The news that didn't fit from August 10th

TESTIMONY BY RICCO ROSS TO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL PARTY PLATFORM COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION (Video)

Ross is a delegate from California 42nd Assembly District.

LAUSD SELLS $1 BILLION IN GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS

smf notes: Those are school construction and modernization bonds - used for capital improvement.

LAUSD SELLS $500 MILLION OF TAX AND REVENUE ANTICIPATION NOTES

smf notes: LAUSD uses TRANs for short term operational bridge funding

CHARTER HIGH REACHES CALMER WATERS

Aug 5, 2008 - Port of Los Angeles High School has been hectic in recent weeks as the charter school prepares for September, when it will welcome a record number of freshmen and its first senior class.

Brand-new textbooks are stacked on tables and boxes of fetal pig specimens await biology-class dissection.

New teachers, needed to instruct the incoming class of about 270 ninth-graders, are arriving on campus. Summer-school students dodge workers adding a fresh coat of paint to hallways.

On the second floor of the downtown San Pedro office building the school occupies, a construction crew hurries to erect walls for new classrooms within a huge, empty space.

SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS BUT WHAT'S THE PLAN  (Audio/Podcast)

Which way LA with Warren Olney - Air Date MON AUG 4, 2008 Live: 7:00-7:30P

Early last week, the LA Unified School District’s elected board of trustees was planning a 3.2 billion dollar bond measure for the November ballot. But Mayor Villaraigosa had conducted a poll showing that voters would be willing to go for more. On Thursday, the board almost doubled its request from 3.2 billion to 7 billion, with 2 billion of that not earmarked for any specific projects.

Guests:

· Monica Garcia: LAUSD Board Member

· Connie Rice: Chair of the School Construction Bond Citizens' Oversight Committee

· A.J. Duffy: President of the United Teachers Los Angeles

· Caprice Young: President of the California Charter School Association

DOCTORS WANT HOT DOGS OFF LAUSD MENU

Physicians for Responsible Medicine and its affiliate the Cancer Project ran broadcast ads last week in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago and other cities to make its point.

Among the districts that the group says get an F for serving too much processed meat is Los Angeles Unified. Of the LAUSD menus it studied, the group said 60% of elementary school breakfasts and 80% of middle and high school breakfasts contained processed meats.

'65 PERCENT SOLUTION' SCHOOL PLAN COMES TO FLORIDA

Tallahassee, Fla.- Conservatives and libertarians nationwide tout the "65 percent solution," an enticing, simple — and some say deceptive — school budgeting concept, as a way to increase classroom spending without raising taxes.

The idea is to require schools to spend 65 percent of their budgets on classroom expenses as opposed to administrative costs. It's been pushed for three years but has sputtered nationally, with only Georgia and Texas adopting it.

CONTROVERSY CREATED BY PROPOSED $7 BILLION BOND MEASURE IN LOS ANGELES

Charter Schools News Connection sponsored by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools: Aug 3, 2008 — After two hours of debate last week, much of which focused on funding for public charter schools, the Los Angeles Unified School District Board voted unanimously to place a $7 billion bond measure on the November ballot.

The measure includes at least $450 million to find space for and build public charter schools. Some public charter school supporters, however, are unhappy with the bond measure, which allows the district to retain control over charter sites built with the bond money.

Caprice Young of the California Charter Schools Association said she plans to raise money to fight the measure. She said she would rather see a bond issue that funds public charter schools, but still provides them the flexibility to spend the money, build the schools and then own the property once they are built.

FUZZY MATH: The ill-defined expansion of a bond proposal leaves the LAUSD with some explaining to do.

August 4, 2008 – Leaders of the Los Angeles Unified School District have much to explain about how a $3.2-billion bond proposal, considered perfectly adequate two weeks ago, more than doubled in size, pumped up with blurry references to future, unspecified projects. And they won't have to explain that just to voters, but possibly to the state's lawyers.