LAUSD Board Member Nury Martinez

LAUSD Board Member Nury Martinez is hosting a town hall meeting in the San Fernando Valley on Saturday, October 27 to educate parents and community members about how propositions on the upcoming election ballot will affect LA schools.

Martinez will speak along with LAUSD’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Megan Reillyhas, about the drastic budget cuts that will be triggered if prop 30, Governor Jerry Brown’s tax measure, doesn’t pass on November 6.

Representatives for props 30, 32, and 38 will also speak and take questions from parents about the impact of their props on LAUSD.

The workshop will be held at Valley Region Middle School #3 in Sun Valley from 10 a.m. to noon.

Find the full event details here.

See also Ed Source

Molly Munger’s Prop. 38 Is Spoiling Jerry Brown’s Prop. 30. She’s Not Sorry.
Both proposals could fail, leaving Brown and the Legislature to grapple with huge budget cuts they’ve threatened to make to schools and other government programs. LA Weekly

L.A. Schools Chief Urges Union Cooperation on Federal Funds
The union fears the grant won’t cover all the costs of implementing the district’s proposal. LA Times

See also LA Daily News and Ama Nyamekye’s editorial in the Huffington Post

LAUSD Loses Appeal in Settlement of Teacher-Layoff Lawsuit
The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to overturn an appellate court ruling invalidating a landmark settlement that would have exempted dozens of struggling Los Angeles Unified schools from seniority-based layoffs. Daily News

Innovation at L.A. and Long Beach School Districts May Pave Way for Others
The innovative actions by eight school districts — including LAUSD and LBUSD — who have come together to form a consortium that plans to seek federal funds to be targeted toward students is encouraging. Daily News (editorial)

Charter Schools Surpass 1,000 Campuses in California
The popularity of charter schools continued to grow this year as the movement marked its 20th anniversary, with 109 new campuses bringing the statewide total to 1,065, an industry association said Wednesday. The California Charter Schools Association reported that enrollment in charters grew by 17 percent, increasing by 70,000 students to 484,000. Daily News 

Federal Audit Finds Lax Charter School Oversight in California
In this state, they found that the people assigned to inspect charter schools were unqualified and didn’t know what was expected of them. KPCC

Report: LAUSD Misses Mandated Special Ed Targets
Los Angeles Unified schools failed to meet targets for providing speech therapy and other instructional services to special-education students as required by the settlement of a 1993 lawsuit, according to a report released Wednesday. Daily News

Bennett Kayser

LAUSD school board member Bennett Kayser will host a town hall on Wednesday night, October 24, at 6 PM to talk about Propositions 30 and 38. Kayser introduced a non-binding resolution at the August 21 board meeting to endorse both tax measures (see School Board To California Voters: Send Money). Read the press release here.

Fact Check: Obama Supports Smaller Classes in Public Schools
The president has publicly supported the concept of reducing the size of classes in the nation’s public schools. And he pointed out that Romney has not embraced the concept of small classes. LA Times 

Near L.A. Live, Parents Press for Downtown Charter School
Residents of South Park have submitted plans for Metro Charter to L.A. Unified. They say a school that their kids can walk to is too important to give up. LA Times

More Than 2 Dozen L.A. Unified Magnet Schools are Under-Enrolled
LAUSD magnet schools have long been considered prized programs, but more than two dozen of them are under-enrolled and actively looking to fill classroom seats. LA Times

Principal Sends Home Students for Dress Code Violations
In an attempt to curb her school’s chronic dress code violations, the principal of Lou Dantzler Preparatory High School in Westchester opted to take a bit more “hardcore” approach Monday. LA Times

Common Core Will Falter if Global Competitiveness is Sole Goal
The urgency behind the Common Core comes from concerns about global competitiveness. The hope is that by having internationally benchmarked standards that are “higher, clearer, fewer” we can energize the economy and avoid being left behind by nations like China and India. Ed Source

Charter to Take Over School in Parent-Trigger Case
Adelanto parents select LaVerne Elementary Preparatory Academy to operate Desert Trails Elementary School, ending months of court battles. LA Times

Why Preschool Can Save the World
We meet a self-described robber baron who decided to spend his billions on finger paint and changing tables. We revisit decades-long studies that found preschool made a huge difference in the lives of poor children. And we talk to a Nobel prize-winning economist who says that spending public money on preschool produces a huge return on investment.  Planet Money Podcast

