Schools Face Test From Voters [This] is the largest number of education-tax initiatives to appear on state election ballots in two decades, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Wall St. Journal (subscription required; via KPCC) Fact Check: Obama Supports Smaller Classes in Public Schools The president has publicly supported the concept...

Communities for Teaching Excellence, Los Angeles-Based Education Organization, Closing A Los Angeles-based education advocacy organization backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will disband next month as a crowded field of reform groups compete for limited funding, officials said Thursday. The board of Communities for Teaching Excellence voted last week to dissolve, with a target...

How Will You Vote on California’s Propositions? Let’s Start With the Biggies, Props. 30 and 38 The future of California’s education system will be decided Nov. 6, when voters consider two dueling propositions that would raise taxes to support public schools. Daily News Prop. 30 Inspires Voter Registration Drives Aimed at Students Gov. Jerry Brown’s...

The parents of Desert Trails Elementary, along with Parent Revolution, have filed a “Motion to Compel” the Adelanto School Board to comply with the judge’s order in the Desert Trails case. According to California law, parents of a failing school can, if they gather signatures of over half the parents, change their school’s management structure.You can...

Feds offer new details about NCLB waiver flexibility SI&A Cabinet Report: With the Legislature creeping closer to deciding the fate of AB 5 – which would restructure teacher evaluations in California – there’s new focus on the state also winning a federal waiver from No Child Left Behind mandates. Hagman Blames Teachers’ Unions for Bill’s Failure Diamond Bar...

As we mentioned earlier, the Adelanto school board voted, on friday night, to set up a “community advisory board” to reform the parent-trigger targeted Desert Trails Elementary, but to reject the petition for a charter. “They decided they could thumb their nose at the court decision,” Parent Revolution spokesman David Phelps told me today. Phelps...

• Adelanto parents lose charter school bid: On Friday, the Adelanto School Board rejected the petition by parents of Desert Trails Elementary (site of the recent parent trigger ruling) to convert their school into a charter, saying there wasn’t enough time to implement before the school year. The board voted, instead, to install a “community advisory council”...

• LAUSD is cutting adult education offerings in half– and that’s the good news, since some were afraid that the program would be completely eliminated. “An agreement by LAUSD’s unions to take up to 10 unpaid days restored about $105 million for Adult Ed, enough to accommodate about 105,000 students.” Daily News • LA School Police...

• A delightful piece by Barbara Jones profiles the latest scheme by LAUSD to make a little extra cash: selling advertising space on about 70 vans and delivery trucks. Actually seems like a pretty good idea, although it’s only earning $157,000– so far. Daily News • A typically equivocating LA Times editorial praises the judge’s recent...