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Monday, March 1, 2010

This Week In Education

This Week In Education

News: Connecticut Contemplates RTTT Redo

Conn. lawmakers may beef up "Race to the Top" plan Associated Press:  Connecticut lawmakers are considering ways to fortify the state's application for millions of dollars in education funding under the president's "Race to the Top" initiative, concerned the state won't receive funding in the first round.
In Middle School, Charting Their Course to College and Beyond NYT:  In New Jersey and elsewhere, schools are experimenting with individualized learning plans that are intended to help students create career goals. 11111111111news
RI teachers weigh legal action over mass firings AP:  A teachers' union is considering legal action after the entire staff of a long-troubled high school in Central Falls was fired.
District May End N.C. Economic Diversity Program NYT:  At stake is the direction of a Raleigh suburb school system, the largest to consider income in placement.
Protests and Promises of Improvements at Schools NYT:  Parents, reform organizations and others expressed concerns that the Chicago Public School district has embarked on yet another failed reform effort.
GOP challengers join Texas ed board battleground AP:  Uproar over the evolution curriculum. Divides over religious influences in American history. A board member who called public schools a "subtly deceptive tool of perversion." 
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Schools Matter Much too much testing

Schools Matter

Much too much testing

Much too much testing
Sent to the Hartford Courant, March 1, 2010

Why does testing take "a couple of weeks" in Connecticut? ("Educators pull out all the stops for good test scores," Feb. 28).

No competent professional teacher needs a standardized test, written by distant strangers, to see where their students are weak.

And if the goal of testing is to evaluate the system as a whole, we don't need to test every child every year; the doctor doesn't have to take all your blood to get an accurate picture of your health.

Stephen Krashen
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Rise & Shine: New school will have 60 students to a class | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: New school will have 60 students to a class | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: New school will have 60 students to a class

by Philissa Cramer
  • Attention-getting principal Shimon Waronker is opening a new school with 60 kids per class. (Post)
  • Chancellor Klein spoke to parents at a Harlem school fair organized by charter advocates. (NY1, Post)
  • Brooklyn’s High School for Public Service plans to grow and sell fresh produce. (Daily News)
  • Marcus Winters says a recent audit proves that city charter schools are more efficient. (Daily News)
  • The number of students taking private school admission tests dropped by 4.4 percent this year. (Post)
  • Parents in Chicago want assurance that new schools will be better than those they replaced. (Times)
  • The L.A. Times and Boston Globe offer detailed overviews of Diane Ravitch’s new book, out this week.
  • President Obama plans to push school turnarounds in a series of appearances this week. (AP)
  • Jay Mathews says many teachers actually like D.C.’s new teacher evaluations. (Washington Post)
  • A new trend is for sixth-graders to make personal education plans that go through high school. (Times)
  • A federal report finds that many states don’t regulate the use of seclusion in their schools. (AP)
  • North Carolina’s Wake County could soon end its vaunted socioeconomic integration program. (Times)
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Diane Ravitch’s conversion The Educated Guess

The Educated Guess

Diane Ravitch’s conversion

Posted in Uncategorized
From neocon Irving Kristol to anti-communist crusader Whittaker Chambers, there’s been a history of true believers turned full-throated denouncers. Now, education has a celebrated convert, Diane Ravitch.
Before an approving audience of union teachers in San Jose on Saturday, the education historian , respected author and blogger (“Bridging Differences)denounced all of what she once believed in: pay for performance, the school accountability movement, standardized tests, public school choice.
The New York University education professor and fellow affiliated with the Hoover and Brookings institutions especially laid into her erstwhile allies: think tanks and foundations  that are “demonizing unions, scape-goating teachers and undermining education.”
(Read more and comment on this post)
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Martinez district, teachers wrangle over health benefits - San Jose Mercury News

