Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Procurement in Child Nutrition Programs - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education)

Procurement in Child Nutrition Programs - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education):

Procurement in Child Nutrition Programs

Federal and state information for the procurement of food service related goods and services across all federally funded child nutrition programs and the USDA Foods Program.

Introduction

This Web page provides procurement information for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) child nutrition programs (CNP) administered by the California Department of Education (CDE), including the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), and the Food Distribution Program (FDP). Procurement requirements apply to all agencies that participate in CNPs. The CDE is committed to providing ongoing guidance to support CNP agencies with the proper procurement of goods and services, and encourages all CNP agencies to routinely review and use the resources on both this Web page and the Procurement in School Nutrition Programs Web page.

Background

The federal government, in an attempt to streamline the administration of federal grants, consolidated several federal regulatory sections into Title 2, Code of Federal Regulations (2 CFR), Part 200, Subtitle A, Chapter II. Part 200 of 2 CFRreplaces existing rules in Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, parts 3015, 3016, 3019, and 3052, and cost principles addressed in 2 CFR, parts 215, 220, 225, and 230 (Office of Management and Budget Circulars A-133, A-21, A-87, and A-122, respectively). Sponsors can find the Super Circular on the U.S. Government Publishing Office Electronic Code of Federal Regulations Part 200 Web page.

The procurement standards in the Super Circular became effective for the NSLP, CACFP, SFSP, and FDP on October 1, 2015.

Overview

Procurement is defined as a multistep process for obtaining goods and services at the lowest possible price. The steps in this process include planning, writing specifications, advertising the procurement, awarding a contract, and managing the contract. Procurement standards for the CNPs are located in 2 CFR, sections 200.317–200.326 and in Appendix II to Part 200. At a minimum, the regulations require CNP participating districts and agencies to:

Conduct procurements in a manner that promotes full and open competition.
Develop and maintain a written Standard (or Code) of Conduct that covers conflicts of interest, including organizational conflicts of interest, and governs the performance of employees engaged in the selection, award, and administration of contracts.
Develop and maintain written procurement procedures designed to avoid the acquisition of unnecessary or duplicative items.

Federal Regulations

The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations 2 CFR Part 200 Web page
Includes general procurement regulations in 2 CFR, sections 200.317–200.326.
USDA Policy Memorandum SP 30-2015, CACFP 16-2015, and SFSP 18-2015
This policy memo includes a link to a set of Frequently Asked Questions about the Super Circular.
Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, Subchapter A, parts 210–299
Federal regulations governing all CNPs.

Resources

The resources listed below provide guidance to CNP districts and agencies about procurement.

Procurement in the 21st Century
From the Institute of Child Nutrition, this training course is a federally endorsed resource designed specifically for CNP agencies.

School Nutrition Programs

Procuring Local Foods
This USDA Web page contains a guide, decision tree, policies, and resources to help ensure that agencies have the resources and knowledge necessary to incorporate local foods into their day-to-day operations.
Procurement—School Nutrition Programs
This CDE Web page contains regulations, requirements, and guidance governing all school food service procurements for the School Nutrition Programs (SNP).

Child and Adult Care Food Program

Local Foods and Related Activities in the Child and Adult Care Food Program
This USDA Web page provides a variety of procurement resources.

Summer Food Service Program

Administrative Guidance for Sponsors
This USDA FNS handbook for SFSP sponsors contains updated procurement information resulting from the Super Circular.

Cafeteria Fund

Cafeteria Fund Guidance
This CDE Web page provides information about the cafeteria fund, a restricted account that SNP agencies may use only for the operation and improvement of the nonprofit school food service.

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding this subject, please contact your Program Specialist. A list of Program Specialists is available in the Download Forms section of the Child Nutrition Information and Payment System.

You can also contact the following program support staff for assistance:

School Nutrition Programs: Stephani Head, Office Technician, by phone at 916-322-3005 or by e-mail at[email protected].

