In This Issue:
 |
| • |
Darling-Hammond: CALIFORNIA TEACHERS LEAD WAY IN STRESS LEVELS + smf’s 2¢ |
|
| • |
OUTSIDE/INSIDE/NO INTEREST@ALL?: 2 attempts at sanity from Steve Lopez + UCLA/IDEA |
|
| • |
HUGE
SPENDING GAPS BETWEEN SCHOOL DISTRICTS, STUDY FINDS: South San
Francisco spends less than $7K per student, across the bay Sausalito
spends $29K |
|
| • |
THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN COULD LOSE HEAD START SERVICES UNDER SEQUESTRATION |
|
| • |
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but
not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources |
|
| • |
EVENTS: Coming up next week... |
|
| • |
What can YOU do? |
|
Featured Links:
|
|
|
|
®EFORM GOT ITS START IN LA WITH MAYOR RICHARD
RIORDAN: A millionaire venture capitalist who made his fortune in
leveraged buyouts, supermarket investments and Hot Wheels and Barbie -
marketing to kids (see Consuming Kids: Protecting Our Children from the
Onslaught of Marketing & Advertising http://amzn.to/W3r6HP). He was fed up with LAUSD’s dysfunctionality (it still is) and figured it needed an injection of business-school know-how.
Along with UCLA business guru William Ouchi (whose scholarship on school
reform brought us “Making Schools Work” - the bible for school reform
the ®eformers cite but rarely follow) Riordan set out to buy the best
school board his money could buy. He pretty much was pretty successful
at it – getting Genethia Hayes and Caprice Young and Mike Lansing
elected – along with support for loose-cannon David Tokofsky. (Not that
loose cannonage is a bad thing – school boards are not men o’ war!)
Riordan’s board – which was initially proposed to support Superintendent
Zacharias – dispensed with Zacharias and brought Ramon Cortines in as
an interim replacement and Roy Romer as the permanent. Roy is a Democrat
and Riordan a Republican – but the non-partisan poles in LA politics
are rarely Red v. Blue. They are Developer v. Treehugger, Busing v.
Non-Busing, Growth v. No Growth, Westside v. Valley. In other words: We
pick sides+issues on the playground and it’s Us. v. Them.
The first time I ever spoke with Riordan he was big on the “F” word. Not
that F word, or even “Failure” – he was for “firing” incompetent
teachers, principals and bureaucrats. And not all of them. “Just fire a
few and the rest will fall into line.”
I don’t remember that lesson from business school. I think I learned
that from a boy’s vice-principal in junior high on the application of
corporal punishment back in the Golden Age of California Education.
Anyway, Riordan’s enlightened philosophy of ed. reform brought about the
®eform v. UTLA bipolarity. But it wasn’t always that way …and it
didn’t have to be.
The real hope for real reform bloomed briefly. For a brief moment there was LEARN.
For eight years the Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring
Now - a reaction to proposed wholesale breakup of the District - born of
the extremely unlikely partnership of Riordan and UTLA President Helen
Bernstein thrived. LEARN brought parents, teachers, administrators and
the community together on governing boards of 375 schools - nearly half
of the LAUSD.
As third-leg-on-the-stool LEARN partner Mike Roos said in a 2006 interview:
"All the ideas that are currently being proposed [mayoral control,
reconstitution and corporate charterization] suffer from the lack of
genuine community engagement."
"Ours was a much different approach. We brought everybody we possibly
could into the room, but we really were very quiet until we were ready
with a consensus plan. There were very few dissenters.
"We found that if you're locked out of the room, it just breeds contempt
and suspicion and it devolves trust. We went the opposite way.
Everybody was in the room - parent groups, leaders in the business
community, leaders in the nonprofit community - we had every
organization head that had anything to do with children."
But Cortines – and after him Romer - didn’t believe in LEARN’s
decentralization. Roos left, Bernstein was killed in an accident and
Riordan left office.
Riordan’s efforts continued into the Hahn administration …though Jimmy Hahn isn’t one of our title 3½ mayors.
UTLA picked off Hayes and then Caprice in subsequent elections.
Riordan’s infatuation with Tokofsky (“David is the Winston Churchill of
LAUSD.”) evaporated. But Romer served on, maintaining that LAUSD’s main
problem was overcrowding and until that was solved transformation was
impossible. Romer’s strength was passing local construction bonds and
building an effective team to built, fix and modernize schools. And them
doing the job.