Martinez district, teachers wrangle over health benefits - San Jose Mercury News

MARTINEZ — For years, as health insurance rates skyrocketed, the Martinez school district has continued to pay the entire cost of family medical coverage for its teachers.
But with California still reeling from the recession and state leaders likely to cut education funding again this year, administrators say the district no longer can afford to pick up the tab for the annual rate increases.
In January, the district and the teachers' union began negotiating a contract that would expire in June 2012. Furlough days and larger classes are on the table. But it is the district's proposal that teachers pay for the additional cost of their health care from now on that has proved to be an obstacle to reaching an agreement.
"We're trying to come up with creative ways where the employees can pitch in and help to save their health benefits," said Rick Rubino, assistant superintendent. "We have never proposed taking away health benefits, we're just trying to find a way to pay for them."
This school year the district is dipping into its reserve fund to cover a $2.5 million budget shortfall, and it may have to cut $2.6 million from next year's budget if the Legislature adopts the proposals in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's January budget.
Salaries and benefits make up about 90 percent of the district's $30 million budget. The district covers the entire cost of family medical coverage through Kaiser Permanente for full-time employees.
For 2010, the cost is $18,199 per employee, up 4.7 percent from last year, according to Rubino.
Martinez teachers union President Bob Holsinger said the teachers understand the district is in a tight spot, so they are willing to contribute monthly to their health insurance costs until the contract expires. But the union strongly opposes the district's proposal that the teachers pay for annual rate increases in perpetuity. The teachers believe the state's financial crisis is a short-term situation, so they want to make only temporary concessions.
"We have come in earnest to the table to say we know we need to give up things to make this happen," Holsinger 
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Schools chief's candor a welcome change in Antioch district - ContraCostaTimes.com

Schools chief's candor a welcome change in Antioch district - ContraCostaTimes.com
To keep Antioch schools focused on reading, writing and arithmetic, Donald Gill has been implementing his own set of the three R's: Relationships, relationships, relationships.

Since taking over last summer as the Antioch's superintendent, Gill, 58, has sought to be open and transparent in communicating issues facing the district — the same tack he's used during his nearly 40-year education career.
"It's always been in Don's personality to listen and try to understand instead of telling people what to do," said wife Phyllis Gill.
The San Diego native started as a custodian and bus driver before turning to teaching in the small town of Kernville, near Bakersfield. Stops along the way have included heading curriculum in Kern County; junior high principal and assistant superintendent in Bakersfield; working in the private sector with a San Diego charter school company; and junior high principal in Newark.
"He really finds joy in getting people to work well with him. People love to work with Don and work hard," Phyllis Gill said.
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District can avoid mass teacher layoffs, official says - News - ReviewJournal.com

District can avoid mass teacher layoffs, official says - News - ReviewJournal.com:

"CARSON CITY -- THE CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT MIGHT BE ABLE TO AVOID MASS TEACHER LAYOFFS, EVEN WITH THE 6.9 PERCENT REDUCTION IN STATE SUPPORT THAT CAME OUT OF THE LEGISLATURE'S SPECIAL SESSION ON SUNDAY, AN ADMINISTRATOR SAID"



Joyce Haldeman, the district's associate superintendent of government relations, could not provide figures on potential teacher layoffs but said the number would not be many if teachers union officials would agree to salary reductions of 2 percent to 4 percent.
"We have talked about the need for a 'shared sacrifice,'" Haldeman said. "We could save many jobs if they do that."

The 6.9 percent state funding reduction to education agreed on by Gov. Jim Gibbons and the Legislature represents a loss of $117 million to the K-12 system and a loss of $46 million to higher education. The Clark County School District expects to receive about $90 million less in state funding through June 30, 2011.
"It is not pretty," Haldeman said. "But under the circumstances, I don't know what else they could have done."
Earlier in the special session, Clark County Superintendent Walt Rulffes warned that more than 2,300 district teachers faced layoffs if the 10 percent reduction in state support proposed by Gibbons was approved.
The position of the Nevada State Education Association, an umbrella organization for local teachers unions, has been that salary concessions must be bargained. The association wants to review all sources of school revenue to determine whether other funds could be used to avoid layoffs or pay cuts.
Haldeman said the district is looking at laying off 100 of its 1,340 

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Lawmakers looking favorably on cuts in education funding - baltimoresun.com

Lawmakers looking favorably on cuts in education funding - baltimoresun.com
For decades, Maryland lawmakers have built up public education through spending requirements that they've imposed on themselves and on local governments. But this year, more seriously than ever, the General Assembly is looking for ways to nip at school funding.