School Food Service Contracts: Debbie Reeves, Office Technician, by phone at 916-319-0636 or by e-mail at[email protected].

Child and Adult Care Food Program: Nancy Charpentier, Office Technician, by phone at 916-327-2991 or by e-mail at[email protected].

Summer Food Service Program: Larry Frakes, Office Technician, by phone at 916-322-8323 or by e-mail at[email protected].

You can also contact the Nutrition Services Division toll-free by phone at 800-952-5609.

Questions: School Food Services Contracts Unit|[email protected]|800-952-5609

Last Reviewed: Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Procurement in Child Nutrition Programs - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education):

Please Join Truth For America Thunderclap – Cloaking Inequity

Please Join Truth For America Thunderclap – Cloaking Inequity:

Please Join Truth For America Thunderclap

On February 5th, 6th, and 7th in Washington DC, TFA will have their 25 year anniversary alumni summit. Time to fact check and share the real truth about TFA.

The Network for Public Education Action and the Badass Teachers have planned a social media Thunderclap. Please sign up here.

Teach For America is facing headwind. Several states have cut back funding and TFA has revealed that they are short of their lofty recruiting goals that were set when they received $50 million from Arne Duncan a few years ago.

And now, many in the current generation of Teach For America alumni have become more and more vocal about the detriments of the organization.

The Washington Post recently published an excerpt from Teach For America Counter-Narratives: Alumni Speak Up and Speak Out, a new book that “tells the story of the controversial organization through the eyes of alumni who share their experiences and insight about working in TFA.”

In her chapter, Wendy Chovnick, a former corps member in Washington, D.C. schools, who also served as chief of staff to the executive director in the Phoenix TFA office relayed that “expecting corps members to be transformational leaders and close the achievement gap in their first year of teaching is foolish.”

Eric Ruiz Bybee, a former New York City TFA corps member, recently wrote Teach for America stumbles because its teachers aren’t prepared. He relayed that Teach For America must reform because and that “all it takes is the willingness to finally recognize that five weeks of preparation is not enough.”

Please join the Thunderclap. Please sign up here.

T. Jameson Brewer, a former Atlanta TFA corps member, and David Greene wrote in the piece School Districts Have the Power to Change TFA that “since it is unlikely that TFA will enact meaningful change in the face of criticism, we contend that the school districts that have the power to decide to partner with TFA or not begin to set those changes into motion.”

The Network for Public Education (NPE) and the Badass Teachers Association (BATS) have noticed and supports the TFA alumni who are Please Join Truth For America Thunderclap – Cloaking Inequity:

Thunderclap. Please sign up here.

For all of Cloaking Inequity’s posts on Teach For America click here.

Please Facebook Like, Tweet, etc below and/or reblog to share this discussion with others.

Want to know about Cloaking Inequity’s freshly pressed conversations about educational policy? Click the “Follow blog by email” button on the home page.

Twitter: @ProfessorJVH

Click here for Vitae.

(Thanks to Robin Hiller for writing the text that is the basis of this post)

Lack of quality schools will doom common enrollment in New Orleans: Andre Perry | NOLA.com

Lack of quality schools will doom common enrollment in New Orleans: Andre Perry | NOLA.com:
Lack of quality schools will doom common enrollment in New Orleans: Andre Perry

Students aren't randomly assigned to schools that all operate under the same set of rules and that means we can't think of schools as stock cars in the same race. But it's still how public school parents capitulate to Louisiana's system of assigning letter grades to schools.

School letter grades draw significantly from school test scores — numbers that often say more about how much money parents make than the quality of instruction students receive. Other factors that make it difficult to see exactly what a grade says about a school include: Biased and opaque entrance examinations, a lack of transportation, excessive school discipline, disservices to special-needs students and inequitable funding.

