Posts Tagged: teachers

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

Full funding of the troubled California State Teachers Retirement System has been approved by the Legislature, with most of the additional $5 billion coming from school districts that get no offsetting money from the state.

OPINION: Public employees have shown they are willing to do their part to help balance government budgets. We may not have liked the pension system overhaul Governor Brown signed in 2012, but once it became law our union leaders helped to implement the changes, which will amount to a reduction of more than $77 billion to public workers’ retirement and health care benefits.

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.

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)

From the California State Auditor: Highlights of high-risk issues that the state and select state agencies face

The nation’s second largest public pension fund, reacting to a mass school shooting in Connecticut last month, is taking a new look at the “social” impact of its $150 billion investment portfolio.

The California State Teachers Retirement System found that it owned stock, apparently in violation of its own policy, in the maker of