Meanwhile up in Sacramento Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa passed
the largest state school construction bond in history and snuck a
merit-pay/teacher evaluation law past the teachers’ union – from which
he had come.
In short order the teachers’ unions pounded a stake through the heart of
merit pay/teacher evaluation – and the Advancement Project sued to get
LAUSD students (and the building program) their part of the state bond.
Out of office Riordan wasn’t as effective. UTLA gained a board majority.
And Hahn gave way to Villaraigosa (Mayor #2) …and all hell broke loose!
MAYOR TONY whimpered that other big city mayors ran their school
districts. In LA the city council actually runs the city, so Tony
must’ve figured he’d have time on his hands – so he went to Sacramento
and convinced his former colleagues to give him LAUSD to run. He briefly
co-opted UTLA and got their support.
While we are letting Tony be Tony, let me be frank:
• LAUSD was by then operating the biggest public works program in the
nation, building over 125 new schools and fixing up the rest. $20
billion was in play. Builders and developers have been running Los
Angeles since the first draft of the movie “Chinatown” was written in
the LA Times in the 1920’s. Those builders were supporters of Tony – and
they wanted a piece of that action!
• Just because you write it on a legal pad doesn’t mean it’s legal. The
California Constitution was and is explicit: Municipal governments
cannot operate public schools. The courts (Superior, Appeal and Supreme)
ruled that the Constitution trumps Mayor Tony’s desire to be like the
other big city mayors. He lost.
Tony then set out to do it like Riordan did. He bought his own school
board …though in true Hollywood fashion: With someone else’s money!
Romer was forced out. The old board brought in David Brewer as
superintendent – but Tony’s picks: Richard Vladovic plus “Tony’s girls”:
Flores, Galatzan and Martinez complemented Tony stalwart Monica Garcia
and grabbed the majority. The departure of Tokofsky brought the advent
of Steve Zimmer – a more introspective loose cannon.
(David and Steve both were teachers at Marshall High School – as was
Bernstein. There is something at Marshall that encourages independent
thought – something to consider when choosing a high school for your
child or an education leader for your slate mailer.)
Tony’s majority gave him and his supporters what they wanted. He got
some schools to run in his PLAS partnership. He forced Brewer out and
got to bring in Cortines again. He wrote some school district policy
from word processors in city hall for a while – and new schools were
given away to charter operators and other supporters. Charters were
awarded piecemeal. He looked the other way and developer friends made a
killing at LAUSD’s expense and strong leadership in the Facilities
Division was replaced by folks a little less independent and a bit more
compliant. Along the way Mayor Tony managed to pass the biggest local
school construction bond in history (….this is a theme!).
But slowly UTLA clawed its way back, picked off a board seat and won
some and lost some in the collective bargaining arena. Villaraigosa
& Co. forced Cortines out and replaced him with John Deasy –
handpicked and well trained by both the Broad and Gates Foundations.
Reformers forced some change through the courts. And essentially, nobody
got everything they wanted.
Huge change is ahead for both LAUSD and The City of Los Angeles.
Villaraigosa is termed out as is a majority of the city council. One
seat is open on the Board of Ed – and two others are contested. Zimmer
has upset the charter school community subset of ®eform Inc. for asking
that they be accountable - and they are out to get him. The
spectacularly unpopular Monica Garcia is challenged by a clutch of
little-knowns – but if a runoff is forced Monica will be in real
trouble.
THIS BRINGS US TO MAYOR #3: MICHAEL BLOOMBERG OF NEW YORK CITY – who has
donated a million dollars at Mayor Tony’s request to perpetuate Tony’s
majority. Mayor Mike is a billionaire philanthropist and he invests his
philanthropy in all kinds of things – mostly good – in
bought-and-paid-for social engineering/checkbook politics. He doesn’t
like smoking in public places. He doesn’t like large sodas, salty foods
or transfats – all are illegal in NYC. Not discouraged – illegal. He
gives money to local candidates nationwide who oppose NRA policy. He
also runs the schools in New York City with a single will and an iron
fist; no school board and no parental involvement – “If parents don’t
like the way I run the schools they can boo me at parades.”
