Capo still playing musical chairs
November 04, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Editorial: The Orange County Register
Capistrano Unified School
District is becoming infamous for recalling school board members
and changing the direction of the board almost every election
cycle. Tuesday, voters in the 52,000-student district spread over
seven South County cities and unincorporated areas recalled two
trustees and defeated another incumbent. The self-titled reform
faction will keep a majority on the seven-member Board of Trustees
because two other of the faction's incumbents retained their seats,
and two others were not up for election this year. While our
Editorial Board would have preferred a different outcome in the
Capo recall and election, it is time for animosities to subside and
for rival community factions to come together to responsibly govern
the district...
Orange County Register to publish school salaries, names
November 03, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
William Diepenbrock, The Orange County
Register In less
than two weeks, the Orange County Register will publish the first
in a series of stories about compensation paid to the nearly 72,000
employees of our 27 local school districts and the county
Department of Education. The package, which has already generated
much discussion among school employees, uses data obtained via a
Public Records Act request from the county department and
supplementary data requests fulfilled by the local
districts...
Capo voters re-create divided school board
November 03, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
Capistrano Unified's seesaw
of political power swung back Tuesday after tipping entirely to one
side for two years, with voters unseating three incumbents and
returning the school board to a probable 4-3 split along political
lines. The election of challengers John Alpay, Lynn Hatton and Gary
Pritchard – who all ran as part of the Children First slate –
erases the seven-member bloc of self-described "conservative,
reform" trustees who have controlled the school board since 2008.
Alpay and Pritchard will replace Mike Winsten and Ken Lopez-Maddox,
who were recalled from office, while Hatton will replace Larry
Christensen, who lost his bid for re-election...
Rising national standards are why more schools appear to struggle
November 02, 2010 Filed in:
School Rankings
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register Q. My
children go to school in the district in which I live, and it is
great. I teach in a different district and we were told we are
moving close to becoming a Program Improvement district. Do you
think your readers need to hear about how many districts and
schools are now getting into this category?
3 Capo schools incumbents ousted; 2 keep seats
November 02, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
Three challengers in
Capistrano Unified’s school board election clinched decisive 12- to
22-point wins over their incumbent rivals Tuesday in a race to
control the district’s governing board, according to unofficial
ballot tallies. With all 247 precincts reporting and more than
31,000 mail-in votes cast, incumbents Ken Lopez-Maddox and Mike
Winsten lost their seats to John Alpay of San Clemente and Gary
Pritchard of Aliso Viejo, who were running to replace the
incumbents in a recall election. Challenger Lynn Hatton of Mission
Viejo defeated incumbent Larry Christensen...
3 challengers beating incumbents in Capo schools race
November 02, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
Three challengers in
Capistrano Unified's school board election clinched 11- to 21-point
early leads against their incumbent rivals Tuesday night in a race
for control over the district's governing board, according to
unofficial ballot tallies released after 9:30 p.m. With four of 247
precincts reporting and more than 31,000 mail-in votes cast,
incumbents Ken Lopez-Maddox and Mike Winsten were poised to lose
their seats to challengers John Alpay of San Clemente and Gary
Pritchard of Aliso Viejo, who are running to replace the incumbents
in a recall election. Challenger Lynn Hatton of Mission Viejo was
poised to replace incumbent Larry Christensen. But the other two
major challengers – Martha McNicholas of Laguna Niguel, and Saam
Alikhani of Dana Point – were lagging behind incumbents Ellen
Addonizio and Anna Bryson, respectively, by 11- to 15-point
margins...
CUSD WATCH: Teachers Union Spending Hits $350,000 in CUSD Takeover Attempt
Tony Beall, Red County There is a real life David and Goliath
story playing out right now here in Orange County. It's the
courageous campaign being waged by the conservative Republican
Reform Trustees in Capistrano Unified against the most powerful
special interest group in the State of California -- the Teachers
Union. Powerful union leaders and their supporters are campaigning
to take control of the Capistrano Unified School District on
Election Day – seeking to replace the existing conservative Reform
Trustees with a new pro-union majority, and with their ballot
initiative known as Measure H, to literally take away from every
voter 6 of our 7 school board votes. The Reform Trustees can't even
compete with the union when it comes to campaign money -- but their
continuing willingness to stand up to the union bosses against all
odds has captured the hearts and minds (and loyalty) of the
electorate. The Orange County Register now confirms...