Don’t Demonize Teachers Because of Pension System’s Faults
Yes, public pensions got out of hand. But teachers aren’t the biggest culprits, nor are they why California has some of the nation’s most shamefully underfunded schools. LA Times (opinion) 

With New AYP Data Comes Corrective Action and Restructuring Demands
With the California Department of Education’s release of 2012 Adequate Yearly Progress datasome of your schools may have been identified for advanced stages of Program Improvement, Corrective Action and/or Restructuring. Additionally, you may have some schools exiting PI identification. SI&A Cabinet Report

LA Schools to ‘Shake It Up’ With the Rest of California
As millions of Californians participate in the “Great California ShakeOut” Thursday, so will students at L.A. Unified. The district uses the day for an annual full-scale emergency drill and an opportunity to teach kids about earthquakes. KPCC

L.A. Unified Partners With Gay Advocates to End Bullying
The initiative, called Project SPIN, seeks to help gay, lesbian and transgender students deal with bullies, and more broadly, to change the district’s culture. LA Times

T.V. Camera Crews to Join Football Players for East L.A. Classic
Next week, the 78th East L.A. Classic between the Roosevelt Roughriders of Boyle Heights and the Garfield Bulldogs of East Los Angeles will be broadcast live on Time Warner Cable-the first live broadcast in more than 20 years.  Not everyone, however, has been thrilled with the idea of watching the East L.A. Classic on T.V. Eastsider 

Deschooling California: Postmodern Theory Meets Props 30 & 38
People who care about California’s children watched in horror this week as the battle between Governor Brown and Molly Munger over their dueling education initiatives descended into a Hobbesian war of all against all (with most of the “all” firmly in the governor’s camp). Ed Source (commentary) 

Students Engaged in Justice System Given Guaranteed Entry to School
Even before Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB 1088 into law this fall, the Los Angeles Unified School District had enacted its own policy prohibiting its schools from denying  entry to a student solely on the basis that he or she has had involvement with the juvenile justice system. SI&A Cabinet Report

As you may recall, Proposition 38, sponsored by the well-to-do Molly Munger, would raise a bit more money than Prop 30, sponsored by Governor Jerry Brown, but wouldn’t avoid “trigger cuts” set up by Brown, which target public education.

Both measures are uncertain to win enough popular support (see: Proposition 30 support dips below 50%, survey finds). The “No on 30” campaign has received more than $32 million, much of it coming from Molly Munger’s libertarian brother, Charles Jr. And it recently got an extra infusion of cash from what the Sacramento Bee calls “a shadowy Phoenix-based group” called Americans for Responsible Leadership (see: Mystery Arizona group sends $11 million to fight unions, Gov. Jerry Brown).

LAUSD Urges Students, Community Members to Vote
Like public school educators throughout the state, L.A. Unified officials and board members are urging students, parents and concerned adults to vote in next month’s election and are working to inform them about Propositions 30 and 38. KPCC

Labor’s Big-Money Focus on Prop. 32 May Hurt Chances of Prop. 30
Unions say their political survival hinges on defeating Proposition 32, leaving less financial backing for labor ally Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30. LA Times 

Fact check: Romney Takes Credit For Education in Massachusetts
Mitt Romney, in an extended response to a question about assault weapons during his debate with President Obama, said, “We were able to drive our schools to be No. 1 in the nation.” As in the past, the former Massachusetts governor took credit for education achievement in the state. LA Times

Obama Makes Education a Presidential Debate Subject While Discussing Gun Violence
In perhaps the biggest pivot of the presidential debate Tuesday night, President Barack Obama turned a question about gun violence into an answer about education. The twist is especially notable in a campaign year when schools have gotten little play. HuffPo

Stark Education Differences in Presidential Race, Say Surrogates
Education has not exactly been at the forefront of the presidential campaign. It received far less than even 15 minutes of fame during the first debate, but stand-ins for President Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney explored it in depth [Monday] night in a debate that revealed  sharp philosophical and policy differences between the two candidates. Ed Source 

With Court Win, ‘Parent Trigger’ School Reform Moves to Crucial Vote
With a court ruling last week permitting the vote to go forward, parents who signed the petition last winter now have the chance to cast a ballot on the charter school operator they want to take over their neighborhood school next fall. As permitted by law, the vote won’t include parents who opposed the charter conversion or declined to be part of the petition process. California Watch