There's broad agreement among lawmakers that the depth and length of the national economic downturn means the time has come to review this previously untouchable part of the budget - which accounts for about 20 percent of state spending.

Del. John L. Bohanan Jr., a Democrat and chairman of the House of Delegates education budget subcommittee, said the economy has forced the General Assembly to consider changes to education funding that "12 months ago would never have even been up for discussion.

"Now we're looking at these drastic measures that may be needed to balance the budget," he said.
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Monica Yant Kinney: Another pin in the privacy balloon | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/28/2010

Monica Yant Kinney: Another pin in the privacy balloon | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/28/2010

In the week since the Lower Merion School District "Webcamgate" saga went viral, many have focused on unanswered questions, angry denials, and salacious details about the accusing family. But let's not lose sight of the unassailable facts:
Lower Merion officials admitted using remote-access Web cam software 42 times this academic year, ostensibly to hunt missing laptops.
They admitted they had not sought parental permission to peer into minors' personal lives and homes.
And the district did not put a halt to the clandestine activity until it was sued by the family of Harriton High student Blake Robbins.
As Lillie Coney of the Electronic Privacy Information Center put it: "If they thought it was right, they wouldn't have stopped.
"But they weren't thinking. And they weren't planning to get caught. So they didn't tell anybody."
A fourth fact about this educational eye-opener? That it's yet another example of a troubling post-9/11 erosion of personal privacy.
Much of what we used to hold dear we now give away in exchange for convenience or store discounts. Other personal liberties are snatched from us in the never-ending war on terrorism.
But school district techies peering into private homes, even for a moment, under the guise of locating a lost laptop? Even in this "surveillance society
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Teachers union accepts furlough days in proposed contract - SignOnSanDiego.com

Teachers union accepts furlough days in proposed contract - SignOnSanDiego.com

SAN DIEGO — Nearly two years after its contract expired, the San Diego teachers union has reached a tentative settlement for a new labor pact with the San Diego Unified School District, officials announced yesterday.
Calling it a “monumental victory,” union officials said the contract calls for five furlough days in each of the next two school years. That amounts to a pay cut of roughly 2.74 percent and a savings of about $15 million to the district, said Camille Zombro, president of the San Diego Education Association.
District officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Under the proposed agreement, the district would restore salaries to its more than 8,000 part- and full-time teachers and raise pay by 7.16 percent during the 2012-13 school year.
“Protecting schools doesn’t have to mean hurting teachers. This will be painful, but it’s not a lose-your-house, can’t-pay-the mortgage cut,” Zombro said.
San Diego Unified has slashed $300 million from its budget since 2008 due in part to a reduction in state funding.
California’s second-largest school district faces an estimated $87.8 million deficit in next year’s $1.2 billion budget. Proposed pay cuts of up to 8 percent were rejected by the union before it agreed to trim the school year by five days with unpaid furloughs. The proposed contract also calls for an increase in medical co-payments from $5 to $10.
Under the contract, which must be ratified by the school board, the district would cancel the furloughs should its fiscal situation improve. Nursing and counseling staffing levels would also be protected from immediate cuts. Class sizes would be
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Governor Condemns ‘Intolerable Acts of Racism’ at UCSD | NBC San Diego

Governor Condemns ‘Intolerable Acts of Racism’ at UCSD | NBC San Diego

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger condemned “intolerable acts of racism and incivility” on UC Campuses Saturday, including UCSD.
"I am deeply troubled by the horrific incidents that recently took place on various campuses of the University of California system,” he said.
He called the acts unacceptable and said he would join the University of California President, Chancellors and student leaders in condemning the incidents.
“There is no excuse for this kind of behavior in our system of higher education or anywhere else and it will not be tolerated," the Governor said.
Campus Protests Break Out After Noose Found
UCSD students held a number of protests Friday -- including one inside the chancellor's office -- after the discovery of a noose at a campus library.
A noose was found hanging at the Geisel Library around 10 p.m. Thursday, according to campus police. Officers confirmed after noon Friday that one person was in custody in connection with the act


Source: Governor Condemns ‘Intolerable Acts of Racism’ at UCSD | NBC San Diego 
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UPDATE student admits to noose: UCSD students angry after finding noose in library

UPDATE student admits to noose: UCSD students angry after finding noose in library

A student admitted to hanging a noose in the library at the University of California-San Diego has been suspended.  The act is being investigated as a possible hate crime "with intent to terrorize," said campus spokesman Rex Graham.
The noose was found hanging from a light fixture on the seventh floor of the Geisel Library. Hanging a noose to terrorize is considered a hate crime and punishable up to a year in jail.  This is the latest of a series of incidents on the campus over the last two weeks. The first was an off-campus party, called the "Compton Cookout" which urged people to dress "ghetto" and offered food such as watermelon and chicken and malt liquor to drink.

