of Californians and education, released late Wednesday, found that among all adults, 71 percent support the governor’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). However, approval drops to 60 percent among likely voters. Responses also vary by political affiliation, race/ethnicity and income, with 80 percent of Democrats favoring the plan – nearly twice the rate of Republicans; more Latinos support it, as do families earning under $40,000 per year, who would be more likely to benefit from the change. However, when asked about each group separately, only 40 percent of likely … Read entire article »
Filed under: English learners, Featured, Jerry Brown, Poverty, Quick Hits, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
Cities and schools collaborate on summer programs
It may still be chilly outside, but that’s not stopping school districts from planning for summer. Some districts that want to increase their summer offerings are stretching their dollars through collaborations with cities, corporate funders and foundations. “Superintendents are beginning to think about what they can do with Proposition 30 funds, what they can do when the economy gets better,” said Katie Brackenridge, senior director of Out-of-School Time (OST) initiatives for Partnership for Children and Youth, a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Poverty, Reporting & Analysis, Summer Programs
Debunking mediocre performance of U.S. students
The conventional wisdom that American students lag far behind top performers like Finland and South Korea in academic achievement is oversimplified. A new study out today by researchers at Stanford University and the Economic Policy Institute finds that comparisons of scores on international tests fail to adequately consider social and economic differences. “If the social class distribution of the United States were similar to that of top-scoring countries, the average test score gap between the United … Read entire article »
Filed under: College and Career Preparation, Featured, Poverty, Reporting & Analysis, Standardized tests, Twenty-first Century Learning, Workforce preparation
Federal cuts to education left unresolved
Congress’ New Year’s Day drama, ending a stalemate over extending tax cuts for all but the wealthy, delays rather than resolves an across-the-board 8.2 percent decrease in federal education spending. That’s the spending piece of the “fiscal cliff” that Congress decided to put off deciding until early March. For California districts, that means a two-month reprieve from facing potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in funding cuts to special education programs and Title I aid for … Read entire article »
Filed under: Disabilities education, Featured, Poverty, Reporting & Analysis, Title I
Vast inequality lurks behind mind-numbing data on school spending
School finance has the power to bring tears to my eyes. Sometimes, when I am reading the latest School Services of California bulletin, I start squinting. Then I start yawning. Then, before I know it, I’m squinting and yawning simultaneously, causing my eyes to water. When I see the words “revenue limit,” I begin looking for a pillow. The explanation of the difference between a “Test 1” and a “Test 2” year for calculating Proposition … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Featured, Funding and Taxation, Poverty, Proposition 98, Student spending, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
Success comes from grit – and plenty of helping hands along the way
“Grit” is getting a lot of attention these days, due in large part to an excellent new book by Paul Tough, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Power of Character. Psychologists define grit as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” Research suggests that when it comes to high achievement, grit may be as essential as intelligence. That’s an exciting finding because while the intelligence that can be measured on an IQ test is resistant … Read entire article »
Filed under: Achievement Gap, College Completion, College Loans, Grants, College Remediation, Commentary, Equity issues, Featured, Poverty
Stark education differences in presidential race, say surrogates
Education has not exactly been at the forefront of the presidential campaign. It received far less than even 15 minutes of fame during the first debate, but stand-ins for President Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney explored it in depth last night in a debate that revealed sharp philosophical and policy differences between the two candidates. Jon Schnur, President Obama’s surrogate, co-founded America Achieves and New Leaders for New Schools. Phil Handy, Gov. Romney’s stand-in, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, No Child Left Behind, Poverty, Poverty, Reporting & Analysis, School Choice, Special Needs, Title I, Turning around failing schools, U.S. Education Policy
Look under a different lamp post for keys to fix our schools
November 15th, 2012 | 3 Comments | By Seth Rosenblatt / commentary
There’s the old joke about a man crawling on his hands and knees late at night under a lamp post, looking for keys he lost two blocks away, because, as he tells a police officer, “the light is better here.” I was reminded of this story recently listening to a panel about what was wrong with the U.S. education system. Of course there are many problems, including the poor way we recruit, hire, evaluate, and pay … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Equity issues, Featured, Poverty, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)