See the best, worst New Orleans public schools

Louisiana Department of Education releases 2015 school grades

There were no "A" graded schools out of the 54 in the Recovery School District, which has a higher percentage of low-income and special needs students than its Orleans Parish School Board counterparts. Orleans Parish schools, which has three selective admissions schools out of 19 total, has no "F" schools.

In New Orleans, school letter grades are also stand-ins for how much liberty we give wealthy people to curate their own school populations.

For instance, New Orleans' "A" rated Lusher Charter School includes an achievement test, attendance zone and a separate application for those who don't live within their catchment zone to enroll students. Really, what does an "A" really mean?

The Louisiana attorney general forced Lusher executives to reveal the name of the test (Wechsler Individual Achievement Test) they use as the basis for their weeding processes.

The equity problem is bigger than the 26 "A" or "B" schools including Lusher. Some advocates claim that schools' impending participation in the common enrollment system, known as OneApp, will eliminate discriminatory weed-out procedures by having a computer reduce human error and bias (non-participating Orleans Parish schools like Lusher will have to join OneApp when their charters are renewed). Like the grading system, OneApp is neither a solution for a mindset of exclusivity nor higher order equity problems in New Orleans.

The Louisiana Department of Education's equity efforts should focus on making sure there is a quality school in every neighborhood. A common-enrollment program without quality schools efficiently shuffles kids between mediocre ones. That's not equity. Too many advocates prioritize choice before quality in both sequence and effort — this is wrong headed. Common enrollment is needed, but it's another limited step in the goal of providing quality choices in every neighborhood.

Let's be real. Lusher is not doing everything it can do to prove its "A" status and provide access to students who need great schools. However, there are those who seek to make Lusher and other schools that do not currently participate in Lack of quality schools will doom common enrollment in New Orleans: Andre Perry | NOLA.com:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Claypool threatens war on schools if CTU won't bend.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Claypool threatens war on schools if CTU won't bend.:
Claypool threatens war on schools if CTU won't bend.

Claypool's threatening letter

LEFT COAST--I'm blogging from L.A. this week and missing all the action back in Chiraq. If I had the dough, I would fly back just for Thursday's big blowout CTU rally in response to Rahm's threatened $100M in new school cuts.

A letter sent by Forrest Claypool to the union Tuesday said that within 30 days, CPS would stop paying the teachers’ share of pension contributions (as if they'd been paying them up until now), order school administrators to cut $50 million by laying off 1,000 teachers and "re-shuffle" $50 million that goes toward general education funding to schools. That re-shuffling of Title I and II funds will hit hardest at kids with special needs and English-language learners.

Claypool says he will drop the threats if the union would only agree to his contract offer which CTU's bargaining team unanimously rejected. I believe that's called blackmail. Or maybe -- hostage taking.

The CTU calls it "war" on the schools. Thursday's a good day to battle.

Very very...The first meeting Rahm Emanuel’s newly formed Police Accountability Task Force produced the quote of the week from Lori Lightfoot,Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Claypool threatens war on schools if CTU won't bend.:

Hidden computer algorithms in schools: Personalized Learning #RobotTeaching – Missouri Education Watchdog

Hidden computer algorithms in schools: Personalized Learning #RobotTeaching – Missouri Education Watchdog:

Hidden computer algorithms in schools: Personalized Learning #RobotTeaching

Your internet searches say a lot about you (or your children) and it might not be all good, or even accurate. The information collected by hidden algorithms is not limited to what you search for, it’s everything you do on the computer: what you type, how fast you type, your emotions, (evenkeystrokes can apparently detect emotion), how slow she reads, how poorly he spells, or if he is faking having ADHD, and let’s not forget data badges.

This Good Morning America Investigates segment shows that a simple internet search for medical symptoms or hay fever, can land your name, your address and more on a list as having heart disease or incorrectly list you as an asthma sufferer. Every internet search, everything you do online, can be tracked by companies using computer programs, as explained in this piece by 60 Minutes, The Data Brokers.

