EdSource Today » Archive
San Jose Unified, teachers reach breakthrough evaluation, pay plan
The superintendent of San Jose Unified and leaders of the district’s teachers union have agreed on an innovative evaluation and compensation system that, if implemented, would be significantly different from any in California. With education groups in Sacramento and legislators still bruised over a grueling, failed effort to revise the state’s teacher evaluation law last summer, the San Jose plan offers hope that a progressive compromise on divisive issues is possible. Among the significant features in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Evaluations, Featured, Parents, Reporting & Analysis, Teacher Pay, Teacher Unions
Boards, teachers must be careful to toe the line on advocacy
The humanities professor from California State University, Monterey Bay who was sued by the conservative Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association this month for urging his students in an email to vote for the tax initiative Proposition 30 ran afoul of the state law (Government Code Section 8314) that bans the use of public resources for campaign activities. CSU acknowledged as much, calling Professor Ernest Stromberg’s message over the campus email system, which urged students not only to vote for … Read entire article »
Filed under: 2012 election, Featured, Funding and Taxation, Initiatives, Reporting & Analysis, Teacher Unions
Baron moderates discussion on “community college crisis”
EdSource senior reporter Kathryn Baron moderated a discussion for CreaTV on the current community college crisis in California. Panel members included Dr. Rita Cepeda, Chancellor of San Jose/Evergreen Community College, and Dr. Laurel Jones, President of Mission College. In addition to providing a knowledgeable overview of the challenges facing California community colleges, these experts offered an insiders view on the difficult decisions community colleges are making to address these enormous challenges. » View a video of the discussion, “The Community College Crisis,” on CreaTV San Jose » … Read entire article »
Filed under: Community Colleges, Presentations/Interviews, Quick Hits
Renewing California’s commitment to new teachers
Over the past year, I was privileged to serve on State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson’s Educator Excellence Task Force. As a native Californian and founder of a nonprofit that does extensive work developing teachers and leaders in this state, I am pleased at the Task Force’s vision for how the state can broaden educator effectiveness in districts to provide a much higher quality of education for California students. The strength of the Task Force’s … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Featured, Preparation
Report: weighted student formula alone not enough
Less experienced, lower paid teachers tend to teach in schools with the poorest children, while veteran, higher paid teachers work predominantly in schools with fewer needy children, contributing to significant funding disparities among schools within most of the state’s largest school districts. That gap wouldn’t necessarily change under the education finance reform that Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed; it might even worsen under a new formula, says Oakland-based Education Trust-West in a new school spending … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Reporting & Analysis, Revenue and taxes, Student spending, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
Corona-Norco a first-time finalist for the Broad Prize
Corona-Norco Unified School District in Riverside County will be receiving $150,000 in college scholarships as a runner-up in the 2012 Broad Prize for Urban Education. The Southern California district was one of four national finalists for the award, which was created by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation to recognize large urban school districts that have made the most progress in boosting student achievement and closing the achievement gap. The top prize of $550,000 in college scholarships went to five-time finalist Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The other two finalists this year are Houston and Palm Beach school districts. The $150,000 in scholarships is for this year’s high school seniors “who demonstrate significant financial need and who have improved their grades during high school.” During a ceremony Tuesday at the Museum of Modern Art … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Quick Hits, Systemic Change, Teacher Collaboration
School initiative’s bumpy road to the ballot box
The thicket of obstacles Governor Brown and his allies have run into in trying to convince voters to approve his initiative to raise funds for schools and the state budget underscores the extreme hazards of trying to convince California voters to raise taxes, even for a cause they’re predisposed to support. A combination of an unexpected and bitter rivalry among pro-education forces that should have been allies, greater than expected and deeper-pocketed opposition to the Brown … Read entire article »
Filed under: 2012 election, Elections, Featured, Funding and Taxation, Initiatives, Jerry Brown, Reporting & Analysis, State Budget
Romney’s right to oppose Common Core (even if wrong on facts)
Many education activists were high-fiving in September when Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney finally attacked President Obama’s signature education initiative, the Common Core State Standards. It was a long time coming, though it hasn’t quite come yet. The Common Core standards are national academic standards that will replace the often shoddy and substandard standards (if that’s not an oxymoron) of the 45 states and District of Columbia that have approved adoption. As someone who consulted for … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Common Core standards, Featured
Responses to EdSource infographic comparing Props. 30 and 38
After publishing our infographic that compares Prop. 30 and Prop. 38, we received the following responses from the campaigns and others knowledgeable about the propositions and the issues involved. Free free to add your own response to our infographic below. Response from Brad Williams, Prop. 38 campaign The infographic indicates that Prop 38 raises taxes on single filers with incomes above $7,300 or so. It is true that Prop 38 raises tax RATES on taxable income above that amount. But it doesn’t start actually raising taxes for anyone with incomes below roughly $12,000, and many taxpayers won’t pay additional taxes until their incomes get in the $30,000 to $50,000 range. The reason is the unused personal, dependent, renters’ and other credits allowed under current law, which wipes out all tax liabilities in … Read entire article »
Filed under: 2012 election, Quick Hits
Texas, California do compete – in funding race to the bottom
October 30th, 2012 | 3 Comments
By Peter Schrag / commentary ~ EdSource Extra
Steve Murdock isn’t a household name in Sacramento – but maybe he should be. Murdock is the former state demographer in Texas. This month, he testified in a trial in which hundreds of Texas school districts are suing the state for failing in its constitutional obligation to adequately fund its schools. The suit was prompted by the $5.4 billion the Legislature cut from public school funding and education grant programs last year. If that level of funding … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Featured, Funding and Taxation, Revenue and taxes, Student spending, Workforce preparation