Capo election spending soars, topping $374,000
October 30, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County
Register Capistrano
Unified's teachers union has poured $261,863 into the district's
school board election to date, including $67,040 this week alone,
while its chief political rival, the Committee to Reform CUSD, has
continued to lag behind, reporting no spending over $1,000 in the
past two weeks. With spending by the union's ally – the Capistrano
Unified Children First group – factored in, overall spending by
these groups is outpacing the Reform Committee's spending by more
than a 16 to 1 margin. Total spending by the two sides has reached
$374,674, with the teachers union responsible for spending about 70
cents of every dollar...
It's time to shrink union clout at Capo Unified
October 28, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Column: Brian Calle, The Orange County
Register Voters
in the Capistrano Unified School District general election have a
clear choice between the union slate, which is attempting through a
two-front strategy to retake the board majority, or current
trustees ... As I see it, current school board incumbents have been
effective in their fiduciary duties and in keeping the commitment
to the issues they campaigned on: advocating for charter schools,
school choice and no parcel taxes. They have been tough in their
dealings with the unions and, from my viewpoint, acted decisively
to address budget gaps. The decision for voters in Capo Unified is
whether or not they want their union to have more influence over
the board there...
Capo race spending surges past $267,282
October 26, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
The spending gap between
the two dueling political factions in Capistrano Unified's school
board race has narrowed over the past few weeks, but spending on
the challengers continues to outpace spending on the incumbents by
more than 11 to 1. The Capistrano Unified Children First group and
its ally, the district's teachers union, reported spending a
combined $245,768 through Oct. 21, while the Committee to Reform
CUSD spent $21,496, according to new campaign finance filings –
bringing total spending by both sides to $267,282. The teachers
union remained the biggest financial player, spending $154,471 to
back three of the five Children First candidates, as well as the
recall of two incumbents and a ballot initiative that would alter
how trustees are elected...
CUSD Watch: OC Register Urges Voters to Reject Union-Backed Recall in CUSD
October 25, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Tony Beall, Red County The Orange County Register just
published a significant editorial officially opposing the unjust,
union-backed effort to recall Capistrano Unified School District
Trustees Mike Winsten & Ken Lopez Maddox. Powerful union
leaders and their supporters are campaigning to take control of the
Capistrano Unified School District on Election Day – seeking to
replace the existing conservative Reform Trustees with a new
pro-union majority, and with their ballot initiative known as
Measure H, to literally take away from every voter 6 of our 7
school board votes. Thankfully, things just keep getting worse and
worse for the power hungry teachers union in Capistrano Unified as
their insidious scheme continues to unravel...
Capo trustees don't deserve recall
Editorial: The Orange County Register
The recall of elected
officials should be reserved for egregious behavior – abuse of
office, fraud, illegal dealings – not for differences in political
ideology or to shift political power or to stir public ire. In the
proposed recall Nov. 2 of two Capistrano Unified School District
trustees, the evidence falls short. We urge voters in the South
County school district to vote against the union-backed recall of
two of the seven trustees, Ken Lopez-Maddox and Mike Winsten, and
prevent a possible union takeover from the board...
Capo district's warring factions spar in debate
October 20, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
The two warring political
factions in Capistrano Unified's upcoming school board race sparred
over the track record of incumbent trustees, debated challengers'
financial ties to the district's influential teachers union and
argued over changing the rules for electing trustees at an
informal, hour-long debate Wednesday morning. The spirited
discussion, which did not put strict limits on speaking time, laid
bare the bitter animosity between the five incumbents backed by the
Committee to Reform CUSD and five challengers backed by the
Capistrano Unified Children First group...
Brown Ignored Union Bill’s Warnings
October 19, 2010 Filed in:
Unions
Anthony Pignataro, Cal Watchdog One of the few actual, honest issues in
the California governor’s race has also been one of the least
reported. And while it’s an old issue – dating back to 1977 – it’s
nonetheless fascinating. “Back when Jerry Brown was governor nearly
35 years ago, in his first day in office, he gave public service
unions the right to collective bargaining,” Republican Meg Whitman
said back in April. Her time was off by two years, but the point of
her argument was true enough: that granting public employee unions
the right to bargain collectively for better pay and benefits paved
the way for our state’s current unfunded pension liabilities, which
may top half a trillion dollars...
