by Audrey Yamagata-Noji, Ph.D., President, Santa Ana Unified School District Board and CSBA Director-at-large, Asian Pacific Islander Attendance is especially challenging in a district where the majority of families qualify for free/reduced lunch and the majority of families are immigrants. Cultural differences can lead to […]
by Julie Maxwell-Jolly, Programs & Policy Officer In an increasingly globalized economy, California will need a population with the skills and understanding to thrive in multiple settings, languages, and cultures. One way to prepare our young people for this interconnected future is by providing them […]
by Mike Walsh, Trustee, Butte County Office of Education and CSBA Director-at-large County I’ve come to appreciate a few accomplishments in my life thus far. Some were planned, such as starting my own company, completing my graduate degree, and learning to play the guitar. Many […]
September is Attendance awareness month! To celebrate, we have invited four guest bloggers to provide insight throughout the month about the importance of student attendance. In this first installment, guest blogger Hedy Chang explores how reducing chronic absence can raise student achievement. By Hedy Chang, […]
by Christopher Maricle, Policy and Programs Officer Words are powerful things. When I was in college, a friend tried unsuccessfully to convince me to listen to the Grateful Dead. But the word ‘dead’ had a strong negative image for me—and their trademark symbol, the skull, […]
For keen observers of education policy and political junkies, last week’s State Board of Education Meeting was everything we hoped for. While there were only about half the number of speakers signed up to testify as there were for last January’s dynamic meeting, board members, superintendents, community advocates, parents, and busses full of students all came together in Sacramento to have their say on the Local Control Funding Formula.
Legislative action to authorize a new state school facilities bond for the November 2014 ballot passed the Assembly Education Committee April 9. Assembly Bill 2235, Buchanan, D-Alamo, would set before voters the Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2014 which would provide funding—in an amount currently unspecified—for new school construction.
![By Alton (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://blog.csba.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Narbonne_High_ROTC.jpg)
The Special Teaching Authorization in Physical Education for members of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps would serve as recognition that the credential holder has met the subject matter requirement and represent another option for school boards considering whether to grant high school graduation credit for ROTC or Basic Military Drill.
Lunch will now be free for students in the Palm Springs Unified School District who used to receive a reduced lunch price of 40 cents per meal, the Board of Education recently decided. This will positively impact the achievement of some low-income students whose families still cannot afford the reduced meal prices. Research has shown that children learn better when they are properly nourished. The change is set to go into effect at the start of the 2014-15 school year and will cost the district about $14,000 monthly, which will be paid by the district’s nutrition fund, separate from general fund dollars.
The Local Control and Accountability Plan is an exciting new development for local control and what we all hope will be equity. For the equity piece to work as planned, parents must step up to make their voices heard. This is also a time when we must ask, how can school leadership empower parent voices?