State Readies Release of First Supplemental Materials Tied to Common Core
State officials are expected to reach a milestone this week in the development of supplemental instructional materials for California classrooms aligned to the new common core standards. SI&A Cabinet Report

Google Awards Grant to Bolster STEM Education in California
The $25,000 grant will support new science and math elementary teachers in STEM through an online professional learning community. KPCC

On the strength of his research, he’s been published in the Wall Street Journal, Education Next, and quoted as an expert in a long list of mainstream publications.  (Even when he’s not quoted by name, you can be reasonably sure that a reporter writing about union spending spent heaps of time talking to Antonucci.)

The main problem with following campaign spending is that there’s no simple answer to the questions that reporters and public officials have, according to Antonucci.

“Everybody wants to write a story that says the unions spend $6m on political campaigns,” he says.  “But we’re constantly challenged on the numbers.”

For most parts of California, the best place for information on campaign spending is the Secretary of State’s website, SOS.CA.GOV, according to Antonucci  There you can find union spending on candidates and on issues, as well as on general funds.And, since most political spending on candidates comes from the state teachers union to locals – most locals don’t have their own PACs — the SOS site can tell you who’s being funded and how much.

But there are three different kinds of campaign spending going on, and so anyone following the money has to follow different strands. The first are candidate PACs, which are perhaps the most familiar kind of campaign donation organization.  The second are “issue” PACs which are “just like candidate PACs except they are devoted to ballot initiatives and referenda,” according to Antonucci.  Last but not least are independent expenditures (IEs), which contain “all other political spending by the union not coordinated with a candidate or ballot measure campaign.”

And the rationale behind the campaign donations may not be simple to follow, either.  A funding request may come from the local, or come from the senior members at CTA who are concerned about a particular race.  Sometimes, as in the case of the referendum on gay marriage, a caucus within CTA will push the union to donate to a campaign or referendum that’s not directly related to education. The money is sent to the candidate PAC or passed through the local. There’s no formula. (For larger districts like UTLA, there are local PACs, and also funding from the AFT, to which UTLA formally belongs.)

And the SOS site lacks any detailed accounting of what’s done with each block of cash that’s shifted around, he says.  For example, member communications:  “There’s a whole another section of money spent to communicate with their members about politics that doesn’t show up anywhere,” says Antonucci.  This is a common complaint among those fighting against union campaigns — that some or all of the effort is not captured by disclosure rules, especially around communications, events, and get out the vote efforts.

In theory, this isn’t true in places like LA, where member communication has been written into the local disclosure laws. (Los Angeles requires 24 hour disclosure, including member communications, though the amounts show up underneath the candidate who’s being opposed.)

However, Antonucci isn’t buying it.  “I doubt [the LA County ethics site] can comprehensively cover all relevant member communications from UTLA, CTA, CFT, NEA and AFT and determine what is reportable and what is not,” he says.  “My guess is that the unions are self-policing, and any agency fee-payer will tell you they are not to be trusted to judge what is “political” and what is not.”

Previous posts: Memo to Voters: Attack Ads on the Horizon, Latest Fundraising Numbers, Dark Money Dominates LAUSD Elections.

New Lottery Forecast Adds Badly Needed Dollars to Schools
State lottery sales could reach close to $5 billion during the 2012-13 fiscal year, according to an updated forecast from the California Department of Education. As a result, the CDE is increasing its projection for what schools can expect to receive in lottery support in the coming year from $150 per unit of average daily attendance to $154 per ADA. SI&A Cabinet Report

Education and the 2012 Election: A Strategist’s Analysis
Tami Abdollah interviews Democratic strategist Darry Sragow about education’s role in the 2012 election. KPCC

Prop. 30’s Big Donors Include Big Companies
The lion’s share of campaign donations for Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax-raising Proposition 30 has come from public employee unions, but the effort also has the backing of many businesses, some of which do not appear to have a direct connection to the initiative. SF Gate (via Barbara Jones)

Prop 30 Challenge: Voters Back Money for Schools Not Sacramento
The fundamental danger for those seeking additional funding for schools lies in California voters’ deep and persistent skepticism about whether the state can be trusted to use resources well. As a recent PPIC report confirms, voters distrust politicians and believe that a large share of public spending is wasted, in education as in other sectors. Persuading them that more educational spending will lead to better outcomes for students is a huge political challenge. Ed Source