AND MAYOR #3½?: SACRAMENTO MAYOR KEVIN JOHNSON – a former basketball
star and charter school operator who’s having trouble holding onto the
basketball team in his city. He is married to former District of
Columbia chancellor Michelle Rhee, the Dragon Lady/Tiger Mom of ®eform
Inc. “Johnson is facing increased scrutiny over his repeated infractions
of financial disclosure rules, especially as they involve education
initiatives tied to his wife's work.” [http://bit.ly/YRlXNZ]
On Monday in an interview with Charlie Rose
ROSE: Do school boards need more power?
RHEE: Well, I would say no to that question because school boards in my
opinion, I think that school boards in this country have been very
susceptible to the political process, so often times, and they certainly
haven't moved us forward...
ROSE: So what would you do to change that?
RHEE: Well, I'm a big believer in mayoral control of schools, I operated under that model. [http://bit.ly/YpSFat]
This week Michelle gave a quarter of a million dollars to Mayor Tony’s
Coalition to Perpetuate Mayor Tony’s Agenda, 2013*. But how do I really
feel?
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
________
* Real Name: Coalition for School Reform to Support García, Anderson and Sanchez for Board of Education 2013
Darling-Hammond: CALIFORNIA TEACHERS LEAD WAY IN STRESS LEVELS + smf’s 2¢
By Susan Frey, EdSource Today | http://bit.ly/YoqsRq
February 22nd, 2013 :: Against the backdrop of a national survey
showing half of teachers experiencing “great stress” on the job, the
head of California’s teacher credentialing commission says that stress
levels among the state’s teachers are likely to be even higher.
“I would think California would be at the forefront of this group (of
stressed-out teachers) and teachers’ stress levels here even higher,”
said Linda Darling-Hammond, professor of Education at Stanford
University’s School of Education and chair of the California Commission
on Teacher Credentialing. “California’s teachers are undoubtedly
stressed and very concerned about the level of support for children and
schools and teachers in this society.”
The 29th annual MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, the most
authoritative gauge of teacher attitudes, was released this week. The
MetLife report is based on the survey responses of 1,000 teachers across
the nation, reached by phone in October and November 2012. It indicates
that teacher satisfaction is at its lowest level in 25 years. Teacher
satisfaction peaked in 2008, just before the Great Recession, with 62
percent reporting they were very satisfied. But that number has been
dropping ever since, to just 39 percent this year.
The report noted that budget decreases were associated with lower morale
and greater stress among teachers. Some 51 percent of teachers feel
under “great stress” at least several days a week. Stress levels are
greatest for elementary school teachers, with 59 percent reporting
“great stress” compared with 35 percent in the 1985 survey. Teachers who
work with low-income students and who are in schools that have to cope
with budget cutbacks experience even more stress.
California teachers have had to endure five years of sustained budget
cuts, which they’ve experienced in numerous forms: massive layoffs,
unpaid furlough days, freezes on cost-of-living increases, and the
trimming or elimination of support programs, professional development
and class preparation time. At least 30,000 teachers have lost their
jobs in California over the past five years – some 10 percent of the
teaching force. But as EdSource’s “Schools Under Stress” [http://bit.ly/YOBJup] report noted,
Just the threat of layoffs can demoralize staff, with a rippling effect
in classrooms and throughout a district, potentially affecting student
academic outcomes. Thus, even when teachers are rehired, the issuing of
layoff notices can inflict significant damage on the culture of a
school.
During the same time period, teachers have collectively been the target
of relentless criticism, including from the Obama administration, that
they are a major cause – and in some cases, the major cause – of low
student achievement. That, Darling-Hammond said, has also contributed to
plummeting satisfaction levels.
“The huge dive in teacher satisfaction has to be correlated with the
teacher bashing that’s been going on for the past four years – beginning
at the White House,” said Darling-Hammond. “Teachers are dealing with
racial issues, poverty, violence, homelessness. Then they are subjected
to a continual refrain that ‘teachers are the problem, let’s get rid of
the bad teachers’ without acknowledging society’s role in taking care of
kids.”
Ellen Moir, executive director of the national New Teacher Center, which
works with new teachers to help them become more effective, is worried
that the low satisfaction rates and high levels of stress reported by
teachers could have a dampening impact on attracting – and retaining –
new teachers. The MetLife survey, she said, “is particularly worrying
given there is a need to recruit 2 million new teachers into the
profession over the next 10 years. It highlights how important it is to
make sure every new teacher gets the support he or she needs to improve
student learning and to remain committed to teaching.”
