Author: Kerry Macklin

Budget discussions crescendo as governor’s May Budget Revision nears

Next week, on Tuesday, May 14, the governor will unveil the May Budget Revision for fiscal year 2013-14. Details about his revision are beginning to surface, as are additional proposals. On May 8, Assembly Democrats announced their plans for the state budget, naming it the “Blueprint for a Responsible Budget.” In addition to calling for a ballot measure in 2014 to establish guidelines for a richer state reserve, a strong focus of the Blueprint is children and education. For K-12, they call for all school districts to get their share of previous funding cuts repaid as Proposition 98 grows.

School interrupted: Designing a partial credit policy that works

students

Representatives from the Legislature, the California School Boards Association, the California Department of Education, a host of public and private children’s interest groups, county offices of education and school districts gathered at CSBA’s offices in West Sacramento this week to tackle a tough problem: How to standardize the rules for awarding partial credit to students forced by difficult life circumstances to change schools frequently.

Latest developments in the Local Control Funding Formula

Sen. Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge) presented SB 69, her bill on school finance and a new funding formula, to the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday, May 1. In presenting the bill, Sen. Liu noted it is a work in progress. It’s intended to move the discussion of a new education funding method forward by providing a venue and vehicle for policy discussion and debate. The bill was voted out of the Senate Education Committee, with the Republican committee members not voting. The bill will now progress to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

California schools tackle Common Core challenges

How are school districts and county offices of education preparing to implement the Common Core State Standards? It’s a daunting task, reveals the spring 2013 issue of California Schools magazine. To be ready for new common national academic standards, local educational agencies will have to dramatically change instructional methods and prepare students—and technological systems—to handle revolutionary computerized tests. This would be a tall order in the best of budgetary times. Yet despite years of harsh cuts in state support for public education, LEAs throughout the state are finding creative and innovative ways to meet the CCSS challenge.

Refocused policy document will guide CSBA’s work

CSBA’s Policy Platform Review Committee is hard at work reorganizing the organization’s key policy framework for consideration by the Delegate Assembly in May. For years, the process of updating the eight primary policy areas, with its dozens of supporting statements, during the Delegate Assembly meeting every two years had proved cumbersome and time-consuming. While the Platform’s purpose in guiding the association’s policy and political leadership activities is essential, the process needed revision.

Credential commission strengthens qualifications for interns teaching English learners

At their meeting in May, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing attempted to wrap up a number of issues that have been in the works for many months. First up was the issue of adopting updated California Administrator Performance Expectations and draft standards for administrator credential programs. This work has been the subject of stakeholder meetings for more than a year. CSBA has been actively involved in ensuring that the standards provide training in working with boards, community and other elected officials as an important part in the success of a principal in his/her duties.

Is your superintendent meeting performance expectations?

By Christopher Maricle, Policy and Programs Officer It’s that time of year, when boards and superintendents give some thought and energy into fulfilling one of the board’s most critical functions – the superintendent evaluation. It’s through this process that boards practice an important part of […]

Torlakson’s good news: More students are graduating; fewer are dropping out

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson had some good news for the California public education community: more students are earning high school diplomas and fewer are dropping out.  According to the latest figures from the state’s new data system, which tracks progress of individual […]