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Education PRESS ROOM |
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Schools Need Reform, Not More Tax Dollars
Submitted by Jennifer Nelson on 12.17.2005
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s top education advisor, Alan Bersin, thinks it is time to raise taxes to give more money to the state's K-12 school system. According to the California School Boards Association website, Bersin recently gave a speech to the group in which he called for an end to the “gridlock” between the anti-tax forces and “those of us on the district level (who) are faced with absolute requirements for additional resources."
Straighten Out K-12 Before Conscripting 4-year-olds
Submitted by Tom Mulhern on 12.15.2005
Recently, we've seen a new wave of ads supporting state-funded mandatory preschool. Without directly saying so, the idea behind running the ads now is to subtly infuse the notion in our heads over the next several months or year until we vote on a ballot initiative.
Study supports measure's claims; Preschool seen as cutting crime, limiting dropouts
Submitted by Dana Hull on 12.15.2005
If Santa Clara County had universal preschool for 4-year-olds, the county would eventually wind up with 222 fewer high school dropouts a year. About 300 fewer children a year would have to repeat a grade, and 202 fewer students would need special education classes, according to a report released Thursday by the Rand Corp.
Education failures of 2005
Submitted by Xiaochin C. Yan on 12.14.2005
In 2005 California increased its education budget by $3 billion and poured $50 billion into schools at the rate of more than $10,000 per pupil. Yet there is little to show for these efforts. Student achievement remains low and the dropout rate is high. Teacher quality varies widely from school to school and the state lacks an accurate way to measure student progress. Throughout this past year, California missed crucial opportunities to enhance accountability and boost achievement:
"Leave My Child Alone"
Submitted by K. Lloyd Billingsley on 12.2.2005
To the casual web surfer, Leave My Child Alone appears to be a site for soccer moms, with friendly imagery and platitudes about child welfare. But slip below these surfaces and things changes. The name of the organization is an angry pun on the No Child Left Behind Act, which LMCA describes as "notorious." But the problem with the Act has nothing to do with education per se, but with a provision of the Act that allows recruiters from the United States military access to schools and to data about students. Leave My Child Alone, which began last April in San Francisco, doesn't like the military and wants recruiters to leave all students alone. It is a key part of an anti-military campaign that has targeted the nation’s schools as part of a long range strategy to undercut support for the war in Iraq and the War on Terror generally.
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