The news that doesn't fit from Feb 8th

HOMELESS STUDENTS STILL STAYING IN SCHOOL

La Opinión, News Report By Yurina Rico, Translated by Suzanne Manneh, Posted: Feb 07, 2009 [from New American Media]

LOS ANGELES — It's been a month since Carla, who is 10 and in fifth grade, and her mother, Emilia Villalta, moved their beds into a friend’s garage in Panorama City. While Emilia looks for a permanent place to live, Carla continues to attend school.

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) estimates that there are more than 12,000 students like Carla, who are classified as "homeless" because they have no permanent housing.

SCHOOL WATER SHUTOFF

LOS ANGELES -- It now appears the water at some Los Angeles schools is much more contaminated with lead than anyone ever thought.

Recent tests done by the district shows that the water at some schools has dozens, even hundreds of times the amount of lead the government says is safe.

At Porter Middle School in Granada Hills, workers have turned off eight fountains and faucets, so students can't drink the water. Recent tests by the school district showed the water on one faucet had a lead level of 954 parts per billion. That's 63 times the 15 parts per billion that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says is safe to drink.

At other schools, workers are shutting off the water in hallways, in classrooms and in cafeterias.

CALIFORNIA’S @ ROCK BOTTOM: If California wants its share of federal largesse, Sacramento had better get its act together, fast.

February 6, 2009 -- California is now the Wile E. Coyote of states. Our governor and lawmakers have dickered and dawdled all of us off a cliff, but we're trying desperately to resist the realization that there is no ground beneath us. Our legs are pumping and our eyes are on Obama administration stimulus packages and bailout money on the far, sunny slope, and we might just reach them if we don't acknowledge that the bridge is out, or that we've run off the road, or that our Acme wings have failed. Once we notice that we're hanging in midair, we'll fall.

STATE SCHOOLS CHIEF DELIVERS DIRE MESSAGE TO LOCAL OFFICIALS + STATE SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT RALLIES SCHOOL LEADERS TO OPPOSE CUTS

State schools chief delivers dire message to local officials

5 Feb 2009 - PASADENA - Saying the public school system is in a "precarious state," California's chief or public education Wednesday urged area school leaders to consider asking property owners for help.

Speaking at a town hall meeting, dubbed "Save Our Schools," in Pasadena, state Superintendent of Public Education Jack O'Connell said parcel taxes, which must be approved by voters, might be the solution to cover local school budget shortfalls.

"More school districts are now looking at parcel taxes. Voters should be given the option of approving parcel taxes to pass to fund schools," O'Connell told about 20 20 local superintendents and school board members who met at McKinley School.

LAUSD SELLS NEARLY $1 BILLION IN BONDS, DESPITE STATE’S WOES

One day after California's credit rating fell to the lowest of any state, investors on Wednesday stepped up to buy $950 million of tax-free bonds from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The sale suggests that demand for municipal securities remains relatively healthy, even for debt of issuers that could be adversely affected by California’s budget woes.

The voter-approved LAUSD bonds, which will finance school building projects, were sold in terms from one to 25 years. The annualized tax-free yield on the five-year issue was about 2.69%. The 10-year bond's yield was about 3.84%.

ARNE DUNCAN: 'Educate Our Way To A Better Economy'

All Things Considered, February 4, 2009 · As news broke Tuesday that Tom Daschle was withdrawing his bid to become secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, another one of President Obama's Cabinet picks was quietly at work.

The new secretary of education, Arne Duncan, was visiting a charter school in Washington, D.C., with the president and first lady. More school visits are in Duncan's future, but his focus now is on the economic stimulus package — and the $140 billion currently slated for schools.

GIANT MANHATTAN SCHOOL TO BE BROKEN UP TO FURTHER SMALLER-IS-BETTER POLICY

smf notes that in NYC, a High School of 2,251 students is a “behemoth” . In LAUSD a school of that size might be considered “optimal” – or (with tempered sarcasm) a possible host for Prop 39 charter co-location.

February 3, 2009 -- Louis D. Brandeis High School, an Upper West Side behemoth that takes in some of the city’s most disadvantaged students and has struggled year after year to bump up test scores and graduation rates, will be closed and replaced by three new small schools, the Department of Education announced on Tuesday.

MOM RESISTS VOLUNTEERING AT SON’S SCHOOL — UNTIL SHE TALKS TO THE PTA PRESIDENT

I didn't want to volunteer at my son's school.

There, I said it. I didn't mean forever, just not right then. With my son having recently started kindergarten and his little brother in preschool three mornings of the week, I had visions of free time in my head. But then my head was full of guilt. I felt like a draft dodger keeping a low profile in order to avoid the government, aka the PTA.

