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Morning Read: Walton Funding 700 New Teachers for LA

LA School Report | July 31, 2013



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Foundation’s Grant Will Bring 700 New Teachers to LA
The Arkansas-based Walton Family Foundation announced Wednesday that it was donating $20 million to a nonprofit that recruits talented college graduates to teach in public schools for two years. The largest number of instructors, more than 700, is slated for Los Angeles. LA Times


School Districts Invited to Apply for Race to the Top Funds

The U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday invited districts nationwide to begin applying for the latest high-profile federal school-reform grants. Individual school districts will be able to seek about $120 million in “Race to the Top” federal funds. The four-year awards will range from $4 million to $30 million, depending on the population of students served. The Department of Education is expecting to make 15 to 25 awards. LA Times 


Coachella Valley at Forefront of iPad Wave in SoCal Schools
The Los Angeles Unified School District may have grabbed national headlines last month when it committed to a pilot program of putting iPads in the hands of every teacher and student at select schools, but the relatively tiny Coachella Valley Unified School District in Riverside county is a year ahead. KPCC 


Local Control Funding Formula Requires Limiting K-3 Class Size

An overlooked but still key provision of Gov. Jerry Brown’s new funding formula for schools requires districts to maintain average class sizes at no more than 24 students – or risk losing some of their funding. In a new report released Monday by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, researchers pointed out that the newly enacted Local Control Funding Formula provides a grade span differential generally intended to recognize the higher cost of services to older students. SI&A Cabinet Report


New York Arts Educator Hired as Principal of Downtown School
Kim Bruno, the longtime leader of a high-profile arts high school in New York, has agreed to become the new principal of the Ramon C. Cortines School for Visual and Performing Arts in Downtown. As the former principal of the lauded LaGuardia High School of Music, Art and Performing Arts in New York City, Bruno represents the kind of high-profile arts administrator that local officials have sought but failed to lure to the school since it opened in 2009. LA Downtown News 


LAUSD Adding Kid-Friendly Options to Cafeteria Fare
Los Angeles Unified plans to introduce more kid-friendly options, such as taco salad and chicken-and-waffles, to its healthful lunch menu this fall, while eliminating mess-making cereal from the Breakfast in the Classroom program, district officials say. LA Daily News


Local Control Funding Formula: Is There a New Rulebook?
Commentary: Now that the state’s new system of funding schools has been signed into law, educators and community groups are trying to get their bearings. At an event recently a colleague from a county office of education said that she was being inundated by calls from the field “wanting to know what the new rulebook is” for transitioning to the new system and ensuring successful implementation. EdSource


U.S. Higher-Education System Perpetuates White Privilege, Report Says
Colleges and universities have succeeded in attracting more underrepresented-minority students, but that increased access for black and Hispanic students has been accompanied by increasing campus polarization on the basis of race and ethnicity, says a report released on Wednesday by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. The Chronicle of Higher Education


 

To Fill Budget Gap, Chicago to Cut Classroom Spending, Raise Taxes
The news keeps getting worse both for Chicago Public School students and city residents. According to Lauren Fitzpatrick and Mitch Dudek of the Chicago Sun-Times, the latest solution announced by administrators for the district’s persistent financial woes is to raise property tax rates to their maximum level and continue with big cuts to spending in the classroom. Education News

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