Dean Vogel, president of the California Teachers Association (CTA), said
the survey results are not surprising considering the combination of
budget cutbacks and the inability of teachers to control what they teach
in the classroom.
Teachers want to “instill a love of learning” rather than preparing
students for tests, he said. “Teachers are not supported in doing what
they know is essential and right in maintaining and sustaining positive
learning environments for kids. Teachers believe what they are being
forced to do is counterproductive, and they feel complicit in it.”
Vogel said elementary school teachers experience higher levels of stress
because high school teachers, who generally report to a department
chair, feel more in control of their classroom. Besides having to teach
all the subjects, elementary school teachers are much more responsible
for the psychological well-being of their students, he said.
Despite dipping satisfaction levels, teachers appear to be embracing the
Common Core state standards. More than two-thirds of the teachers
surveyed (69 percent) reported feeling “confident” or “very confident”
in the new standards, and 71 percent agreed that the new standards will
better prepare students for college and the workforce than their state’s
prior standards. And 93 percent felt that their colleagues had the
ability to teach to the new standards.
Martha Infante is a history teacher at LA Academy Middle School in South
Central Los Angeles and a member of the Educator Excellence Task Force
appointed by Superintendent of Public Instuction Tom Torlakson. She said
teachers are always willing to implement new approaches like the Common
Core standards. But she said the many unknowns teachers face, including
the imminent introduction of the Common Core, contributes to the
stresses they feel. “We don’t know what’s coming next,” she said. “We
don’t know where the profession is headed.”
••smf: I have a lot of fun speaking truth to power and being snarky with
the powers-that-be. My commitment to the safety, health and wellbeing
of children in paramount – but the emotional strain and stress upon
classroom teachers and school staff caused by the total war upon their
profession by the flavor-of-the-week reformers and corporate privatizers
concerns me greatly.
No one becomes a teacher for the money, fame or glory – being a teacher
is a calling and a mission. The absolute and total lack-of-respect
shown to educators – the constant meddling, tweaking, budget cutting,
bashing, furloughs, name calling and all the rest brings a toll. That
this war is being waged by “philanthropists” extends irony into
Orwellian doublespeak. 1984 is so 29 year ago.
Morale is at an all time low. Respect from the powers-that-be is
missing. Job security is absent. When a teacher gets a RIF notice (Not
the final layoff notice but just that notice that says you MAY be
subject to RIF) your credit rating goes to zero. Your self worth with
it. The only uncertainty is uncertainty itself.
When it seems like no one respects your work how can you respect yourself? “You became a teacher? What were you thinking?”
The words “Failure” and “Bad Teacher” are hand grenades tossed into
every dark space the would-be change agents can find – they are hateful
words as loaded as any epithet hurled at anyone who is different in
race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. They are markers of
ignorance when the real enemy is ignorance itself.
I am not arguing for neither political correctness nor the status quo
here. There are teachers who teach badly and there are educators who do
bad things. There is failure out there. Neither is acceptable.
Bad things happen in the name of teachers unions and school reform. But
name calling to effect policy change is hateful and the war itself is
harmful.
And the children are watching.
OUTSIDE/INSIDE/NO INTEREST@ALL?: 2 attempts at sanity from Steve Lopez + UCLA/IDEA
…almost certainly too little/too late.
►L.A. MUST VOTE
Themes in the News by UCLA IDEA/Week of Feb. 18-22, 2013| http://bit.ly/Yoncpo
02-22-2013 :: Are Los Angeles schools unduly influenced by “outside
interests”? How about “inside interests”? Or maybe, no interest at
all?
According to Warren Fletcher, president of United Teachers of Los
Angeles, “voters do not need outsiders deciding who is best to sit on
the LAUSD Board of Education" (Los Angeles Times). Those outsiders
include nationally prominent, deep-pocketed figures and spokespersons
such as Washington, D.C. public schools ex-chancellor Michelle Rhee and
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. They and other “reformers” want more
charter schools, less involvement of teachers and the community, and
minuscule participation of unions in the operations of public schools.
