Your donation will help us produce journalism like this. Please give today.
LAPD Has Few Easy Answers on School Safety
The dozens of educators packed into a police station meeting room Wednesday had a lot of questions about how to protect their students. But LAPD Capt. Tom Brascia made it clear he didn’t have a lot of answers. LA Daily News, KCET, LAist
California Teachers Retirement Fund Threat Triggers Sale of Gun Company
Less than a day after the California teachers pension fund threatened to withdraw its investment, a major private equity firm has announced that it will sell Freedom Group, a company it formed that includes the manufacturer of the rifle used by Adam Lanza to massacre 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. EdSource
The ABCs of Firing a Teacher
There is no reasonable explanation for why firing a teacher in California is such a time-consuming, tortuous and expensive procedure. LA Times Editorial
Appeals Court Imposes Restrictions on Parcel Taxes
Democrats in the Legislature are poised to help make it easier for school districts to pass parcel taxes, but a court ruling this month – if it withstands an appeal – will narrow the scope of what parcel taxes can tax. EdSource
California Tries a New Way to Reform Education
Thirteen years ago, the Legislature – spurred by then-Gov. Gray Davis – made one of its periodic forays into educational reform, or so we were told. Sac Bee Opinion
O.C. Councilman Wants to Allow Teachers to Carry Guns at School
Less than a week after the deadly Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut, a San Juan Capistrano city councilman has asked his local school district to allow teachers to carry guns in classrooms to protect their students. LA Times
With NCLB Waiver All but Dead, State Officials Look to Soften Federal Sanctions
In a largely overlooked action last month, the California State Board of Education formally designated another 56 local educational agencies as failing as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. SI&A Cabinet Report