Spending in Capo school board race hits $184,573
October 19, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
The major financial backers
of Capistrano Unified's hotly contested school board race have
spent $184,573 so far this year to support dueling slates of
candidates in the Nov. 2 election, with spending to benefit
challengers outpacing spending on incumbents by more than 16 to 1.
Capistrano Unified Children First and its ally, the district's
teachers union, spent a combined $173,821 through Sept. 30 to back
five challengers, with the lion's share – $120,605 – coming from
the union. By comparison, the Committee to Reform CUSD spent
$10,752 to support the five sitting trustees, two of whom are
facing a recall...
Unions fighting a phony ‘war on teachers’
October 19, 2010 Filed in:
Unions
Eric Hanushek, Thoughts on Public Education
So we are seeing not a war
on teachers, but a war on the blunt and detrimental policies of
teachers unions. If unions continue not to represent the vast
numbers of highly effective teachers, but instead to lump them in
with the ineffective teachers, they will continue doing a
disservice to students, to most of their own members, and to the
nation...The bottom line is that focusing on effective teachers
cannot be taken as a liberal or conservative position. It’s time
for the unions to drop their polemics and stop propping up the
bottom...
Fullerton teacher librarian is last one standing
October 18, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
Yvette Cabrerra, The Orange County Register
In California, as we plod
through this not-so-great recession, there are two kinds of
education-related cost cuts in play – the sexy kind and the
not-so-sexy kind. Any reduction in spending that might crank up the
number of kids in a third-grade classroom, for example, is easy for
parents and other taxpayers to understand. Same for cuts that wipe
out arts classes or PE or, the latest craze, several school days a
year. All those cuts, popular or not, attract attention and debate.
In short, they're sexy. But farther down on the radar is another
kind of cost cutting – the one that wipes out the often stereotyped
resource known as the school librarian...
Success at school starts with respect
October 18, 2010 Filed in:
Teachers | School Choice
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register Oh,
some good old Aretha Franklin ... R.E.S.P.E.C.T. I am a producer
for PBS Television, so when we received an invitation to see a
screening of "Waiting For Superman," my husband and I jumped on it!
We have an 11-year-old in school and we really wanted to see what
this Superman business was all about. After the screening, we both
had opposite views on the issue. I was shocked! I thought for sure
we would spend our drive home bashing the school system together
and enjoying every bit of it, since the documentary exposed the
flaws...
New state budget dodges pension fixes
October 18, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
Column: Robert Enlow, The Orange County
Register More
than three months and thousands of IOUs later, California lawmakers
finally came to an $87.5 billion budget deal that included what
they are calling bold steps toward public-employee pension reform.
Instead, lawmakers just kicked the can – a $326.6 billion retiree
obligation – down the road and onto future taxpayers...
An Appeal From Anna Bryson, Candidate for Trustee Area 4, CUSD
October 16, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Anna Bryson, CUSD Trustee The ballot for the upcoming November
elections will be crowded with important choices. If you are a
taxpayer with children or grandchildren in the Capistrano Unified
School District (CUSD), if you believe we must provide the best
possible public education possible within our means, and if you
agree that a well-educated workforce will benefit everyone in our
area, I wanted to make sure you are aware of a key race...
Teachers, other unions, drive in reverse
October 14, 2010 Filed in:
Budget & Finance
| Unions
Column: Teryl Zarnow, The Orange County
Register In
America, we focus on staying in drive. Moving forward feels like it
brings us closer to progress and greater prosperity. But the
current economy is difficult precisely because it feels like we're
doing the opposite of what we want. These days, few are getting
ahead, many are falling behind, and the best case, often, is to be
stuck in neutral. Union contracts graphically illustrate the point.
Gone are new deals that call for increases in workers' salaries and
benefits. The object today is to hold ground or mitigate the loss.
Teachers contracts offer an example...