Explaining the Difference Between Props 30 and 38, Dueling Tax Initiatives
Education advocates in California say public schools will either sink or swim based on the outcome of two competing tax initiatives on the November ballot — Proposition 30 and Proposition 38. While both aim to protect students from more devastating budget cuts, they go about it in very different ways. KQED

Prop. 30 Inspires Voter Registration Drives Aimed at Students
Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax hike measure is being touted as the only way to avoid tuition increases this year at California’s public universities. Some predict a higher-than-usual turnout.  LA Times

Some Readers Can’t Handle the Truth About Schools’ Precarious State
Steve Lopez fires back at angry commenters after he wrote about the necessity of Props 30 and / or 38. LA Times Opinion

Parent Trigger Group Wins Another Legal Battle
A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge has upheld a ruling that allowed the Desert Trails Parent Union to move forward with plans to convert the failing elementary school into a charter school. KPCC

Second Chance for High School Dropouts in South LA
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled 13 new YouthSource Centers on Friday with four of them located in South Los Angeles, and tasked with the goal of getting high school dropouts to finish their education. Intersections

Disproportionality in Special Ed Poses New Federal Hazard to Districts
More aggressive federal attention to schools potentially mislabeling minority children as disabled has created an operational headache this fall for nearly 50 California districts, with another big cohort targeted for sanctioning next year. SI&A Cabinet Report

Student Discipline Laws, Though Weakened, Still Will Have an Impact
Five bills signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown last month raise awareness and pave the way for alternative approaches to out-of-school suspensions and expulsions. EdSource

Also see stories from the Daily News, Ed Source, City News Service, SI&A Cabinet Report

The Times also reports that two L.A. schools this year were stripped of an API score because of mistakes or misconduct by a teacher.

Overusing Test for Special Ed Students Inflates API Scores
A deeper look at the results shows not only inflation contributing to the gains but also a substantial policy shift toward lower expectations for special education students in California. Ed Source

California’s New School Budget Math
Add 30 and 38, and what do you get? In California, the answer is zero. The ballot propositions are on the verge of cancelling out each other to produce a big, fat zero. Prop Zero

Obama, Romney Have Similar Basic Views on Education
Both candidates want test scores to be part of teacher evaluations, support extra pay for effective instructors and back the growth of charter schools. One difference is Romney’s support for vouchers. LA Times

Charter School Not Entitled to Choose its Location
The Los Angeles Unified School District did not violate the charter schools initiative by offering to locate a charter school in adjoining classrooms at Belmont High School, contrary to the wishes of the charter school’s directors, this district’s Court of Appeal ruled.  Metropolitan News-Enterprise

LAUSD Axes Successful Art to Grow On Program Right After Unanimous Board Vote to Bring Fine Art Back
The program pays artists to train hundreds of parents to take art into elementary classrooms project by project. It was so successful that today it touts having  served 8,000 kindergarten through 8th grade students a year, has 150 volunteers and 17 private and public schools that participate throughout the Harbor area. City Watch

Former LAUSD School Board Member John Greenwood Dies
Former Los Angeles school board member and Coro Foundation President John Greenwood of San Pedro died unexpectedly early Thursday morning. Daily Breeze

Late yesterday afternoon, the LA Times reported that the California State Superintendent of Education was calling on Munger to ease up on her criticism of Brown’s Prop. 30 (Schools chief urges Molly Munger to drop negative ads). Since then, the San Jose Mercury News has fact-checked Molly Munger’s attack ad against Prop. 30  and found it wanting (Anti-Prop. 30 ad is misleading because it implies it won’t help schools). The SF Gate has reported a  rift between Munger and her main ally, the state PTA (Trouble brewing between Munger, PTA). Last but not least, a parent advocate writing at EdSource called on Brown and Munger to get their act together lest voters become confused and neither ballot measure passes (A parent’s plea).

Brown’s Prop. 30 is polling ahead of Munger’s initiative, and if both initiatives won voter approval the one with higher approval would prevail.  But obviously Prop. 30’s backers are worried.

The competition between the two is getting ugly.  A few days ago, Munger appeared on NBC News to call Governor Brown’s advertisements “utterly deceptive.” She’s then released an ad bashing Prop. 30, something that Democrats have been afraid of (for more, see John Fensterwald’s post at Ed Source). Prop. 30 is slightly ahead in the polls and seems the more likely of the two to pass.

