Your donation will help us produce journalism like this. Please give today.

Funding gap threatens retirement for California teachers
The pension fund for public school teachers in California faces a long-term shortfall of $74 billion, threatening its ability to pay for the retirement of nearly 1 million teachers and administrators in the nation’s most populous state, officials said on Thursday. The gap is growing by about $15 million per day, the California State Teachers Retirement System said in a written statement, and the system could run out of money in 32 years. Reuters

---

LA schools enjoy steep increase in revenues from film shoots
The Los Angeles Unified School District has found an unusual solution to at least some of its budget woes – selling more licenses to film production companies. Filming fees are up 40 percent for the district, according to figures released by school administration Thursday. The district has grossed approximately $8,924,000 since 2010, when its most recent contract with FilmLA went into effect. KPCC

---

Charters seek compromise on governance transparency
Charter schools, which often operate as both a private non-profit and a publicly-funded agency, reside in a sort of legal no-man’s land as it relates to the state’s open meeting and good governance laws. Efforts to simply extend the Brown Act, the Public Records Act and the Political Reform Act to charters has failed in the past – largely because the rigid requirements don’t mesh well with fundamental tenants of the charter movement that give the schools freedom and flexibility. S&I Cabinet Report

---

Officials discuss facilities maintenance in new spending plans
The Center for Cities and Schools at UC Berkeley hosted a webinar today to address how districts should meet the healthy school facilities’ goal in the new Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAP), which are mandated under the state’s new funding formula. More than 100 people across the state, including district administrators, registered for the discussion. EdSource

---

Why Vergara is a loser for both sides
Commentary: The two contending sides wrapped up their cases last week in Vergara vs California, the education lawsuit being tried in Judge Rolf Treu’s Los Angeles Superior Courtroom. Treu has ninety days to make his ruling. But from our perspective this is a case that the plaintiffs can’t win and the defendants will lose regardless of the outcome. EdWeek