Personal information about you can be gathered by a computer algorithm, be further analyzed, packaged by data brokers and sold to different markets. Lists can be sold to drug companies, insurance companies, possible employers, colleges, literally anyone with an interest. Are you wondering what lists you are on? Wondering whether your data on these lists are accurate or wondering how that data are being used? You should be curious and concerned because data algorithms can be biased; data can be wrong and passive data collecting algorithms seem to be everywhere, including schools, but no one can see them.

Facebook claims to know your posture, can map your face, and claims it can recognize you from the back of your head. Facebook also reportedly has a patent for technology that could potentially be used for evaluating your credit risk, which they say could be used to view your Hidden computer algorithms in schools: Personalized Learning #RobotTeaching – Missouri Education Watchdog:

The Washington Teacher: Coming Soon To A School Near You: DC Mayor Announces Extended School Year

The Washington Teacher: Coming Soon To A School Near You: DC Mayor Announces Extended School Year:

Coming Soon To A School Near You: DC Mayor Announces Extended School Year

Written By, Candi Peterson, WTU General Vice President

Statements or expressions of opinions herein 'do not' represent the views or official positions of DCPS, AFT, Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) or its members. Views are my own. Before it was officially announced, The Washington Teacher blog was the first to break the report of DC Public Schools plans to extend the school year on Thursday, January 28, 2016 in SE middle schools. Click on The Washington Teacher in red to see details of my story: The Washington TeacherNow there is official confirmation of DCPS' plans. According to the Mayor's public schedule- Mayor Muriel Bowser and Chancellor Kaya Henderson will announce their extended school year at several DC Public Schools for the 2016-17 school year at 11 am. Others in attendance include: Council member David Grosso, Committee on Education Chair, Charlotte Butler, Principal of Hart Middle School, and Natalie Hubbard, Principal of Raymond Education Campus. The event will be held at Hart Middle School which is located at 601 Mississippi Avenue, SE.According to the press release, this event is being held during Education week in a "week-long effort to highlight how the District is accelerating the pace of school reform and creating pathways to the middle class for District residents." The reasons given in Mayor Bowser's press release for extending the school year point to un-named research which states that "time away from school during the summer contributes to the achievement gap. Providing more time for instruction not only increases time for reading and math, it also provides students more time to explore art, music, foreign language, and other interests. School districts across the country that have The Washington Teacher: Coming Soon To A School Near You: DC Mayor Announces Extended School Year:

“Cross Pollinating” Special and General Education Teachers

“Cross Pollinating” Special and General Education Teachers:

“Cross Pollinating” Special and General Education Teachers

Can one teacher effectively teach students with a variety of disability and/or language needs? Or do we need special education teachers?

Perhaps a better question is, can computers do the job of both regular and special education teachers?

Here is an example of what I am talking about. This ad appeared for a webinar throughEducation Week underwritten by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. I have noticed nuanced messages in a lot of ads for teacher training. See what you think.

Adams 50’s Steve Sandoval—a 2016 Education Week Leader to Learn From—created an “interventionist framework” out of frustration that his district’s talented education specialists were isolated by separate certifications, regulations, and funding streams. The framework helps to “cross-pollinate” teachers of special education, English-language learners, and gifted students, to identify common strategies and target interventions for all students. The approach has helped dramatically raise student achievement in the district during a time of demographic change, and has helped make possible Adams 50’s switch from traditional grade levels to a competency-“Cross Pollinating” Special and General Education Teachers:

All out for the CTU on Thursday. | Fred Klonsky

All out for the CTU on Thursday. | Fred Klonsky:

All out for the CTU on Thursday.

Screen Shot 2016-02-03 at 6.56.46 AM.jpg

Graphic: Ellen Gradman.

The Chicago Teachers Union has called for a large turnout on Thursday of teachers, parents and community members to demonstrate their outrage over the move by CPS CEO Forrres Clayfool to shred the collective bargaining process. Clayfool is acting unilaterally, promising to layoff hundreds, maybe thousands, of staff and to cut contractual compensation.

