Morning Read: More Money Coming, But Pressures Remain
LA School Report | August 22, 2013
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Schools rising from budget depths, EdSource report finds
With the passage of Proposition 30 and implementation of a new funding system channeling more money to most districts this fall, the 2012-13 school year will be the base for measuring how well schools recover from the Great Recession. Yet as EdSource documents in a report issued Thursday, there will be a steep climb out of the trough. EdSource
CA Supreme Court to decide charter access to LAUSD campuses
More than 12 years after California voters decreed that independent charters should have access to public school facilities, Los Angeles Unified remains embroiled in a legal battle over how to share its campus space with charters that request it. The district and the California Charter Schools Association are at odds over how to implement Proposition 39, which was approved by voters in 2000. Their dispute has now reached the state Supreme Court, which will determine the most fair and equitable method for districts to allocate classrooms to charters. LA Daily News
The Common Core and the Common Good
Editorial: America, we have a problem. Our educational system is not keeping up with that of many other industrialized countries, even as the job market becomes more global and international competition for jobs becomes steeper. We have gone from the leader to a laggard. According to the Broad Foundation, an educational reform group, “American students rank 25th in math, 17th in science and 14th in reading compared to students in 27 industrialized countries.” New York Times
Garcetti makes good choice in Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana
Editorial: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti made an excellent choice in Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana to be his top education adviser. Melendez de Santa Ana has an impressive résumé, with two years as U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s assistant secretary for elementary and secondary schooling, sandwiched between stints as superintendent of Pomona and San Ana unified school districts. Those are two suburban but urban-like districts with many of the same issues that Los Angeles Unified faces. LA Daily News
Public opposes use of test scores in teacher reviews, poll shows
In a reversal of public opinion, a majority of Americans now oppose using student test scores to evaluate teachers and more believe that increased testing has hurt rather than helped improve public schools, a new survey shows. Nearly two-thirds of Americans polled also oppose the public release of student test scores of an individual teacher — a shift from two years ago, when a majority supported it, according to the survey released Wednesday by Gallup and PDK International, a global educators association. LA Times
Parent designed app offers students easy access to school events
Heading back to school can be stressful for students. Questions like, “who are my teachers,” “where are my classes” and even “how bad is the traffic” can flood the minds of Southern California high schoolers navigating the first few days. But at The Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana all of those questions can be answered with a quick swipe of an iPhone. KPCC