Education
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Thursday Must Read: College Students Are More Liberal Than Ever; State to Adopt Strict Clean-Air Rules
Politics / Education / Environment Robert Gammon — Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 9:49 AM
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. College students across the nation are becoming increasingly more liberal, as conservative students are now embracing progressive views, the CoCo Times reports, citing a new major study from UCLA. A record 71.3 percent of freshmen students said they approve of same-sex marriage, and opinions on marijuana legalization, affirmative action, abortion, and immigration have steadily moved toward the left in the past few years.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Friday Must Read: Brown Wants Fewer Tests for Students; Councilmembers Push Anti-Port-Shutdown Bill, Again
Politics / Education / Occupy Robert Gammon — Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 6:59 AM
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Governor Jerry Brown, in a sharp break from the Obama administration, believes K-12 students in California are being forced to take too many standardized tests, the LA Times reports. As part of his education overhaul, Brown is pushing for fewer tests, contending that they stifle creativity — an argument that teachers have been making for years. The tests take “too damn long,” Brown told the LA Times editorial board. “Second-graders take five days of tests. That’s longer than I spent on the bar exam. I think that’s absurd. You've gotta have some room for creativity.” The statements by Brown, who has two charter schools in Oakland, come in stark contrast to the Obama administration’s call to increase testing.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Thursday Must Read: Oakland Sends Out 2,500 Layoff Notices; Brown Opposes Plan to Extend Redevelopment Until April
Politics / Education / Transportation Robert Gammon — Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 7:00 AM
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. The City of Oakland sent out 2,500 layoff notices yesterday, and raised the total number of potential job losses to four hundred as officials scrambled to deal with the fallout of Governor Jerry Brown and legislature’s decision to kill redevelopment statewide, the Chron reports. City officials decided to issue layoff notices to nearly every worker inside City Hall in order to provide the city council maximum flexibility in deciding how to overhaul Oakland government and deal with the loss of up to $30 million in redevelopment funds each year. The council will make the layoffs decision next week. The only departments exempted from the layoffs are police and fire because their union contracts prohibit more job cuts.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Tuesday Must Read: Bill Would Extend Redevelopment Until April 15; Brown Slashes $1 Billion from Prison Spending
Politics / Business / Education Robert Gammon — Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 6:56 AM
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Cities would have until April 15 to dismantle their redevelopment agencies under a bill introduced by state Senator Alex Padilla, a Southern California lawmaker, the LA Daily News reports (via Rough & Tumble). Cities, including Oakland, have been scrambling to meet the February 1 deadline to eliminate redevelopment. Oakland is sending out 1,500 layoff notices this week and plans to ultimately slash 200 jobs. Padilla said cities need more time, and he’s hoping that the extension until April 15 will give the legislature a chance to hammer out a way to resurrect redevelopment in some form. However, it remains unclear whether Governor Jerry Brown, who devised the plan to kill redevelopment, will go along with the extension.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
UC Berkeley Sees Massive Increase in Freshman Applications
Education Rachel Swan — Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 12:02 PM
Maybe it's the outreach campaigns, or the slight tweaks to UC Berkeley's basic eligibility requirements, acting associate vice chancellor Anne De Luca postulated. (This year, middle school foreign language and math courses now count toward an applicant's 11 requirements.) Whatever the case, the university saw a massive increase in freshman enrollment applications for the 2012-2013 school year, up 16.5 percent from 2011. That jump reflects a similarly dramatic system-wide increase of 19 percent — UCs Santa Cruz, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, Merced, Santa Barbara, and San Diego all saw their freshman applications rise by double-digits, according to data from the office of the president. It appears that most of these prospective students are highly qualified, too, with a mean GPA of 3.6, and an average SAT 1 score of 1909, up three points from last year. That means a lot of worthy applicants might ultimately be steered into community colleges. Interestingly, the number of transfer student applications hasn't increased, UC brass say. Rather, it's declined by about 2 percent, which might indicate that the rising cost of a university education is deterring at least one portion of the student population.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Tuesday Must Read: Brown’s Tax Plan Comes Up Short; Community Colleges Approve Overhaul
Politics / People / Education Robert Gammon — Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 7:01 AM
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Jerry Brown’s tax proposal for the November ballot will bring in about $2 billion less a year than the governor projects, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, the LA Times reports. Brown says that his tax measure, if approved by voters, would generate about $6.9 billion annually, but the LAO says it likely will bring in only $4.8 billion each year. If the LAO is correct, then the governor’s plan could force even deeper cuts to state services than he has proposed — even if his ballot measure passes.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Friday Must Read: Brown Proposes to Slash Social Safety Net; Occupy Protesters Barred from Oakland City Hall
Politics / Education / Health & Medicine Robert Gammon — Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 7:00 AM
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Governor Jerry Brown is proposing to shred California’s social safety net — even if voters approve his tax proposal in November, HealthyCal.org reports. If voters turn down his tax plan, then the state will have to dramatically slash funding to K-12 education as well. The governor is proposing deep cuts to welfare, MediCal, and home-based services for the disabled that would be enacted regardless of whether his tax plan passes or not. As a result, Brown’s proposed budget raises questions as to whether his tax-the-rich proposal goes far enough. Other tax tax-the-rich plans for the November ballot would raise more funds than Brown’s and likely would result in fewer service cuts for the poor.Thursday, December 15, 2011
Thursday Must Read: Telegraph Declared a Disaster Zone; Recall Campaign Launched Against Five Oakland School Board Members
Politics / Business / Education Robert Gammon — Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 6:59 AM
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. State officials have declared Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley to be a disaster zone in the wake of last month’s massive fire that destroyed an apartment building and several small businesses, Berkeleyside reports. But Telegraph merchants are welcoming the disaster declaration because it makes them and tenants of the burned building eligible for federal aid.
2. Oakland has recall fever. Not only are there two recall campaigns involving three groups against Mayor Jean Quan, but angry parents have launched a recall effort against five school board members. The Trib reports that the parents are upset at the board members for voting to close five schools. The recall effort will require gathering signatures in each of the board member’s districts.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Wednesday Must Read: Cuts to K-12 Education Less than Expected; Occupy Movement Has No More Plans to Blockade Ports
Politics / Education / Occupy Robert Gammon — Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 6:58 AM
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Governor Jerry Brown announced that state budget cuts to K-12 education will not be as severe as some had thought because the California economy is showing signs of recovery. The Chron reports that the state will slash about $327 million from public schools — far lower than the $1 billion that many had feared. Overall, California must slash $1 billion in total spending on January 1 because state tax revenues are less than what had been anticipated early last year. Other cuts include $100 million each to the UC and CSU systems, and $102 million to community colleges.