Students wearing red handkerchiefs over their faces stood in front of Chancellor Marye Anne Fox's office chanting "Real pain, real change." Hundreds of students rallied and denounced the noose as an example of intolerance on a campus where less than 2 percent of students are black. In a news conference on Friday, Fox said 
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Call-Out to Students and Education Workers: Post March 4th Reports and Photos to Indybay : Indybay

Call-Out to Students and Education Workers: Post March 4th Reports and Photos to Indybay : Indybay

University, College, and High School Students and Education Workers
Publish Your March 4th Breaking News, Reports, Photos and Video to Indybay.org

fp_indybaylogo.gif
fp_indybaylogo.gif

The Importance of Radical Activists and Journalists Utilizing Indymedia

As March 4th approaches, your schemes are being firmed up, and the resistance commences against budget cuts and fee hikes, be sure to make plans for documenting the actions in which you participate and witness. If not you yourself, then discuss with others who amongst you can best capture and report on what happens in the streets or occupations. Do not rely on the corporate media to tell your story. They are guaranteed to disappoint with shallow coverage that never tells the full story, especially not from your perspective, or from that of those standing up against the dismantling of public education in California. You and your allies must tell the stories yourselves.

Indybay has a proud 10-year history as a radical news website where activists and independent journalists continue to publish their own news in their own words. Indybay.org — the website of the SF Bay Area and Santa Cruz Independent Media Centers — is a unique and invaluable open-publishing resource where every reader can also be a reporter.

Long before corporate "Web 2.0" sites were allowing users to post photos and video, Indybay was hosting a wide breadth of activist's' stories and media from across Northern California and beyond. Besides the obvious problem of patronizing large for-profit corporations that often work against the interests of social justice, corporate websites routinely hand over personally identifiable information to law enforcement or other corporations, whereas Indybay values your security and privacy in ways such as not logging the IP addresses of those who post to the site.

Additionally, at mega-sites your content might get seen but it also can easily get lost amongst personal anecdotes and cute cat videos in not much time. That sort of conten
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The Prox: An alternative to ‘higher’ education

The Prox: An alternative to ‘higher’ education

An alternative to ‘higher’ education

Oaksterdam University and Med Grow Cannabis College, located in California and Michigan, respectively, seek to introduce its students to the cannabis industry in a legal fashion.
It is unlikely that the six-week course at Med Grow Cannabis College ($475 tuition) or the series of weekend seminars offered at Oaksterdam University ($150 tuition) can be transferred to Princeton for University credit.

Students at these institutions, ‘high’-minded in several ways, are free from the stress of midterms and finals — what can be considered as an ‘extracurricular’ activity at colleges across the nation is now the main focus of curriculum at these institutions. Still, there is no smoking in class, per se.

At the moment, 14 states allow the use of medical marijuana: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

New Jersey’s Medical Marijuana Act, signed by Jon Corzine this past January, will officially take effect on July 18, 2010. If New Jersey follows in the footsteps of California and Michigan, it may not be too long before we see our own share of cannabis colleges here on the east coast.

http://chronicle.com/article/High-Minded-College-Offers-/64288/
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Welcome to Workday Minnesota, your leading source for labor news!

Welcome to Workday Minnesota, your leading source for labor news!:

"Rally March 4 to ‘defend public education’

MINNEAPOLIS-AFSCME locals at the University of Minnesota are organizing a rally March 4 at noon outside Morrill Hall on the university’s Minneapolis campus as part of a “National Day of Action to Defend Public Education.”
The day originated in California as a response to draconian cuts in the University of California system, becoming a national call to action as universities and K-12 school systems across the country became targets of budget cuts.