EMERGENCY AID MAY NOT STOP LAYOFFS OF TEACHERS

FEBRUARY 4, 2009 - School districts across the country say an emergency federal aid package pending in Congress will go a long way toward averting teacher layoffs, but hasn't eliminated worries over the potential damage to education from the current economic slump.

Public schools and colleges would get up to $140 billion under the $819 billion economic stimulus plan passed by the U.S. House last week, with $79 billion largely designated to avoiding teacher layoffs at schools and colleges.

But some districts have already pared teachers amid the decline in state aid and tax revenues, while others say layoffs will be necessary regardless of whether the education package clears the Senate and is enacted.

Schools Chief: CALIFORNIA EDUCATION SYSTEM ‘PRECARIOUS’

02/03/2009 --SACRAMENTO—Warning that its public schools are in a "precarious" state, California's top education official on Tuesday called for more money even as lawmakers were considering billions of dollars in cuts to help address the state's massive budget deficit.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said California's system of funding education, in which money is directed at dozens of specialized programs enshrined over decades, isn't working.

"The state of public education in California is precarious," he said during his annual state of education address. "Beyond the immediate crisis, and even more alarming to me, is the long-term future of our common education system."

Dumb Board of Ed Tricks: SCHOOL BOARD SWEARS OFF A ‘PROFANE” NOVEL

February 4, 2009 -- A Stanislaus County school board banned a celebrated but controversial piece of Chicano literature from its high school classrooms this week because trustees and the superintendent believe "Bless Me, Ultima" contains too much profanity.

The Newman Crows Landing Board of Education voted 4 to 1 Monday night to strip the coming-of-age novel by Rudolfo Anaya from the sophomore required reading list at Orestimba High School. The district review of the book was prompted by a parent's complaint last year that it was "anti-Catholic" and sexually explicit.

IT’S TOO EASY TO AMEND CALIFORNIA’S CONSTITUTION

The Proposition 8 battle showed that the process to get an initiative amendment on the state ballot should be more rigorous.

February 4, 2009 -- Proposition 8's ban on same-sex marriage unleashed a storm of controversy that has moved to the state Supreme Court. The cases filed there grapple with, among other issues, the fact that the measure isn't just a garden-variety statute passed by the people but an addition to the state Constitution. Amid all the other debates caused by Proposition 8, we need to open one more: Does California make it too easy to amend its Constitution?

CALIFORNIA BOND RATING DROPS LOWER THAN ANY OTHER STATE’S

Standard and Poor's cites the budget impasse and near-empty treasury. Meanwhile, interest groups show growing resistance to possible compromises by legislators on labor issues and taxes.

LAUSD GOAL: $1 BILLION IN U.S. FUNDS

02/04/2009 -- Los Angeles Unified School District officials are confident a little help from paid Washington, D.C., lobbyists and a few personal appeals to U.S. congressmen and -women can secure the school district $1billion in federal stimulus money.

The money will balance the district's budget, which is expected to be slashed by nearly the same amount this school year due to dwindling state resources.

"We have a president who understands we have to invest at home in education," said LAUSD Board of Education member Yolie Flores Aguilar. "All eyes are on D.C. as we've lost hope for funds from the state."

$19.5 MILLION NEEDED FOR SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM

Op-Ed by Jack O'Connell & Tom Torlakson | San Francisco Chronicle

Friday, January 30, 2009 - Even in our nation's darkest hours, we have worked to make sure every child has enough to eat. That's why during the Great Depression visionaries instituted the school meal program that has helped to feed our neediest children, generation after generation.

But today, as more and more hungry children turn to the school lunch program for their only meal of the day, California's program is in danger of collapse. We must act quickly.

FOLLOW THE LEADER: The federal stimulus package should serve as an impetus to state legislators to fully fund the education system.

uesday, February 3, 2009 - Year in and year out, the fate awaiting California's education system has been the same-cut after cut after cut. State legislators, though alleged believers in education as the greatest investment for the future, have yet to demonstrate that belief with adequate state funding.

Last week, the federal government acted on that belief when the U.S. House of Representatives passed President Obama's $819 billion stimulus package, a much-needed jolt designed to create jobs.

The package could translate into millions of dollars for California's public schools and higher education systems, the University of California and the California State University.

LAUSD BOND SALES: Munis Slightly Firmer in Afternoon Trade

STIMULUS. CIRRUS. CUMULO NIMBUS II: Sometimes you do need a weatherman to tell you which way the wind blows!

Below is a document prepared by the Congressional Research Service which estimates the amount of education funding that each school district will receive from certain aspects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment bill.

Specifically, this document estimates what each school district in California would receive under the bill’s program allocations (not including the $79 billion State Stabilization Fund) for Title I ($11 billion), IDEA ($13 billion), and K-12 School Modernization ($14 billion) over FYs 2009 and 2010.