Their agenda is not primarily focused on Los Angeles, but rather
national. Bloomberg has made a $1-million contribution to the L.A.
races, and Rhee’s organization has put in $250,000, which she said could
advance school reform statewide (Los Angeles Times).
But these outsiders are also joined by a fair number of Los Angeles
“insiders”—locals-with-money—who are lining up behind school board
candidates who support Superintendent John Deasy. Deasy has made it
clear that he believes that many teachers, along with their union, are
serious obstacles to better education and that he needs the tools to
fire and transfer teachers and proceed with reforms. The tools include
tough teacher evaluations, school transformations, charters, “choice,”
and more (Los Angeles Daily News). On the other hand, many teachers and
community members believe that Deasy pays too little attention to
schools’ lack of and distribution of resources and that he tolerates
incompetent and arbitrary district-level management. Many believe that
Deasy’s first option for improving low-performing schools is to close
them and blame the teachers.
The teachers’ union has shown in recent elections that it is not without
resources to mount a campaign. It can raise money from its members that
allows it to sponsor some TV ads and send mailers. But perhaps more
important, the union has numbers. It exerts the greatest strength when
its members are knocking on doors.
And what of Los Angeles parents and residents? How are they shaping the school board election? How do they enact power?
Maybe the most salient figures regarding both the last and forthcoming
school board elections are the voter turnouts. The turnout for the last
(2011) school board election was 7.41 percent. In other words, 92.59
percent of eligible voters declined a role in determining who would
decide on the district’s programs and curriculum, leadership, labor
relations, and more. More than $2 million has been raised already for
current candidates competing for the very few votes that will be cast in
three of the seven available seats in the next board election.
It’s hard to pin down exactly why LA (non)voters show so little interest
in school board elections. Perhaps they believe that their vote just
doesn’t matter. In the last few decades fewer of the fundamental
decisions that affect students’ experiences have been made at the local
school district level. School funding, curricula, and standardized tests
are increasingly decided from afar by the state or the federal
government. Nonstop funding crises have overshadowed the occasional
positive news. Or possibly the public has become wary of the logic and
data behind many “magic bullet” schemes that dominate education
“reforms” locally and nationwide; for example, charters, school
reconstituting, standardized testing, union-busting, and so on.
Whatever the cause for voter disaffection, voter turnout matters. If
high voter turnout signals public interest in and commitment to local
schools, low voter turnout speaks to a crisis of legitimacy. Low turnout
means that there may be very little relationship between what elected
representatives hope to do and what most of their constituents want them
to do. It means that organized money—whether it comes from outside or
inside the district—will have undue influence on the democratic process.
The problem here is not simply that we diminish democracy when we
privilege fundraising over voting. Campaigns characterized by huge
donations and tiny turnouts may leave the appearance that those with a
financial stake in decisions before the school board have too much sway
over the composition of that board.
We can admire and sympathize with elected public officials who must
constantly struggle to balance their responsibilities and allegiances to
a) the public; b) the advocates whose campaign support (ideas, money,
energy) is necessary for election; and c) the officials' personal
perspectives and values that might in any one case differ from others'.
These tensions are inevitable and, in the larger scheme, productive—but
not if the voters (or some smallish representation of them) are so weak
as not to enter into the "balancing act."
So how can potential voters be persuaded to make their way to the polls
in greater numbers than before? School board candidates, their
supporters, and members of the press need to build a case for why voting
in this election matters. They all have a responsibility to talk about
not just the issues that divide, but also the shared value of engaging
in the democratic process. The next 10 days represent a teachable
moment.
The stakes are great for selecting leaders who can work together
respectfully; doing the hard, daily grind of making difficult decisions
to improve schooling without wrecking the good and powerful work that is
already underway and without undermining the legions of school
personnel who are doing outstanding work against difficult odds.
__________________________
►Lopez: BLOOMBERG'S MEDDLING IN L.A. UNIFIED RACES IS PAYING FOR JUNK ADS
The wealthy New York mayor's $1-million contribution to the Coalition
for School Reform is helping fund attack ads in L.A. that distort the
truth and misinform voters.
By Steve Lopez, LA Times columnist | http://lat.ms/YuxQbX
February 23, 2013, 4:55 p.m. :: If you're like me, your mailbox is getting stuffed with political mailers.
What to do?