At the University of Minnesota, administrators are considering furloughs by all university employees to save money. AFSCME locals have begun a “Chop from the Top” campaign.

“The March 4 National Day of Action rally will be a loud and public demand that the budget crisis not be solved by cutting the lowest-paid workers at the University,” said Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800, which represents U of M clerical workers. For more information on the National Day of Action: www.defendeducation.org."
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The Brown Daily Herald - Editorial: Cut it out

The Brown Daily Herald - Editorial: Cut it out:

"Last week, the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California at Berkeley, released a report that analyzed funding for higher education from a comparative international perspective. According to the report, the United States is an outlier in that it has responded to the current economic recession by sharply cutting public funding for colleges and universities.
The authors of the report note that public colleges and universities in the United States depend heavily on cash-strapped state governments. By contrast, other countries’ central governments have made a strong commitment to education. As a result, “most nations have not thus far resorted to uncoordinated cutting of funding for higher education that we generally see in U.S. state systems.”
The researchers at Berkeley have pointed out a disconcerting systemic problem. In the United States, education seems among the first on the chopping block when times get tough — it is a sector especially prone to frequent and sizeable cuts."
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Bash Ends With Fire, Vandalism - Daily Nexus

Bash Ends With Fire, Vandalism - Daily Nexus:

"Bash Ends With Fire, Vandalism
Dissent Over Rising Costs Leads to Arrests, Damage to Property"


UC Berkeley — A protest condemning tuition fee increases turned violent when hundreds of demonstrators at UC Berkeley transformed a flash mob dance party into a riot.
Roughly 200 demonstrators gathered in UC Berkeley’s Upper Sproul Plaza on Thursday evening for a dance party aimed to rally support for an upcoming nationwide protest supporting public education set for March 4. Attendees then occupied a campus building and by 1:30 a.m. had flooded the streets of downtown Berkeley.
Rioters clashed with police and vandalized public property, breaking windows and setting trashcans and dumpsters on fire. Officials said protestors also hurled rocks and bottles during the altercation.
The riot was met by roughly two dozen UC Police Dept. and 
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Community Evaluates Riot's Impact on Advocacy Efforts - The Daily Californian

Community Evaluates Riot's Impact on Advocacy Efforts - The Daily Californian

Though individuals touting the cause of public education rioted Friday morning, organizers of the upcoming day of statewide action said the March 4 demonstrations will not be defined by further violence.
Rioting broke out Friday morning on the south side of the UC Berkeley campus where 200 people gathered to dance, clashed with police and vandalized public property. With days remaining until the statewide protests planned for March 4, student and faculty organizers said advocating for public education is the best way for the campus community to move forward.
UC Berkeley senior Marika Goodrich, 28, was arrested at the intersection of Durant and Telegraph avenues and booked for assault on a police officer, inciting a riot and resisting arrest, according to Berkeley police Officer Andrew Frankel. Zachary Miller, 26, a UC Berkeley alumnus and an organizer for the "Rolling University," was also arrested at the intersection and was booked for inciting a riot, resisting arrest and obstructing a police officer.
Both are being held at Berkeley City Jail and will be arraigned Monday. Two officers suffered minor injuries but did not require medical attention, according to a BPD statement.
Activists from all sectors of public education are expected to rally for increased state investment on March 4.
But some organizers of the upcoming protests said the student movement is decentralized. Whether more rioting, building occupations or confrontations with law enforcement ensues is a matter of what individual activists decide, said graduate student Callie Maidhof, an organizer and spokesperson for the Durant Hall occupiers.
"The riot seems likes a very clear example of what happens when the state has abused its power for so long," she said. "We're not a centralized movement. If (the riot) is not what people want to see happen on March 4, that's not what they'll do. Nobody is forcing
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Quick Takes: Obama Picks Another Californian for Top Education Post - Inside Higher Ed

Quick Takes: Obama Picks Another Californian for Top Education Post - Inside Higher Ed:

"President Obama last week nominated Eduardo M. Ochoa, the No. 2 official at Sonoma State University, to be assistant secretary for postsecondary education at the U.S. Department of Education. Ochoa, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Sonoma since 2003, and a professor of economics at institution as well, has spent most of his career in the California State University system, previously serving as business dean at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona and as a professor and chair of economics and statistics at California State University at Los Angeles. The assistant secretary for postsecondary education historically has been the federal government's top higher education official. But if the Senate confirms Ochoa's nomination as assistant secretary, he would join an unusually crowded group of higher education policy makers at the Education Department -- most of whom are Californians. In addition to Under Secretary Martha J. Kanter, who was chancellor of Foothill-De Anza Community College District, the department's upper ranks also includes Robert Shireman, who has since March been serving as deputy under secretary, a new position in this administration that did not require Senate confirmation. Daniel Madzelan, a long-time career official in the department, is acting as assistant secretary."
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Why we're protesting, part one | SocialistWorker.org

Why we're protesting, part one | SocialistWorker.org:

"Why we're protesting, part one


March 4 will be a day of strikes and protests to defend public education for students, teachers, faculty, campus workers and members of the community in California. The movement to save our schools is building at every level of the public education system.


We asked some of the people organizing for the day of action to explain what they're fighting for. We'll publish their statements over three days."



Why we're protesting, part one

March 4 will be a day of strikes and protests to defend public education for students, teachers, faculty, campus workers and members of the community in California. The movement to save our schools is building at every level of the public education system.
We asked some of the people organizing for the day of action to explain what they're fighting for. We'll publish their statements over three days.
Fresno State protesters demonstrating against budget cuts and furloughs last October (Diane M. Blair)Fresno State protesters demonstrating against budget cuts and furloughs last October (Diane M. Blair)
Brian Malone
Graduate student, University of California Santa Cruz
I AM a graduate student in literature, and my department (along with every other department in the humanities) has been among the hardest hit at University of California Santa Cruz. Funding for graduate students is scarce: I've watched many of my friends and colleagues take leaves of absence this year, and I wonder if I will need to do the same next year.
But I'm not just angry about my own uncertain future; I'm angry for my students. The supposedly prestigious UC education that my students are receiving is merely a ghost of what it was even five years ago.
Course enrollments are already too large, and increasing yearly. Teaching assistants and discussion sections are being cut. Libraries may soon be closed for days at a time. Written assignments are being reduced or replaced with multiple-choice exams. Retention programs for economically disadvantaged students and students of color are being slashed. And for this, my students--those who can afford to remain in school--will pay 32 percent more in tuition. I can't stand for this. And neither should you.
The UCSC March 4 Strike Committee--a body made up of students, faculty, and 
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The Diamondback - Activism: Getting what we can take

The Diamondback - Activism: Getting what we can take

For student activists, it’s hard to point to wins. The structures of the university are made to seem inevitable and enduring, and you’d never know by looking that the Maryland Food Co-op or Shuttle-UM were originally projects of student resistance. As soon as students win anything, it is quickly swallowed into the mythology of the university, leaving only a trace of its origins. But as stable as the university seems, it is and has always been in a constant state of flux, a dynamic project between all affected parties.
Of course, there are tensions between different affected groups: Students want to pay less and still have access to a quality, holistic education,;workers want a living wage and to be treated with respect; the state wants to improve the school’s reputation while also paying less; and administrators just want to be paid more. The state and administrators have been incredibly successful at convincing students that we all share the same set of goals and that students (or faculty and staff for that matter) advocating for their own interests are selfish and not committed to the well-being of the university. Last week, the Student Government Association split evenly on whether to support the state’s proposed 3-percent tuition increase in an act of “thank you, sir, may I have another?” masochistic confusion.
Students themselves are eager to point out the contradictions between wanting to pay less and learn more — as if there were a direct causation there — but no one wants to tell the state it can’t cut our 
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After budget cuts, Texas colleges woo Calif. educators | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

After budget cuts, Texas colleges woo Calif. educators | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