Prior to the vote of the bargaining team to reject the last board offer on Monday, some self-proclaimed critics of little substance attacked Karen Lewis and the CTU leadership team for selling-out the membership by accepting a tentative agreement. Jumping the gun before the bargaining team or the membership even had a chance to see what was offered seemed very divisive to me.

There was no TA.

Chicago Teacher’s Union VP Jesse Sharkey appeared on Chicago Tonight and discussed the current situation.

On the bargaining unit’s rejection of what was initially described as a “serious offer”
“It was never a tentative agreement,” Sharkey said. “We deliberated for more than 40 hours. There are a number of things that are in this offer that people took very seriously and as a sign of progress. But in the end, we just can’t trust the district to live up to a series of promises that they made.”
On the state of continued negotiations
“We had a brief meeting this morning. Kind of a gut-check,” Sharkey said. “Today was a pretty tense day, but we wanted to reaffirm the commitment. We have a serious bargaining relationship with the
All out for the CTU on Thursday. | Fred Klonsky:

Network for Public Education Rates States’ Support for Public Education | janresseger

Network for Public Education Rates States’ Support for Public Education | janresseger:

Network for Public Education Rates States’ Support for Public Education

On Tuesday afternoon, the Network for Public Education (NPE) released a report that evaluates the states by what is today an unconventional set of standards. States earn points if they have valued school teachers and supported the professionalization of teaching. States earn points for having invested in adequate school funding equitably distributed and for investing in research-proven programs. And they gain points for reducing poverty and integrating schools racially and economically. The report takes away points from states that have attached high stakes to the federally mandated standardized tests. NPE removes points from states that have privatized schools.

Here is NPE’s description of the principles affirmed in the new report: “NPE values specific policies that will make our public schools vibrant and strong—a well-trained, professional teaching force, adequate and equitable funding wisely spent, and policies that give all students a better opportunity for success, such as integrated schools and low stakes attached to any standardized tests they take. We applaud those states that have resisted the forces of privatization and profiteering that in recent years have been called ‘reforms.'”

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, our society has increasingly evaluated schools by the test score outcomes they are said to “produce” with lessening attention to measures of opportunity—the resource inputs necessary for ensuring that children have well-prepared teachers, small enough classes for children to be known and supported by an adult, enough funding for competitive salaries, and a rich curriculum including the arts. The report ranks the states by their policies that guarantee the provision of such resource opportunities.

In the section on “professionalization of teaching,” the report confronts policies in some states that view teachers “as interchangeable—experience is discounted, even viewed as a flaw.” Instead, “Teaching should be a long-term career commitment. Research shows that experience matters and leads to better student outcomes, including increased learning, better attendance and fewer disciplinary referrals. Advanced content degrees, especially in mathematics and science, have a positive effect on student learning and good pre-service field experience builds teacher effectiveness, confidence and job satisfaction.”

Money matters, and provides smaller classes and more support staff. “More spending is Network for Public Education Rates States’ Support for Public Education | janresseger:

State legislators pitch 3 ideas to combat California teacher shortage | 89.3 KPCC

State legislators pitch 3 ideas to combat California teacher shortage | 89.3 KPCC:

State legislators pitch 3 ideas to combat California teacher shortage

State legislators unveiled three proposals on Tuesday to address California's teacher shortage.

The state Senate bills aim to improve recruitment of college students thinking about becoming teachers, increase mentorship of beginning teachers, and forgive student loans for teachers who work in high-need schools.

“The outlook across our state is bleak,” said State Senator Carol Liu (D-Pasadena) about the high demand for teachers and the low supply.

“Enrollment in our California teacher preparation programs has declined from 2001 to 2014 by 76 percent," she said. "With the future of our state and our students at stake, we cannot allow these trends to continue."