The best course of action is to take a shovel and dig a hole in the backyard, toss the mailers in and set them ablaze.
At best, they're filled with useless simplifications and generalizations
about candidates and issues, and a lot of them contain gross
exaggerations or distortions, if not outright lies.
If you live in Los Angeles and it seems like you're getting more of this
junk than ever, it's because millions of dollars are being spent by
committees to either support or demolish candidates for City Council,
mayor and school board. Not only for mailers, of course, but also for
equally vapid and nasty TV ads. This is how democracy works, courtesy of
the U.S. Supreme Court, which lifted limits on so-called independent
expenditures, thereby turning elections into cash-driven free-for-alls
in which candidates are almost beside the point.
Take the current campaigns for seats on the Los Angeles Unified Board of
Education. Three spots are up for grabs, but this is less an election
than a local skirmish in a national war that's raging over control of
public schools. In the current battle, the local teachers' union and its
allies are taking on the "reformers" and their supporters, some of whom
live far, far from Los Angeles.
I kept hearing last week from readers who were having conniptions over
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's $1-million donation to the local
Coalition for School Reform. They said he should mind his own business,
and they called this another example of an attempt by rich guys to
privatize public schools, or at least turn them over to their charter
school cronies.
Actually, it was Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who helped shake
down Bloomberg. But I called Bloomberg's office to find out if he was
aware that at least part of his money is being spent to distort the
truth and misinform voters, which I'll explain in a minute.
"Mike Bloomberg is proud to help level the playing field on behalf of
children and their families," a Bloomberg spokesman responded. "The
union may not like it, but they should get used to it because he is just
getting started."
That's more than a threat; it's a live grenade.
To be honest, I welcome anyone — including outsiders — whose goal is to
improve public education. But the conversation has become so
philosophically and politically polarized that it's hard to know who, if
anyone, is acting most purely in the interest of kids.
On the contentious issue of charter schools, I think it's fair to say some do pretty well and some don't.
And although some of L.A. Unified's shortcomings can be blamed on union
inflexibility, some is also due to administrative inefficiency and to
parents who don't pay enough attention to their kids' academics. And all
those problems are dwarfed by the fact that California is near the
bottom when it comes to school funding.
I'd like to see more union give on teacher evaluations, work rules and
tenure. But I'd also like anti-union forces to quit scapegoating
teachers, because we owe the majority of them a debt of gratitude.
In Los Angeles, the stakes are high because L.A. Unified Supt. John
Deasy seems to have convinced enough people that he may get ousted if
this election doesn't go his way, even though that's an unlikely,
long-shot scenario.
Deasy is a creative and effective leader who ought to keep doing what
he's been doing, for the most part. But I don't agree with him on
everything, and I don't think we're well served if everyone on the board
stands up and bows every time he speaks. That goes the other way too.
It'd be disaster, for sure, if everyone on the board were a union
lackey.
That brings me to incumbent board member and former teacher Steve
Zimmer, who has been nobody's stooge. Zimmer, at times, has tried to
bridge differences among the warring parties, winning supporters and
making enemies on both sides in the process. But there's a price to pay
for independence, it seems. Zimmer is under attack by the
Villaraigosa-aligned Coalition for School Reform, which supports
Zimmer's opponent Kate Anderson. They see Anderson, an attorney and L.A.
Unified parent, as more inclined to butt heads with the union and more
likely to support Deasy.
Even some of his supporters say Zimmer can be an angst-ridden,
hand-wringing worrier who takes too long to decide where he stands. But I
respect his answer to that charge.
"I've spent my life immersed in these issues, and when a game-changing
vote or policy issue comes up, I damn well should wring my hands."
And it's not as if Zimmer is rabidly pro-union and anti-Deasy. He's
proclaimed his support for the superintendent and has ticked off the
union because of it. But in a game of lesser evils, the unions have
thrown in their lot with Zimmer, which has made his opponents all the
more determined to drive him out.
The way I see it, we've got two capable people running who both seem to
care passionately about L.A. Unified's 600,000-plus students. But
politics being what it is, campaign strategists on each side have
polluted mailboxes and airwaves with exaggeration and distortion. It's a
dirty game, and you either sling mud or get buried alive.
Are you paying attention, kids?
