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Governor’s proposed rainy day reserve for education would rarely be filled
To even out the boom-and-bust revenue cycles that can particularly destabilize education funding, Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing a separate reserve for K-12 schools and community colleges in his revised plan for a rainy day fund. But that lock box for education would gather dust most years because of the tight restrictions that Brown is proposing, according to analysts who have looked at the proposal.  EdSource

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Despite voter ban, state guide embraces bilingual ed
Updated guidance from the state on how to teach California’s estimated 1.3 million English learners relies heavily on a strategy largely prohibited by voters 16 years ago – bilingual education. Peppered throughout the draft framework for English language arts and English language development are references to the value of an English learner’s home language as a vehicle for helping a student learn English. SI&A Cabinet Report

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California key to raising national graduation rate
The high school graduation rate in the United States will not increase as quickly as experts think it can without more improvement in California, which educates one-fifth of the nation’s low-income school children and more Hispanic students than any other state, a report set to be released Monday concludes. The “Building a Grad Nation” report, produced by a coalition of advocacy groups and researchers at Johns Hopkins University, credits the nation’s most populous and diverse state with developing effective strategies that helped push its 2012 graduation rate to 79 percent, an increase of five percentage points from two years earlier and one point below the national average. The Associated Press

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California superintendent race shows Democrats split on school reform
The race to be California’s superintendent of education is shaping up to be an expensive contest between fellow Democrats – one backed by the party establishment and teachers unions, and the other calling for school reform. Former charter school executive Marshall Tuck said on Friday he planned to unleash campaign ads and social media outreach next week to unseat incumbent state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, a former lawmaker and teacher who has the backing of unions and the state party organization. Reuters

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A Walmart fortune, spreading charter schools
DC Prep operates four charter schools here with 1,200 students in preschool through eighth grade. The schools, whose students are mostly poor and black, are among the highest performing in Washington. Last year, DC Prep’s flagship middle school earned the best test scores among local charter schools, far outperforming the average of the city’s traditional neighborhood schools as well. Another, less trumpeted, distinction for DC Prep is the extent to which it — as well as many other charter schools in the city — relies on the Walton Family Foundation, a philanthropic group governed by the family that founded Walmart. New York Times