Education

Lawmakers seek to reform community college accreditation process

The state’s college accreditation process, which reviews academic standards at public and private colleges, could soon undergo a review of its own. A bill working its way through the Legislature would open up the accreditation process for California community colleges to ensure greater

Another black lawmaker turns on CA teacher unions

Chris Reed June 6, 2015

California’s Democratic Party has long been able keep the peace between its richest faction — public employee unions — and its biggest faction — minority voters. But more than with any Legislature this century, the current session has produced some

Reformers get help in fight over school funding law

Chris Reed May 31, 2015

Education reformers and advocates for poor communities have a new tool in the fight over implementation of a 2013 law that was supposed to provide extra help to millions of struggling California students. The Local Control Funding Formula — championed

Teacher tenure bill defeated in Assembly

Josephine Djuhana May 29, 2015

On Thursday, the California Assembly Appropriations Committee voted to hold Assembly Bill 753, in effect killing the bill for this legislative session. AB753 is authored by Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, and would expand the scope of the tenure system to teachers working in small

Brown adds $2 billion to program that worries LAO

Chris Reed May 19, 2015

Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised 2015-16 state budget boosts from $4 billion to $6.1 billion the funding being given to the Local Control Funding Formula for public schools. That’s the program established by Brown via a 2013 state law to specifically

School districts seek help with pension bailout costs

Chris Reed May 17, 2015

The bailout of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System enacted last year requires a 70 percent increase in pension contributions from school districts, a 20 percent increase from the state general fund and a 10 percent increase in teacher contributions.

Budget reflects truce in Brown-Napolitano fight over UC

Chris Reed May 16, 2015

For eight months, the most high-profile political fight in Sacramento has been between Gov. Jerry Brown and University of California President Janet Napolitano, triggered by Napolitano’s attempts to pressure Brown and the Legislature to increase funding for the UC system.

Conflict of interest for CTA rep on state board?

Chris Reed May 10, 2015

The California Public Utilities Commission has faced months of headlines over conflict-of-interest scandals involving former longtime PUC President Michael Peevey, who on several occasions sought favors from the utilities he regulated while interceding on their behalf out of the public’s

Mandated vaccination bill advances

James Poulos May 6, 2015

After a surprisingly fierce challenge from anti-vaccine advocates, Sacramento legislators worried about the language of the landmark new vaccination bill have succeeded in crafting a passable draft. As CalWatchdog reported previously, supporters of SB 277 discovered that its original wording

UC endowments soar as tuition hikes continue

Steve Miller May 5, 2015

While families struggle to help students with tuition — and as student loan debt skyrockets — California universities continue to amass multimillion- and even billion-dollar endowments. Endowments at the state university system schools have seen massive increases since 2009, even