What California’s Schools Can Learn From Chicago’s
Officials in California are still peddling the idea that the state’s public-school system — which receives 40 percent of the general-fund budget, by constitutional edict — is struggling because it lacks money. Bloomberg View

LAUSD Officials Cut the Ribbon on the Lucille Roybal-Allard Elementary School
LRA is part of LAUSD’s current $19.5 billion New School Construction and Modernization Program to provide every student with the opportunity to attend a safe and healthy neighborhood school operating on a traditional, two-semester calendar. LAUSD press release

Brice W. Harris to Head State’s Community Colleges
The new chancellor acknowledges the financial stresses facing the 112-campus system but says ‘the best days are ahead of us.’ LA Times

State Board Gets Authority to Pare Back 8th Grade Math Standards
Gov. Jerry Brown evidently agrees that California’s math standards should align more closely with the national Common Core standards. On Thursday, he signed SB 1200, which will allow the State Board to weed out the dozens of California state Algebra standards that were inserted two years ago with the adoption of Common Core as part of an ongoing, unresolved debate over what students should learn in eighth grade. Ed Source 

Once Castigated, Commission on Teacher Credentialing is Praised
Eighteen months ago, State Auditor Elaine Howle called the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing one of the “worst-run” agencies she had investigated. On Thursday, returning to the Commission to close the books on her audit, Howle praised the Commission and staff for the corrective actions they have taken in response to the audit. “Overall, I am here to commend you as commissioners and the staff. You have worked diligently.” Ed Source

Brown signs bill spelling out evaluations (for principals) Ed Source: Without the acrimony and fanfare that doomed a teacher evaluation bill last month, the Legislature with near unanimity passed and Gov. Brown has now signed a milestone principal and teacher evaluation bill.

Backers say bills signed by Brown will reduce school suspensions LA Times: Advocates aiming to reform school discipline policies hailed the governor for signing four bills they say will help reduce the number of California students suspended each year.

Letter from CA to Inglewood Unified school board: you’re relieved of authority KPCC: It’s official. California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction sent a letter Thursday to Ingelwood’s elected school board members telling them the state’s taking over the school district.

San Pedro’s Science Center to remain open until June as LAUSD searches for new group to run the place Daily Breeze: San Pedro’s Science Center received a reprieve on Friday. Threatened only a week ago with closure by Oct. 1, the center now will remain open until June as Los Angeles school officials seek bids from a nonprofit or private entity to operate the facility, school officials announced.

California’s community colleges staggering during hard times LA Times: Demand is up but funding is down for California’s community colleges. Many students are shut out of needed classes, making it harder to get their degrees or transfer.

Nonprofits Unite to Keep Music in LAUSD ATVN: Adopt the Arts and Little Kids Rock—two nonprofit organizations– announced a partnership on Thursday, Sept. 20th at Rosewood Elementary School to revitalize and develop music programs in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

Harvard-Westlake building reflects standout student’s interests LA Times: The Kutler center is named for Brendan Kutler, who died in 2009 at 17. It will house a new interdisciplinary studies department that reflects Kutler’s many passions.

Ex-LAUSD teacher gets 25 years for molesting 13 Pacoima students Daily News: Chapel, of Chatsworth, pleaded no contest last month to committing lewd acts against seven girls and six boys. In exchange for a 25-year sentence, prosecutors dropped 15 additional counts that could have sent him to prison for life.

Former Miramonte student allegedly beaten at new school LA Times: A former Miramonte Elementary School student, who is among a group of children suing over alleged teacher sexual misconduct, has transferred from one middle school to another after she was allegedly beaten by other students.

California leads effort to boost English learner success Ed Source: A bill on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk… would create a single definition of long-term English learners and require school districts to keep track of these students and report their numbers every year to the State Department of Education.

Brown signs legislation boosting summer school lunch program SI&A Cabinet Report: Existing law requires districts to offer each student at least one meal every school day, but there is a waiver process that can be pursued for summer session if the lunch program poses a fiscal hardship. AB 2555 by Assemblywoman Wilmer Carter, D-Rialto, increases the time period districts must meet in advance of the summer months for submitting the waiver request to the California State Board of Education.

Charter campuses focus of L.A. school-board protests LA Times: About 400 charter school advocates descended on Los Angeles school district headquarters Tuesday to protest a proposed moratorium on new charters. Later, a smaller but equally passionate contingent of parents and teachers from Berendo Middle School arrived to oppose construction of a building to house a charter school on that campus. See also my story on the board meeting yesterday (Zimmer Postpones His Teacher Evaluation Proposal), as well as a piece in The Atlantic (Chicago Teachers Strike Puts Charter Schools in the Spotlight).

LA mayor backs weighing student performance in evaluating teacher quality CNN: The Los Angeles Unified School District has been reviewing a system of teacher and administrator evaluations that, for the first time, includes student test scores, said spokeswoman Ellen Morgan.

