Editorial from the Los Angeles Newspaper Group
●●smf's 2¢: Sometimes one suspects that the Daily News editorial board is writing for The Daily [Other] Planet.
“California at the Edge of a Cliff”: STATE FALLS IN EDUCATION RANKS
+ 4 more stories
SCHWARZENEGGER PROPOSES 5 FEWER SCHOOL DAYS: Faced with a massive budget deficit, the governor wants to stop state funding for a week of classes.
+ 25 more stories
TEACHERS ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK
In the face of a widening budget gap, Los Angeles Unified School District officials said in remarks reported today that they could soon send nearly 3,000 nonpermanent teachers notices warning of imminent layoffs
LAUSD MAY LAY OFF 3,000 TEACHERS DUE TO BUDGET PROBLEMS
from the Downtown News:: READY FOR A MEGA YEAR: School is in Session + LEADERS OF THE PACK: Monica Garcia
In the fall, the $232 million High School for the Visual and Performing Arts will open. LAUSD officials still have to hire a staff and decide who will be able to attend the state-of-the-art facility.
ELECTED OFFICIALS WHO WILL BE AT THE CENTER OF THINGS IN 2009. Fresh off her ouster of former LAUSD Supt. David Brewer, school board President Monica Garcia has put herself in a position of power.
CTA FILES SCHOOL FUNDING INITIATIVE: 1 Cent Sales Tax Increase Would Benefit K-12 Schools, Community Colleges
California Teachers Association Files School Funding Initiative to Protect Students, Schools from Deeper Budget Cuts and Ensure Future Funding
As lawmakers remain at odds on dealing with the budget crisis, CTA filed an initiative in late December that would implement a one-cent sales tax to provide new, ongoing funding for public schools and colleges. CTA took the action in an effort to combat the billions of dollars in cuts to public education.
CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT TO TAKE ON STATE LAW GRANTING IN-STATE TUITION TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
The justices have accepted the case that began with a lawsuit filed by out-of-state students and their parents, who argue that such a benefit violates federal law.
January 5, 2009 -- California's highest court is poised to be the next battleground in the debate over benefits for illegal immigrants as the justices have agreed to hear arguments on the constitutionality of a state law allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.
“THE MAGIC FLUTE” JOINS HAMILTON HIGH SCHOOL MUSICIANS AND L.A. OPERA SINGERS
The orchestra's students work hard, excited to do justice to the Mozart fairy tale and the professional chorus. Performances are Jan. 23 and 24.
TIOGA HIGH STUDENTS PUSH TO RECALL SCHOOL BOARD
Tioga High School students organized a petition drive in hopes of recalling their school board. Parents, teachers and even their principal joined the effort.
Big Oak Flat-Groveland Unified School District board members got rid of a popular math teacher after a strange plagiarism complaint.
THE HATCHET JOB ON LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND
In the run-up to Obama's picking a Secretary of Ed , two sides formed in a debate over the desiderata for a secretary and might have duked it out, but only one side was permitted to throw punches in public. It wasn't Dems vs. the GOP. Indeed, that huge sucking sound you hear is Republicans trying to control their laughter. The two groups are largely within the Democratic Party. They might duke it out still because some see secretary of education-designate, Arne Duncan, as the right man in the right place and others see him as evil incarnate (though not quite so incarnate as Joel Klein or Michelle Rhee). If not evil incarnate, a man to further the corporatization of education and the commodification of childhood
PLUS - FROM A STATE WITHOUT A BUDGET, A GOVERNMENT WITHOUT A CLUE:
SO SUE THEM/STATE O’ TH’ STATE DELAYED
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger still hasn't signed that majority-vote budget Democrats passed back in December, but GOP opponents are going to court today to block the budget plan anyway.
Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said his organization, backed by GOP lawmakers, will be filing a lawsuit that argues the Democratic plan is illegal because it raises taxes without the necessary two-thirds vote.
"How can anyone with a straight face look at this package of bills and say it's not intended to raise revenue?" Coupal asks.
(Democrats admit they are raising revenue, but say they are only raising fees and swapping one equal tax for another, thus meeting the legal requirement for a majority vote.)
The whole argument, of course, is moot so long as Schwarzenegger refuses to sign the $18 billion package, as he has since it passed.
Negotiations continue, though the governor's office has indicated little progress has been made.
With that stalemate being, well, stale, other budget-balancing plans are popping up.
ARNOLD RUINS THE STATE; MEDIA LETS HIM GET AWAY WITH IT
- It was Arnold who gutted the Vehicle License Fee on his first day in office that gives us an annual budget hole of $5 billion (and growing).
- It was Arnold who campaigned in 2004 on paying off just one year’s budget deficit by passing a bond that we’re still paying for as debt service.
- And it’s the Republicans in the legislature – and their adamant refusal to ever vote for a single tax increase whatsoever in any way, shape or form – who have abused the two-thirds requirement to pass a state budget each and every year, driving us further and further into fiscal irresponsibility.
California’s one of the most liberal states – but in Sacramento, we get nothing but an Alabama budget.
If the ban on texting while driving was the ‘08 legislative highlight - CALIFORNIA CAPITOL’S 2009 PROSPECTS LOOK GRIM
“OK, so 2008 was mostly a waste of what taxpayers spent on legislators … A year from now, we may look back on 2008 as the good old days.”
SF Valley Economic Forecast: FEDERAL, STATE BUDGET WOES COMING HOME TO ROOST
“LAUSD could be affected in the future but for right now they’re good, You know all those bonds that were approved by the taxpayers? Is the LAUSD going to be able to sell them?” - Doug Bernards, President - Bernards Bros. Construction
CapitolAlert: ALL THE NEWS YOU MISSED OVER THE HOLIDAYS – Yes, California still has a budget problem!
SCHWARZENEGGER PROPOSES BUDGET
January 1, 2009 — LOS ANGELES — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at war with the California Legislature over how to close tens of billions of dollars in projected budget shortfalls, proposed a budget Wednesday that contains a hefty sales tax increase and would cut away at state services..”
+30 stories
CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS WOULD TOP LIST OF IOUS
Controller John Chiang sends a letter to government agencies advising them who will not be paid if the state's cash runs out. Also on the list? Californians expecting tax refunds.
December 31, 2008 -- The failure of lawmakers and the governor thus far to wipe out any of the state's projected nearly $42-billion deficit leaves California only weeks from running out of the cash needed to pay all of its bills. On Tuesday, State Controller John Chiang sent a letter to government agencies advising them of whom the state won't pay if coffers run dry.
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