Liu’s bill would resurrect a program called CalTeach, which was eliminated in 2003 as a result of state budget cuts. The teacher credentialing process is often “complex and intimidating,” Liu said, and CalTeach helped college students understand how it worked while also explaining financial aid options.

State Senator Fran Pavley (D-Calabasas) authored SB 62 to reinstate a student loan forgiveness program for new teachers who teach for four years at a school with large numbers of disadvantaged students, or a rural school, or a school with a large number of emergency permits. The new teachers would also have to teach in a declared shortage area, and demonstrate financial need.

The third proposal, SB 933 authored by State Senator Ben Allen (D-West Los Angeles), would create matching grants for school districts to create or expand teacher residency programs.

It may take these and more efforts to turn around a widely held belief that teaching is a very unstable job. Until about five years ago, the most common news from school districts was how many teachers they were planning to layoff because of the recession.

“If I’m coming out of a college and I’m seeing this huge number of teachers that are on the market that have been laid off, I’m not going to go into teaching,” said Darren Knowles, assistant superintendent for human resources at Pomona Unified School District.

Knowles thinks the loan forgiveness proposal will help recruitment. He said Pomona Unified will fill about 35 teacher positions next year that opened due to retirements, relocations, and other reasons. And hiring won’t stop soon, he said, because 28 State legislators pitch 3 ideas to combat California teacher shortage | 89.3 KPCC:

CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE FAILING: The spectacular collapse of Deion Sanders’ Prime Prep Academy | | Dallas Morning News

The spectacular collapse of Deion Sanders’ Prime Prep Academy | | Dallas Morning News:
The spectacular collapse of Deion Sanders’ Prime Prep Academy

The now infamous Prime Prep Academy shut its door permanently a year ago with less than an hour’s notice. Students walked away from the Dallas and Fort Worth campuses with no school. Employees left without jobs or paychecks for their final month of work.

With tears and anger, the state’s most hyped and scrutinized charter – thanks in part to co-founder Deion Sanders – ceased to exist. Long after the school’s demise, its legacy continues beyond Sanders’ reality show and former Prime Prep basketball star Emmanuel Mudiay’s entry into the NBA.

A pair of lawsuits is still active, even after others were dropped. One targets the nonprofit work that led up to creation of the school, while the other was filed by ex-Prime Prep employees against school administrators. And local, state and federal officials launched investigations into wrongdoing. The school failed not because of tough new rules meant to shut down failing charter schools. Instead, financial mismanagement fueled the slow motion collapse and led to the school’s eventual insolvency.

Former Dallas ISD trustee Ron Price served as Prime Prep’s superintendent for most of the school’s final year. (G.J. McCarthy/Dallas Morning News)

Ron Price, a former Dallas ISD trustee who was superintendent for much of the last year, was hired to turn around the school.

He said he was misled about the school finances when he was hired, misled in the final months and rebuffed when he tried to cut expenses.

“If everybody involved would have been more truthful to me and our new team, I still believe we could have saved it,” he said.

Board President T. Christopher Lewis said the school’s demise could be traced back to early mistakes made by the school’s nonprofit sponsor Uplift Fort Worth.

“The issues with Prime Prep started before Prime Prep was even formed,” he said. “That was the ultimate demise of the financial situation…I will always have a great deal of regret that we couldn’t take a great idea and great opportunity and do more with it.”

When asked to comment via text message, Sanders said “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard all year.” Sanders, who was fired, rehired, fired and rehired at the school, initially pitched Prime Prep as a school that would create CEOs; succeed where other public schools failed; and do “good in the hood.”

But the school was marred by controversy from the beginning (here’ a timeline with some of those details) and the perception that it focused on athletics to the exclusion of academics. In 2013, the year ended with a high-profile fight for control between Sanders and co-founder D.L. Wallace, who was forced out of the school.