The Rites and Wrongs of October
October 13, 2010 Filed in:
Unions
Larry Sand, Red County Every year, especially the even
numbered ones, teachers all over California are subjected to a
battering by the California Teachers Association and its local
affiliates. That’s when union hacks invade schools and school
mailboxes, telling teachers who and what they must vote for on
Election Day. Their mantra is always the same -- touting the most
liberal candidate and the biggest spending initiatives. When I was
a teacher, I found the constant politicking to be overbearing – and
there is no room for disagreement...
Lawsuits push radical school-funding reform
October 13, 2010 Filed in:
Budget & Finance
| Litigation
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
Educators, parents and
activists are pressing two lawsuits against the state, hoping to
radically reform how California funds schools – much as did a
landmark case in the 1960s that helped create the system now in
place. Both lawsuits argue that the complex system inadequately
funds education for all students – an argument also central to the
1968 Serrano v. Priest case that started California down the road
to equalizing funding among poor and wealthy districts. The Serrano
case led to increased state control over schools, a status
solidified by Prop. 13's changes to the property tax
system...
Union members speak up on coerced political spending
October 12, 2010 Filed in:
Unions
Michelle Malkin, Michelle Malkin I’ve been writing about the
rank-and-file union member revolt against forced political spending
and power grab schemes taking place under the radar screen across
the country. More are saying enough is enough...
Even with tenure, teachers – good and bad – can be let go
October 12, 2010 Filed in:
Accountabiliy | Unions
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register I have
some questions for you. ... Do you understand that tenure is
something unique to your profession and not practiced in private
industry? Do you understand that in private industry, companies may
choose to eliminate more experienced (and higher paid) employees
just to stay in business? If you understand even some of this, then
why should teaches be considered special and be protected by
"tenure" just because they have seniority? I think a better policy
for education is to treat it more like private industry and get rid
of any employees – regardless of "tenure" – that are not doing
their job well. This policy would make all teachers
accountable...
Capo district candidates to appear at Democrats meeting
October 12, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
The Orange County Register Candidates for the Capistrano Unified
School District board of trustees are scheduled to speak Thursday
night during a meeting of the South Orange County Democratic Club
at the San Juan Capistrano Community Center, 25925 Camino del
Avion...
School funding more efficient in other states
October 11, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
Scott
Martindale, The Orange County Register Compared with California's school
finance system, other states tend to take a simpler, less
restrictive approach to earmarking education dollars for specific
uses, delivering the funds more efficiently and keeping political
posturing at bay, experts say. While the California Department of
Education administers some 68 categorical programs for such
specific needs as student nutrition, school safety and technology
upgrades, most other states have far fewer categorical programs –
as few as two or three, or none at all, according to a recent
national survey of categorical programs by the Bethesda, Md.-based
Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. Just as
significantly, other states tend to have fewer restrictions than
California on how earmarked funds can be spent and how that
spending must be documented...
CUSD Watch: Teachers Union Spending Big For "Children First" Candidates
October 08, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Red County, Matt Cunningham "We're not the union candidates!" We've
heard that line so many times from the "Children First" slate of
candidates for the Capistrano Unified School District Board of
Trustees -- as well as from their apologists -- that it is almost
like a mantra. And those of us who have been watching events unfold
down there know equally well that it is untrue. Wondering who is
correct? Take a look at the latest campaign report from the CUSD
teachers union...
Governor's race: How the education platforms compare
October 05, 2010 Filed in:
Elections | Public Education
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
Both Meg Whitman and Jerry
Brown have proposed significant reforms they said would improve the
quality of California's public schools. The gubernatorial
candidates' education platforms call for simplification of school
funding formulas, an increased focus on science, math and
technology education and easing rules to create more quality
charter schools. The candidates also disagree on key issues,
including how to improve low-achieving campuses, how to measure
teacher quality, and whether to reward good teachers and principals
with bonuses...
CUSD Tops California Large School Districts
October 01, 2010 Filed in:
Elections | School Rankings
Column: Ken Lopez Maddox, Trabuco Canyon News
Student achievement in
Capistrano Unified School District has soared to its highest
levels. In fact, the State Superintendent of Public Education just
announced CUSD was the State’s highest achieving large school
district according to the state accountability system ... CUSD’s
ranking is important because it provides parents, taxpayers and the
state with objective proof our school district is providing a
first-rate, excellent education to our 50,000 students. This is
something we can all be proud of. CUSD’s ranking also provides
voters with confirmation their seven elected Reform Trustees have
kept their promises and successfully brought positive change and
reform to CUSD...