TV News covered the speech as well, including CBS, ABC, and KTLA Channel 5:

Campaign Launched To Promote Arts Education In L.A. Unified
The campaign, called “Arts Matter,” consists of messages on “hundreds of billboards, bus shelters, wall postings, mall media and bulletins,” according to organizers. Those signed up to tweet encouraging messages include singer Justin Bieber and entertainer/producer Ryan Seacrest. LA Times

Rift Widens Between Backers Of Ed Initiatives 30 And 38
All pretense of goodwill is gone between backers of the two competing education tax measures on November’s ballot. Ed Source

State Board of Ed’s Kirst Calls On Munger To Ditch Ads Attacking Governor’s Tax Plan
Mike Kirst, the governor’s appointed president of the California State Board of Education warned that proponents of Proposition 38 “are leading us down a dangerous path and imperiling the education we all care about.” SI&A Cabinet Report

Layoffs Claim L.A. Band Teacher Who Turned Novices Into Champions
Ray Vizcarra resurrected Fairfax High’s band, teaching students to play instruments from scratch. They soon won all-city competitions. But L.A. Unified had to cut jobs, and he lacked seniority. LA Times

Obviously, these parents want voters to support increased funding for schools proposed in some of next month’s propositions.  Click here to watch it again or read the lyrics.

California School Funding Formula Not Easy To Change
Columnist Dan Walters writes about how a plan “to streamline state aid and shift more money to low-performing schools with large numbers of students who are poor or ‘English learners,'” met its untimely end. Sac Bee

Heatwave Leaves Southland Residents Weary
By the end of the school days, technicians had responded to calls for air-conditioning service at 65 San Fernando Valley campuses, about 20 percent more than usual, Los Angeles Unified School District Deputy Maintenance Director Robert Laughton said. San Bernardino Sun

Post-Miramonte, Attorney Calls For More Aggressive Measures
The Los Angeles Unified School District should agree to an independent monitor over safety issues, said Attorney Luis A. Carrillo in a news conference at his South Pasadena office. LA Times

Miramonte: Lawyers Say Picasso Print Distressed Students
The alleged victims’ lawyers claim that at least one of their clients experienced “suffering” because a print of a Pablo Picasso painting was posted in Mark Berndt’s classroom. Berndt is the former teacher who’s accused of abusing 23 students over at least five years. KPCC

State-Appointed Administrator For Inglewood Unified To Be Announced Wednesday
Inglewood Unified union leaders and a school board member say California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction is set to announce on Wednesday his pick to run the Inglewood Unified School District for the state. It’s the result of the school district’s rescue from bankruptcy. KPCC

The board

Tomorrow morning at 10 am, the Board of Education’s Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee will meet (see agenda here).

According to LAUSD spokesman Tom Waldman, one of the issues to be discussed tomorrow is propositions 30 and 38, and what effect they will have on the district should they pass or fail. Both propositions are tax increases aimed at raising money for public schools.

After a closed session to discuss ongoing lawsuits, the full school board will meet at 4 PM for what’s called a Williams Sufficiency Hearing (agenda here). The annual meeting is mandated by state law in response to a lawsuit, which concerns the adequate distribution of textbooks and other instructional materials in the classroom.

A new Los Angeles Times / USC poll shows support for Governor Jerry Brown’s Prop 30 ballot initiative – which would temporarily raise income tax on high earners – has slipped to 54%, down 10 points from March. Despite the erosion, Democratic voters still overwhelmingly favor it, 69-20%.  Meanwhile, Molly Munger’s competing tax measure, Prop 38, has the support of only 34% of voters.

This seems a good time for an update on the three initiatives that will have the biggest impact on LAUSD and public education in California: Propositions 30, 32 and 38. The expenditure data is from a nice interactive feature on the Los Angeles Times website.

Proposition 30
The initiative, being pushed by Governor Jerry Brown, would temporarily raise income taxes on those making more than $250,000 (for seven years) and increase the sales tax by a quarter of a cent (for four years). The money would allow the state to avoid automatic “trigger cuts” – which were designed by Brown himself – that would fall mostly on public education, to the tune of $6 billion. Detractors say this measure won’t result in more money for schools.