Prime Prep started 2014 with hope and ambition, much like it had when the schoolopened in 2012. Here’s a look at the final 13 months of Prime Prep and particularly the financial, legal and regulatory problems that led to its closure. This story is based on news stories, lawsuits, school documents, Texas Education Agency and Texas Comptroller data and Prime Prep’s bank register.

January, 2014. Enrollment: 580. State Funding: $397,867

Prime Prep started the year under investigation by the Texas Education Agency. The TEA was looking into allegations of conflicts of interest, failure to perform requiredcriminal background checks, inadequate financial reporting, lack of highly qualified The spectacular collapse of Deion Sanders’ Prime Prep Academy | | Dallas Morning News:

CEO to take over academics of four East Detroit schools

CEO to take over academics of four East Detroit schools:
CEO to take over academics of four East Detroit schools

The state will appoint a chief executive officer to oversee four chronically low-performing schools in East Detroit Public Schools.

It's an aggressive move by the State School Reform Office — and the biggest since Gov. Rick Snyder removed the office from the Michigan Department of Education to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget.

The CEO, to be appointed by the end of this school year, will have full authority over academics for three years and be ultimately responsible for ensuring achievement improves at those schools. The four schools are Bellview Elementary, Pleasantview Elementary, Kelly Middle and East Detroit High.

The appointment of the CEO in East Detroit is part of the reform office's urgent mission.

DETROIT FREE PRESS

Losing EM Earley could aid efforts to help DPS

"We've been largely focused on rapid school turnaround," said Natasha Baker, the state school reform officer. "Our mission is to turn priority schools into the highest-performing schools in the state."

Schools whose academic performance ranks among the bottom 5% in the state are identified as priority schools.

The state made the announcement today while also noting that 30 of the 88 schools named priority schools in 2012 are being removed from the list because they met annual goals in reading and math, plus met a goal of testing 95% of their students.Twenty-three of those schools have closed since 2012.

Snyder announced the move of the school reform office in March. At the time, he said the state needed a more proactive approach to fixing the worst-performing schools in the state. The move was largely seen as a way for Snyder to have direct control over the office. The MDE is overseen by an elected State Board of Education that is controlled by Democrats. The DTMB office is led by a Snyder appointee.

All four of the East Detroit schools named are priority schools.

East Detroit Superintendent Ryan McLeod said in a statement that while he's aware of the announcement of a CEO, "we are not clear what this additional intervention means."

But he reiterated what officials with the Macomb Intermediate School District said in a news release today:

"I believe there is no one better prepared to turn our district around than we are, in partnership with Macomb Intermediate School District," he said.

In 2015, the district emerged from years of financial distress, eliminating an $8.5 million deficit over five years.The current school year is the first in a while that the CEO to take over academics of four East Detroit schools:

Charter schools: Tricky, dangerous issue for Gov. Jay Inslee - seattlepi.com

Charter schools: Tricky, dangerous issue for Gov. Jay Inslee - seattlepi.com:

Charter schools: Tricky, dangerous issue for Gov. Jay Inslee

Washington voters, by the barest of margins, voted in 2012 to allow the setup of charter schools, after three previous rejections of proposals to create independently run, publicly financed schools.

But support for charter schools has since grown. It has been galvanized by reaction to the pre-Labor Day ruling by the Washington Supreme Court, which threw out not only the state funding formula but also the entire 2012 initiative.

The result is a potential "wedge" issue in the 2016 race for governor.

Seattle Port Commissioner Bill Bryant, GOP challenger to Gov. Jay Inslee, has embraced and toured charter schools and taken up the cause of 1,200 students whose future education was thrown into doubt by the Supremes.

"We have a governor who will close schools that are meeting education needs of the most disadvantaged in our midst," Bryant told Republicans' Roanoke Conference last Saturday night.

Inslee has argued that the Legislature's focus should be on fixing public schools under the Supreme Court's McCleary ruling, which required full state funding of K-12 education.