The hit pieces on Zimmer are paid for in part by Bloomberg, whose name
is on mailers, and the stink bombs dropped on Anderson are paid for in
part by United Teachers Los Angeles.
If you'd prefer to make up your own mind about who Zimmer and Anderson
are, or if you want to learn about the candidates for the other two
seats, you can watch all three debates at http://www.unitedwayla.org.
And as for the junk mail headed your way in the next two weeks, you know what to do with it.
HUGE SPENDING GAPS BETWEEN SCHOOL DISTRICTS, STUDY
FINDS: South San Francisco spends less than $7K per student, across the
bay Sausalito spends $29K
by Howard Blume, LA Times | http://lat.ms/1550iah
February 19, 2013 | 5:26 pm :: Vast inequities still exist in
education funding across the nation, contributing to an academic
achievement gap that separates the students at well-funded schools from
those who attend campuses with fewer resources, according to a report
released Tuesday
The funding disparities are “as wide as ever despite decades of effort,”
said Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, a Stanford law professor who
co-chaired the Equity and Excellence Commission, a federal panel that
examined funding and other issues over two years of research and
testimony.
Analysts have frequently put California near the bottom of states in
education dollars when the cost of living is factored in, but the report
found that there also are huge spending differences within the state.
School systems that spend less than $7,000 per student include South San
Francisco Unified and Gilroy Unified, south of the Bay area, said
Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond, who compiled data from the
2009-10 school year.
At the other end of the spectrum, Sausalito Marin City School District
spends $29,000 per student. Other relatively big spenders include
Mendocino Unified ($21,000 per student) and Pacific Grove Unified near
Monterey ($17,000 per student).
L.A. Unified spends about $11,063 per student, about $300 less than
Beverly Hills, but Beverly Hills also benefits from substantial city
support and parent fundraising — and serves a much lower percentage of
students who are learning English or who belong to low-income families.
Besides calling for funding equity, the commission report supported
President Obama’s call for more early childhood education. It also
called for improving the effectiveness of teachers and principals,
through such measures as higher salaries and improved training.
The commission was established by Congress and organized under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Education.
THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN COULD LOSE HEAD START SERVICES UNDER SEQUESTRATION
Deepa Fernandes | Pass / Fail : 89.3 KPCC http://bit.ly/WagM0G
February 21st, 2013, 6:00am :: Just one week after promising to inject
funds into early childhood education in his State of the Union address,
President Obama is warning that the Head Start program will instead
face cuts if lawmakers fail to reach a compromise over the budget.
Advocates for early childhood education warn sequestration would have an immediate effect on Los Angeles’s poorest families.
“We’re estimating that, statewide, sequestration would amount in 6,000
children being cut from head start services,” said Rick Mockler,
Executive Director of the California Head Start Association. He said
families that rely on the program for childcare and other services could
lose that help overnight.
“Head start children are the most vulnerable children in the state of
California," Mockler added. "They come from the absolute poorest
families."
Congress has until March 1 to reach a deal to avoid automatic across-the-board spending cuts.
Head Start funds come from Washington and are funneled through large
local agencies that pick which programs and pre-school centers to
support.
Locally, it's hard to know how cuts will ultimately affect services,
said Laura Escobedo, of the Los Angeles County Office of Childcare,
which focuses on quality child care. She says the county office that
oversees spending, Los Angeles County Office of Education, would decide
how much it could absorb and how much to pass on to providers.
“We don’t really know what it means for us at this stage,” said Kostas
Kalaitzidis, a spokesman for the county office of education. He called
it a “very complicated affair.”
The Child Care Resource Center is already cutting back on expenses to
prepare for the worst. The center operates 18 Head Start centers serving
1,500 children in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and the Antelope
valleys. Its president and CEO, Michael Olenick, expects a $300,000 cut
between March and June should sequestration go into effect.
“We’re not sure if we’ll be able to continue the school year through
June or if we’ll have to end the school year early,” he said.
The Child Care Resource Center has already lost 20 percent of its
operating budget over the last two years due to statewide budget cuts to
early childhood programs.
The lack of certainty about whether more cuts are around the corner is
hard on his staff and parents who use the center's services.
“What makes it so difficult is that it's hard to know whether to believe
it or not, given that the last two fiscal crises have been overcome,"
Olenick said. "So is it really going to happen or is this just another
fire-drill?”