Money raised in support: $39.8 million
Money raised against: $1.1 million
Biggest donor in support: California Teachers Association, $6.1 million
Biggest donor against: Charles B. Johnson, $200,000

Brown has worked hard to raise money to support the measure, but will it be enough to get it to the finish line?

Proposition 32
Prop 32 would prohibit unions and corporations from using automatic employee paychecks deductions to fund political campaigns. This ban would have the biggest impact on unions, which rely on paycheck deductions to fund their political operations.

Money raised in support: $9.3 million
Money raised against: $44.9 million
Biggest donor in support: American Future Fund, $4 million
Biggest donor against: California Teachers Association, $18 million

The top priority for unions in California this year is to defeat Prop 32, which it sees as an attempt by business interests to shut labor out of the political process – Common Cause and campaign finance reformers agree.  A new LAT / USC poll finds that voters don’t like the measure – 44% oppose the ban while 36% support it. Labor is money pouring in to defeat it.

Proposition 38
The other tax proposal to address the states budget woes is sponsored, and almost entirely bankrolled, by civil rights attorney, Molly Munger. Prop 38 would raise personal income tax rates on a sliding scale, over a 12 year period.  With an estimated $115 billion going exclusively to schools, it garnered support from the California State PTA, but alas, not the teachers unions.

Money raised in support: $28.2 million
Money raised against: $26,000
Biggest donor in support: Molly Munger, $28 million
Biggest donor against: California Chamber of Commerce, $23,500

Prop 38 has a tough hill to climb. The latest LAT / USC poll has fifty-two percent of voters opposing it with 34 percent supporting it.

TV ads for Prop. 38 start airing SF Chronicle: The 30-second spot hits on the themes that proponents have pushed so far and includes a barely subtle jab at Brown’s measure.

Seeking Allies, Teachers’ Unions Court G.O.P., Too NYT: While donations to Democrats still far outweigh contributions to Republicans, the proportion of union money going to Republican candidates this year, just over 8 percent, has doubled since the last election cycle, according to the National Institute on Money In State Politics.

Finding Classroom Success In Bilingual Mix Of Spanish, English Hechinger Report: In 2011, while 56 percent of elementary-age students in California were proficient or above on state tests for English language arts, two thirds of Ernest R. Geddes Elementary School in Baldwin Park, Calif students were [proficient].

Reform by the ounce, unfunded pension debt by the pound Ed Source: The pension reforms passed in June, paring back the benefits for new teachers and administrators, will knock off $189 million per year from the additional payments taxpayers must make to keep the California State Teachers’ Retirement System solvent over the next 30 years. That’s the good news.

Millikan students volunteer, raise money for cancer care Daily News: Students hope to raise $2,000 over the next month to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

La Puente High Horrors: Soccer Players Claim to Have Been Hazed, Sodomized With Poles LA Weekly: Superintendent Barbara Nakaoka announced this morning that four students, one 18 and the rest minors, have been arrested in connection to the case. In addition, one male teacher/coach has reportedly been placed on administrative leave.

LAUSD Special Education Failings Still Flying Under The Radar Neon Tommy (blog): The district recently failed for an eighth straight year to meet special education delivery targets for disabled students.

Push for a Downtown Charter School Includes Big Fundraiser This Week Los Angeles Downtown News: Downtown Parents Aim to Secure Approvals and Raise $250,000 for Local Elementary School.

Prop 38 sponsor says ed initiative will upset polls Ed Source: Confident that Californians will tax themselves to send more money to their local schools, Molly Munger is preparing for “a big air war” – extensive TV advertising to persuade voters to pass Proposition 38.

Taking care of truants LA Times Editorial: L.A. Unified’s new, gentler plan emphasizes counseling over handing out tickets.

Controller: Teachers retirement fund failed to investigate possible pension abuses KPCC: A report issued by California’s Controller on Wednesday says that the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) failed to investigate possible abuses beginning in June 2011 and lasting over two years.

CA spending, outcome in special ed well below national averages SI&A Report: California spends substantially less than other states on special education services, and the academic outcomes for students in those programs is well below the national average, according to a new report unveiled Wednesday.

Struggling CA schools seek relief from fed’s parent notice rule SI&A Report: Fallout from this summer’s mini scandal over student testing in some Southern California districts has prompted the California Department of Education to consider asking federal officials for more time to comply with the parental notice requirements for schools newly designated as failing under the No Child Left Behind Act.