"My focus will remain on basic education: Some families look to charter schools out of frustration with their local public school," Inslee said recently. "The answer is to remain committed to improving our public K-12 system and making sure every child has a local public school that meets his or her needs."

The Republican-run state Senate has found a pot of money and passed legislation that would fund charter schools out of state lottery proceeds.

The legislation has moved to the Democratic controlled House of Representatives, where the Washington Education Association has wielded great power. The WEA has been a center of opposition to charter schools.

"If the Democrats don't get on board with this, they're going to get rolled over," Michael Orbino, chairman of Summit Public Schools Washington, said on a panel at Roanoke. Orbino, a self described liberal voter, is a Bryant backer.

Is he right? Some factors influencing the charter schools battle:

Charter schools are making a favorable impression. As public school teacher strikes loomed post-Labor Day, reporters found the school year already underway for three weeks at the Summit Sierra charter school in Seattle's International District. Hundreds of charter school students would descend on Olympia to lobby, just as the Supreme Court was refusing to reconsider its ruling.
Charter schools supporters have deep pockets. The state's technology billionaires invested millions in passage of the 2012 initiative. A lobby group, Act Now for Washington Students, is up with TV spots featuring charter school students. Opponents have scoffed at Act Now as an "Astroturf" group -- it is backstopped by public relations professionals -- but the group appears able to mobilize genuine grass roots support.
The WEA is hurting: A past president of the WEA, appointed state Rep. Carol Gregory, D-Federal Way, was handily defeated by Republican Teri Hickel in a 2015 special election in the South King County-Pierce County 30th Legislative District. The Charter schools: Tricky, dangerous issue for Gov. Jay Inslee - seattlepi.com:

Teachers Union Chief Calls CPS' $100M in School Cuts an 'Act of War' - The Loop - DNAinfo.com Chicago

Teachers Union Chief Calls CPS' $100M in School Cuts an 'Act of War' - The Loop - DNAinfo.com Chicago:

Teachers Union Chief Calls CPS' $100M in School Cuts an 'Act of War'

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis and Vice President Jesse Sharkey (r.) say CPS' actions could speed a teacher strike. DNAinfo/Ted Cox

THE LOOP — Rebuffed by teachers who rejected a contract proposal Monday, the Chicago Public Schools chief announced $100 million in cuts Tuesday to take effect "as quickly as possible," while halting the so-called 7 percent pension pickup for teachers.

"We're gonna do our very best to avoid teacher layoffs," Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool said in a news conference at CPS headquarters. He added that the $100 million in school budget cuts meant support staff would be "disproportionately affected," and that individual principals would be consulted on the best ways to cut costs as the second semester begins Monday.

"This is something I'd hoped to avoid at all costs," Claypool said. "We do not want to do this. ... [But] we can no longer wait."

According to Claypool, the cuts were necessary as CPS has not received an extra $480 million in funding the district budgeted for this school year even though it was never authorized by the General Assembly. Many of the cuts were targeted to take effect for the second semester beginning Monday.

"We all have to move with very deliberate haste," said CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner.

Combined with layoffs at the CPS Central Offices announced last month and other cuts, including a total annual pension reduction of $170 million, Claypool estimated the total worth at $320 million.

That includes a halt to the so-called pension pickup for teachers. CPS pays 7 percentage points of the 9 percent of pay teachers are obliged to contribute for their pensions. According to Bittner, the district also plays 9 percent as an employer contribution, or 16 percent points of the teachers' overall 18 percent contribution.

Claypool said halting the 7 percent pension pickup would save $130 million annually or $65 million for the rest of the school year. An additional $40 million a year would come from pension cuts for other staff.

Yet that's been a hot-button issue for teachers, with Chicago Teachers Union President Teachers Union Chief Calls CPS' $100M in School Cuts an 'Act of War' - The Loop - DNAinfo.com Chicago:

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