Tag "Tom Torlakson"
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State auditor will review how $30 billion in Local Control Funding Formula grant money was spent
New reports show that six years after Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature approved a sweeping overhaul in how school funds were divvied up, the evidence is mixed that the overhaul is accomplishing its main goal: improving the academic performance
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Union dues ruling by Supreme Court not a CTA headache yet
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in the Janus v. AFSCME case that public employees couldn’t be compelled to pay union dues was widely seen as a game-changing moment in U.S. politics. The coverage on The Atlantic website was typical.
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Poor test scores raise new doubts about landmark 2013 school finance law
Five years after Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature passed a sweeping new school finance law meant to provide extra help to struggling students in poor, minority communities, new federal test scores raise difficult questions about the effectiveness of the
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Trump administration tussling with California over federal education mandate
The Trump administration turns out to share the Obama administration’s disappointment with California’s efforts to hold schools and school districts accountable for improving students’ academic performance. After President Barack Obama took office in 2009 and installed Arne Duncan as secretary
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Study raises doubts about effects of local control in schools
When Gov. Jerry Brown persuaded the Legislature to pass the Local Control Funding Formula in 2013 – the biggest change in public education in California this century – he used two main selling points. The first was that the law would direct
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Tenure reform bill abruptly withdrawn in win for teachers union
The clout of the California Teachers Association was on full display last week when a bill by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, to reform a tenure law that can give lifetime job protections to teachers 18 months into their careers
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Rematch coming of high-profile 2014 race for state superintendent of public instruction
The most expensive contest on the 2014 California ballot is set to return next year. “Marshall Tuck, who unsuccessfully challenged incumbent schools chief Tom Torlakson in a contentious 2014 race that became a proxy fight over a lawsuit on teacher
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Rising pension costs threaten California school funding
In a shock critics had warned against, Golden State schools discovered that their nation’s largest pension system, CalPERS, was on track to force substantial budgetary cutbacks on core education spending. “Public schools around California are bracing for a crisis driven by
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State defies U.S. edict on single score for schools
The state of California appears to be on a collision course with the federal government over how it responds to a school accountability provision in the Every Student Succeeds Act, the measure approved last year to replace the controversial and
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Tobacco-tax fact checks miss the mark
Twice now we’ve seen fact-checkers panning the anti-tobacco tax campaign’s claim in a radio ad that Prop. 56, an increase of $2 per pack on cigarettes and other tobacco and nicotine products, “cheats schools out of at least $600 million
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