SAN DIEGO — In the cutthroat game of university recruiting, one state's fiscal crisis is another's opportunity.
While the revered University of California is getting pounded by deep state budget cuts, the University of Texas System is trumpeting its robust fiscal fitness in print advertisements, a calculated bid to lure some of the nation's top scientists and professors to Texas while the getting is good.
The UT System ran a full-page ad in the Chronicle of Higher Education this month with the headline, “Texas can take you higher,” boasting that billions of dollars were available to hire star professors, support research and build new facilities and that there was a 7 percent increase in state funding last year.
In her office at the University of California at San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, a former administrator at UT-Austin, took note of the burnt orange ad with a wry smile.
“The impression we get in California is that there are unlimited funds in Texas,” Fox said.
But how long will Texas be able to boast deep pockets?
Come 2011, Texas is facing a budget shortfall, and Gov. Rick Perry has asked all state agencies to chop 5 percent of state funds out of their budget before then. Leaders at public community colleges and universities glumly submitted proposed cuts, warning that wage and hiring freezes could wipe out Texas' competitive edge.

California's ‘mistake'

Some academics are turning to the business lobby to spare them from cuts, saying their influence with GOP lawmakers could coax more dollars for higher education.
“Don't make the same mistake California did. Don't do it,” William Henrich, president of the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, said at a recent meeting of college presidents, lawmakers and business leaders. “The business community is such a powerful voice in Texas. They have to make the argument to lawmakers.”
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March 4 Day of Action: Historic day for education? - Santa Cruz Sentinel

March 4 Day of Action: Historic day for education? - Santa Cruz Sentinel

SANTA CRUZ -- Thursday, if labor organizers and advocates have their way, all levels of education will come to a grinding halt throughout the state as tens of thousands of students, teachers and their supporters march on Sacramento and in their communities in protest of California's education crisis.
The state's $20 billion budget deficit has trickled down to K-12 and higher education, leaving school districts, community colleges and universities scrambling to cut programs and staff to fill gaping budget holes. The proposed state budget leaves education short about $2.5 billion, despite Gov. Schwarzenegger's pledge to fully fund K-12 education.
UC Santa Cruz officials have had to cut about $50 million from their budget in the past two years and have asked academic and support services chairs for tentative plans to cut either 5.5 percent or 11 percent more for next year. Cabrillo College, with a spring enrollment of 5,514, is teaching the equivalent of 1,500 full-time students without state compensation, which runs between $4,500 and $5,000 per year per the equivalent of a full-time student.
Santa Cruz City Schools is looking to cut $5.2 million next year while the Pajaro Valley Unified School District is facing the loss of $8.7 million next year on top of $14 million in cuts for this year. Those include cuts to custodial staff and an assistant superintendent, class size increases from 20 to 30 students in kindergarten and third grade, and the loss of
all sports funding.
Scotts Valley is figuring out how to spread $1.5 million in cuts over the next three years. Other districts are dipping into rainy day funds to make up their differences, and nearly all are relying increasingly on parent fundraising.
Thursday's protests are part of a month-long demonstration for education, one piece of a solidarity movement by educators who are trying to show that troubles at one level of education impact all others.
"It's really an autonomous effort between students, workers and ... teachers," said Matthew Palm, UCSC Student Union Assembly commissioner of academic affairs.
About 120 UCSC students will be in Sacramento today to lobby, but the main focus is
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Sacramento's Hmong community divided over charter school - Sacramento Recreation and Places to Visit - Sacramento, Gold Country, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco | Sacramento Bee

Sacramento's Hmong community divided over charter school - Sacramento Recreation and Places to Visit - Sacramento, Gold Country, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco | Sacramento Bee


The idea of a charter school tailored to Hmong students has generated excitement among local Hmong educators and parents, whose children are some of the lowest achievers in the Sacramento City Unified School District.
Proponents of the school say the struggles of Hmong students have been obscured by the academic successes of Asian students in general. Specialized teaching methods and lessons at the Yav Pem Suab Academy, they say, would help those children flourish.
But the pastor of a small Hmong church on 47th Avenue says the proposed school lumps together culturally different ethnic Hmong groups.
Sacramento's estimated 20,000 Hmong include White Hmong, Blue Hmong (some of whom don't spell it with an "H" and are also known as Green Hmong) and even Striped Hmong and Black Hmong.
The Rev. Txer Paul Vang of the 130-member Hmong Calvary Evangelism Center details differences in dialect, spelling and culture in a passionate letter to Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Jonathan Raymond. He charges that the proposed charter marginalizes the Blue Hmong-Green Hmong.
Raymond could not be reached 
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