Report: Over half of CA student suspensions issued are minor offense KPCC: More than half of the student school suspensions issued last school year in California were for relatively minor non-violent, non-drug related incidents, according to a reportreleased today from the nonprofit “Fighting Crime: Invest in Kids California.”

Community college board prioritizes registering new, continuing students KPCC: The California Community Colleges’ Board of Governors has voted to adopt a major system-wide change to student enrollment. The new policy, approved by the governing board at a meeting in San Diego this week, gives enrollment priority to transfer students and students working toward a degree or certificate.

New community college chancellor may be named by end of month Ed Source: The California Community College Board of Governors appointed Executive Vice Chancellor Erik Skinner as acting chancellor while the search continues for a successor to Jack Scott, who is retiring at the end of this week.

Far-reaching plan to strengthen teaching in California EdSource: Some of the ideas are bold and will be controversial…Others will sound familiar.

Labor, management collaboration key to teacher reform SI&A Cabinet Report:  Ushering in what is being called a new era of education reform in California, top administrators, teachers, political and labor leaders said Monday they are willing to work together to implement suggestions for bettering the state’s schools.

LA City Officials, LAUSD Launch Program To Keep Students Out Of Court CBS: Los Angeles city officials teamed up with the Los Angeles Unified School District to launch a new program Monday that aims to reduce juvenile misconduct on Metro buses. The Transit Juvenile Diversion Program puts schools in charge of disciplining students who smoke, eat, drink, litter or avoid paying fares.

School bond measures among a sea of tax hikes San Gabriel Valley Tribune:  Los Angeles Unified School District passed five bond measures in 13 years, selling $20 billion in bonds that will cost about $40 billion to pay off.

New school opens in Porter Ranch Los Angeles Daily News: LAUSD School superintendent John Deasy checks out the new Porter Ranch Community School. The school, designed by architect R. L. Binder was designed to fit into the Porter Ranch neighborhood.

Small central coast district leads the way on teacher evaluation, mentoring SI&A Report: Two major themes of change working through the nation’s education system – teacher evaluations based on test scores and the elevation of master teachers as classroom mentors – failed to advance in California during this summer’s legislative session. But both of these themes are getting a vigorous trial in the small central coast school district of Lucia Mar Unified.

LCUSD, parents lobbied to kill bill La Canada Valley Sun: La Cañada Unified School District board of education members are crediting the community for helping spike a state Assembly proposal that would have eliminated student test results as a measure of teacher performance.

Educators seek innovative ways to get missing students back into the classroom Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: The various approaches districts are using were shared Friday at the Boyle Height Technology Youth Center where the educators and advocates gathered for the kickoff of the first Los Angeles County School Attendance Month to be observed during September.

Manhattan Beach Unified offers teachers 3 percent raise, no health cuts KPCC: Manhattan Beach Unified and its teachers’ union reached a tentative agreement that includes a pay raise for teachers, officials said Friday.

Schools find new ways to welcome community college transfers LA Times: New efforts are meant to ease ‘transfer shock’ for a student population that helps public and private universities’ bottom lines.

Santa Monica College joins Pasadena City College in cutting winter session KPCC: Thousands of Santa Monica College students expecting to take classes in the winter session won’t have that option this year. College administrators voted Thursday night to eliminate the 6-week session in order to save $2.5 million.

‘Parent trigger’ obstructionism LA Times Editorial: As parents attempted to wrest control of Desert Trails Elementary School in Adelanto under California’s “parent trigger” law, school board officials repeatedly said they weren’t trying to put up obstacles — they were simply trying to follow the law to the letter. But the most recent actions of the Adelanto Elementary School District show that following the law is a very low priority indeed.

Governor signs bill allowing training benefits for laid-off teachers SI&A Cabinet Report: Laid-off teachers will soon be able to collect unemployment benefits even while participating in specialized training under a bill signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday.

Steinberg’s school accountability rewrite set for passage SI&A: Legislation approved Thursday would remake the state’s accountability system for public schools by reducing the role of standardized testing and incorporate new college-and career-readiness measurements.

Crisis Counseling, Parent Meeting at School Where Driver Crashed Into Students NBC: 14 people, most of them children, were injured when a 100-year-old backed his Cadillac into a group near the South Los Angeles school.Teacher removed from classroom at Haskell Elementary in Granada Hills Daily News: Administrators contacted the Los Angeles Police Department and reassigned the unidentified teacher to a district office after receiving a complaint of child abuse, an LAUSD spokesman said.

Measure to improve student success at California Community Colleges clears hurdle KPCC: California legislators voted overwhelmingly in favor of a measure Thursday that aims to streamline the path to student graduation, certification and transfers in the California Community Colleges.

Hagman Blames Teachers’ Unions for Bill’s Failure Diamond Bar AOL Patch: Assemblyman Curt Hagman, R-Chino Hills, expressed disappointment and blamed unions that amendments to a Senate bill aimed at protecting students from abusive teachers did not pass out of the Assembly Education Committee.

