Saturday, June 29, 2013

California School Budgets

California School Budgets: Budget Agreement Maintains the Minimum Funding Level for Schools and Community Colleges in the May Revision Approved by voters ...

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Choosing Democracy: While teachers are tested, evaluated, and tested.....

 While teachers are tested, evaluated, and tested.....: New York City School Chiefs Get Informal Job Checks Top School Administrators Haven't Been Subject to Formal Evaluations ...

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Choosing Democracy: Chicago Mayor Emanuel closes schools, war on teach...

 Chicago Mayor Emanuel closes schools, war on teach...: CHICAGO MAYOR RAHM EMMANUEL'S WAR ON TEACHERS AND CHILDREN By David Bacon Equal Times, 6/25/13 http://www.equaltimes.org/opini...

Monday, June 24, 2013

Choosing Democracy: Education to rebuild the U.S.

Choosing Democracy: Education to rebuild the U.S.: An Education Declaration to Rebuild America Americans have long looked to our public schools to provide opportunities for...

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Choosing Democracy: ALEC on school choice and privatization

Choosing Democracy: ALEC on school choice and privatization: See at least the first 30 minutes. http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-united-states-of-alec-a-follow-up/

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Problems with Common Core Standards

Choosing Democracy: Problems with Common Core Standards: By the editors of  Rethinking Schools It isn’t easy to find common ground on the  Common Core . Already hailed as the “next big thi...

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Sacramento District closes schools serving the working poor


Sacramento District Ignores Report Suggesting Closing Schools for Affluent White Kids, Instead Shutters Seven Schools Filled with Poor and Minority Kids

Steven Hsieh
A Sacramento city school district is poised to close seven elementary schools, disproportionately hurting students in low-income and predominantly minority neighborhoods.
In response, twelve students and their parents filed a civil rights lawsuit, asking a federal court to block the closures. The suit claims that the Sacramento City Unified District’s decision “was motivated by an intent to discriminate against the minority populations” and will result in “a disastrous discriminatory effect on the poor, disadvantaged population which is served by these neighborhood schools slated for closure."
The complaint also notes that in choosing the schools it did for closure, Unified District ignored a report by a closure committee recommending the shuttering of four different schools in “older, affluent neighborhoods,” each with a 'white' student body in excess of 40 percent of the enrolled students.”
CBS Sacramento reports that dozens of parents and students rallied outside the courthouse Tuesday. Jonathan Tran of Hmong Innovating Politics, the group that organized the rally, told the station, “The district applied an arbitrary and illegitimate standard to target schools that are predominantly high in low-income and minority populations … At the end of the day, that is unacceptable.”