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILM “FRESH GUACAMOLE”: Be a Hollywood Insider with your screenerhttp://bit.ly/Ys8IGR
Common Core Testing: BILL TO SUSPEND STAR NEXT YEAR COMES AS CA SCHOOLS PILOT NEW TESTING. Rival bill postpone... http://bit.ly/UYXZUz
The proposal formerly known as weighted student formula: STUDY COMPLIMENTS AND QUESTIONS BROWN’S FUNDING FORMU... http://bit.ly/X7f2SK
The ‘Academic Proficiency Cliff’: COUNCIL OF GREAT CITY SCHOOLS ON THE EDUCATIONAL IMPACT OF SEQUESTRATION: F... http://bit.ly/YmqafI
THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN COULD LOSE HEAD START SERVICES UNDER SEQUESTRATION: Deepa Fernandes | Pass / Fail : 89.... http://bit.ly/Ymj76N
BROWN’S PROPOSED SCHOOL FUNDING FORMULA WOULD AID POORER DISTRICTS: Beau Yarbrough, Staff Writer - Inland Val... http://bit.ly/VYuhAK
Election 2013/The best democracy money can buy:: Could a single school board race determine LAUSD's future? V... http://bit.ly/VYqyDl
LAUSD CONSIDERS CARPENTER E.S. FOR PILOT PROGRAM TO COMBAT ENROLLMENT FRAUD + smf’’s 2¢: See some of the emoti... http://bit.ly/XIdWwM
THE 4LAKids KEEP CALM & CARRY ON CAMPAIGN 2013: “A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass ov... http://bit.ly/YEUcJC
The California Office to ®eform Education: LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT SEEKS NCLB WAIVER FOR HIS DISTRICT AND NINE OT... http://bit.ly/13mY6Iz
The best Bd of Ed $ can buy?: FORMER DC SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR MICHELLE RHEE JOINS LIST OF DONORS TO LAUSD SCHOOL ... http://bit.ly/VODKdO
MICHELLE ®HEE INC. DONATES $250,000 to ®EFORM INC. CANDIDATES IN LAUSD RACES: A quarter-of-a-million dollars ... http://bit.ly/VODKdJ
L.A. COMMUNITY COLLEGE CHANCELLOR RESIGNS UNDER FIRE: by Carla Rivera, LA Times | http://lat.ms/WQ9bB6 February... http://bit.ly/Y7qkHP
FAA GREENLIGHTS $1 LEASE FOR LAUSD AVIATION SCHOOL AT VAN NUYS AIRPORT: By Dana Bartholomew, Staff Writer, LA Da... http://bit.ly/XvOIl7
HUGE SPENDING GAPS BETWEEN SCHOOL DISTRICTS, STUDY FINDS: South San Francisco spends less than $7K per student, ... http://bit.ly/XvOJFJ
LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD RACE DRAWS BIG MONEY: Primary has drawn over $4 million ….$2 million from outside sources: “... http://bit.ly/13dhuYo
MARIA CANO: 4LAKids endorsed School Board Candidate Wine Tasting Fundraisers!: smf notes there isn’t a lot of o... http://bit.ly/13dhuYn
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
*Dates and times subject to change. ________________________________________
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE:
http://www.laschools.org/bond/
Phone: 213-241-5183
____________________________________________________
• LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR:
http://www.laschools.org/happenings/
Phone: 213-241.8700
What can YOU do?
• E-mail, call or write your school board member:
Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Bennett.Kayser@lausd.net • 213-241-5555
Marguerite.LaMotte@lausd.net • 213-241-6382
Nury.Martinez@lausd.net • 213-241-6388
Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385
Steve.Zimmer@lausd.net • 213-241-6387
...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress,
senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think! • Find
your state legislator based on your home address. Just go to: http://bit.ly/dqFdq2 • There are 26 mayors and five county supervisors representing jurisdictions within LAUSD, the mayor of LA can be reached at mayor@lacity.org • 213.978.0600
• Call or e-mail Governor Brown: 213-897-0322 e-mail: http://www.govmail.ca.gov/
• Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these
thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school.
• Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it!
• Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child.
• If you are eligible to become a citizen, BECOME ONE.
• If you a a citizen, REGISTER TO VOTE.
• If you are registered, VOTE LIKE THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT. THEY DO!.
|