Pension reform: top-paid administrators to take biggest hit Ed Source: The retirement age for new teachers will be pushed back two years; they’ll have to fork over about another 1 percent of their pay into the retirement system. And their bosses – principals and administrators ­– will see a ceiling of $132,120 as the portion of their pay used to calculate retirement pay. Those in the highest-paid jobs, earning $200,000 plus, may see pensions reduced by tens of thousands of dollars.

Survey offers dire picture of California’s two-year collegesLA Times: More than 470,000 community college students are beginning the fall semester on waiting lists, unable to get into the courses they need, according to a survey of California’s two-year colleges that captures a system struggling amid severe budget cuts.

Unlocking Student Potential Huffington Post (John Deasy’s City Year speech): Every student has the potential to succeed. Inside each one of them is a doctor, lawyer, teacher, or rocket scientist. But what does it take to unlock that potential?

Miramonte lawsuits are on hold, attorneys hope to settle KPCC: Attorney Luis Carrillo is the one who pushed for the stay. He says the temporary delay gives his clients a chance to engage in settlement discussions with the school district. The talks would be facilitated by a mediator and could begin as early as November.

Charters draw students from private schools, study finds LA Times: The study by a Rand Corp. economist found that more than 190,000 students nationwide had left a private school for a charter by the end of the 2008 school year, the most recent year for which data was available.

CSUDH grant will aid LAUSD math teachers Daily Breeze: California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson has received the first of three grants to support the development of math teachers in economically challenged areas of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong Mother Jones: Attendance: up. Dropout rates: plummeting. College acceptance: through the roof. Kristina Rizga’s mind-blowing year inside a “low-performing” school. ALSO: The Kids Are All Right Mother Jones: Students today score better on tests than you did.

Colleges ranked by “bang for your buck”, California schools dominate list KPCC: The Washington Monthly’s top 10 “bang for your buck” schools include 5 in California: UC San Diego, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC Riverside.

Cramming For Tests Doesn’t Work, Says UCLA Study LA Weekly: The main problem? Sleep deprivation.

Fairfax music program’s loss Bev Hills’ gain Weho News: Ray Vizcarra, Fairfax High School’s bandleader, has taken a job at Beverly Hills High, after facing the prospect of likely being laid off.

Los Angeles college students face more crowds, fewer classes LA Times: Students on Los Angeles campuses struggle with trying to get needed classes, or any at all, as state budget cuts continue to take their toll on the community college system.

Middle Schoolers Make a Scale Model of 6 Blocks of Broadway Curbed (blog):  Middle school students at the Bresee Foundation summer camp have created a scale model of six blocks of Broadway and the whole thing is installed temporarily right now at the Blackstone Building at Ninth and Broadway.

El Camino Real Charter High School to stage reading of ‘8’ (Press Release): El Camino Real Charter High School’s internationally acclaimed theatre program has been selected as one of the only high school companies in the nation to stage a reading of Academy Award-winner Dustin Lance Black’s latest play, “8,” it was announced today. “8” is an unprecedented account of the Federal District Court trial in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Perry v. Brown), which ruled California’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples unconstitutional.

Most local school districts ignore state’s anti-gay bullying law Daily News: None of the six Long Beach area school districts has complied with AB 9’s July 1 deadline, and only one, Long Beach Unified School District, has since met the requirements, a Press-Telegram investigation has found.

Why rush this gutted education bill into law? Modesto Bee (opinion):  In Doe v. Deasy, the judge found that the Los Angeles Unified school district had never obeyed the Stull Act in evaluating teachers.

Gloria Romero’s Revenge NBC/Prop Zero (blog): California’s public employee unions have long prided themselves on their toughness. If a Democratic politician stepped out of line, they would move to punish that politician.

Cortines’ accuser details long friendship that went bad LA Observed:  Scot Graham, the LA Unified leasing chief who has sued ex-superintendent Ramon Cortines for sexual harassment and filed $10 million claim with the district, says he first met Cortines in San Francisco’s gay community in the 1980s.

Why Do Schools Have Friday Off? It’s Admission Day! AOL Brentwood Patch: The Los Angeles Unified School District observes the anniversary on the last Friday of August—it’s a paid holiday for the teachers.

Students rally to beloved Pacoima teacher’s side with blood donations Daily News: While Arlena Tupaz lay in her hospital bed in Panorama City on Saturday, less than 10 miles away her current and former students gathered to lend a hand — actually an arm — for their beloved teacher.

Los Angeles colleges resume $6-billion campus building projects LA Times: Spending on most new construction projects in the Los Angeles Community College District’s $6-billion campus building project has resumed, virtually ending a moratorium that had been the centerpiece of efforts to reform poor planning, questionable spending and other flaws uncovered in the program.