Posts Tagged: schools

Vergara: An attack on teachers, schools, students

A California school sign alerting motorists to the presence of youngsters. (Photo: Eddie J. Rodriquez)

by MAGGIE ELLIS posted 06.20.2014

OPINION: From the beginning, the Vergara v. State of California lawsuit has highlighted the wrong problems, proposed the wrong solutions, and followed the wrong process. This deeply flawed lawsuit was not about helping students, but yet another attempt by millionaires and corporate special interests to undermine the teaching profession and push their agenda on California public schools and students

Brown budget eyes full funding for teachers’ pensions

Lobby of the CalSTRS building in West Sacramento. (Photo: Paul Houseberg)

by ED MENDEL posted 05.16.2014

Gov. Brown has made a long-delayed proposal to get CalSTRS to full funding over the next three decades, giving the biggest rate hike to schools and smaller increases to the state and teachers. The nation’s largest teacher pension fund, which received $5.8 billion from the three sources last fiscal year, needs an additional contribution of about $4.2 billion a year to project full funding in 30 years.

OPINION: The six-states plan would newly create two of the poorest states in the country, “Jefferson” at our state’s northern border and “Central California” encompassing a huge swath of out Central Valley including the cities of Stockton, Fresno, and Bakersfield. In both states, one of every five people would be living below the poverty line.

OPINION: With this proposal, the Governor, who has shown recent leadership in stabilizing revenues and beginning to restore programs cut during the recession, is calling for a restructuring of the state’s existing rainy day fund, known as the Budget Stabilization Account (BSA). (An alternative proposal approved by the Legislature in 2010 is scheduled to appear on the statewide ballot in November.)

OPINION: Our schools are partners in securing the health and well-being of our children. Other than their homes, Sacramento kids spend more time in school than anywhere else. That’s why we, as a community, invest in things like nutritional meals, physical education, and basic health care and counseling at schools—because we know healthy students are better learners.

OPINION: The public schools of the Golden State used to be the gold standard. These days, they’re at the bottom of the pile. Our public school 4th graders rank 46th in reading. Our 8th graders come in 47th in math. A majority of our high school students are unprepared for the rigors of college. These dismal numbers aren’t just indicators of an educational calamity; they are also evidence of an economic disaster in the making.

Two years after Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature dismantled California’s $5 billion-a-year redevelopment program, Brown wants to bring some elements back — but he’s offering less money, a different name and a change in local voters’ approval. The crux of Brown’s plan is to expand the reach of the rarely-used, little-known Infrastructure Finance Districts. The districts, or IFDs, have taxing authority and are created with voter approval. They function on property tax dollars and focus on highways, transit and sewer projects, libraries, parks and child care centers.

Death certificates are the latest battleground for gay rights advocates trying to ensure that the gender a person identifies with in life carries over into death. A bill introduced recently aimed at ensuring the death certificates of transgender persons reflect their chosen gender is the latest legislative effort to vouchsafe the rights of this small category of Californians.

CalPERS has denied membership to nine charter schools, saying a proposed IRS rule could end crucial tax advantages if “even a single non-governmental entity” is allowed into the giant pension system. The association said the California Public Employees Retirement System is the only public pension system in the nation to deny membership on the basis of an IRS rule. (Photo: Coolcaesar, Wikipedia)

Draft budget offers new funds for higher ed

Gov. Jerry Brown

by SAMANTHA GALLEGOS posted 01.13.2014

On his wish list for the next fiscal year, Gov. Jerry Brown has put higher education right near the top. California’s public colleges and universities, Brown said as he unveiled the state budget, “used to be four years and free. Now in many cases it’s six years and expensive.” (Photo: Samantha Gallegos/Capitol Weekly)