O.C. Elections: Candidates talk about their core principles
October 01, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
The Orange County Register What principles are likely to guide a
candidate's decision-making when in office? The Register's
Editorial Board asked as many as six questions of 177 Orange County
candidates in 42 races their thinking on subjects such as the
appropriate role of government, taxation, spending , regulating and
more...
State's fiscal peril drives $4.5 billion schools re
September 29, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
Fermin
Leal and Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
A revolution is brewing
that could shift control of billions in public education dollars
from the state to local districts – the most fundamental change in
how schools are funded since the state took charge of the system 32
years ago. Both Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman are calling for it.
Parents and local educators demand it. Even Sacramento legislators
tacitly acknowledge it must happen and have begun laying the seeds
for it. It's all about $12 billion scattered across dozens of pots
of money – up to a third of all state school funding – that carry
myriad strings limiting their use to such efforts as special
education, nutrition or school safety...
CUSD Watch: OC Register Opposes Union’s Measure H – Unions’ Admitted Attempt “To Elect Our Own Bosses”
September 28, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Column: Tony Beall, Red County The OC Register published a significant
editorial today officially opposing Measure H -- a ballot
initiative promoted and supported by the public employee unions in
Capistrano Unified School District which would change the way CUSD
school board members are elected in the future. Today voters
in CUSD get 7 votes -- 1 for each of their school board
members. If Measure H passes – voters would lose 6 of their
votes…The editorial…Confirms the Real Agenda of Public Employee
Unions. Kudos to the OC Register for confirming
the public employee unions in CUSD are really making a power
play to take over control of Capistrano Unified (the 9th largest
school district in California) on Election Day in order that they
can, in their own words, “elect their own bosses.” Here are
some key excerpts from the OCR’s Editorial:
Watch: Waiting for Supermen" -- Work Hard to Elect Meg
Lance Izumi, The Flash Report It’s ironic that it takes a trip to the
movies to shine the light on an ugly truth that has been lurking
for years, but so far has failed to spark the necessary revolution
to fix our schools. The new movie, “Waiting for ‘Superman’”, might
just be that spark. It is a tough lesson for anyone who cares about
the future of our country and our state. We can no longer afford to
complain about our schools and then do so little to make changes.
It’s a national disgrace. In California, a state that considers
itself the world’s innovation factory, it’s a travesty. The big
screen treatment by Academy Award winner Davis Guggenheim exposes
the brutal facts: We are neglecting our children’s welfare for the
benefit of adults. Our schools are failing our children all over,
not just in less affluent neighborhoods, and many parents don’t
even know it. Our education system is strangled by an inflexible
bureaucracy that effectively smothers innovation and new
thinking…
Capo district workers to take 9.5% pay cut
September 28, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
All non-teaching,
classified employees in the Capistrano Unified School District will
take an average 9.5 percent pay cut this year under a mutual
agreement expected to be approved Tuesday night by district
trustees. The concessions, totaling $5.3 million, will allow
Capistrano Unified to replenish its rainy-day reserve fund, which
was nearly wiped out last June as trustees struggled to approve a
balanced spending plan for 2010-11. Nearly 2,000 employees who are
members of the California School Employees Association will be
affected...
Rancho council opposes CUSD trustee ballot initiative
September 27, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Kristy Chu, The Orange County Register
Council members voted
unanimously on Sept. 22 to adopt a resolution opposing Measure H,
a
November ballot initiative that would restrict Capistrano Unified
School District voters to electing one trustee to represent their
geographical area, instead of voting for all seven in an
at-large election. The item was put on the agenda at the request of
Mayor Pro Tem Tony Beall, a CUSD parent who also serves as the chairman
of the Committee to Reform CUSD. Beall said if Measure H were to
pass, voters would lose six of their votes, calling it
"undemocratic" and a loss of a "fundamental right"…
Unions seek to 'elect our own bosses'
September 27, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Editorial: The Orange County Register
There are arguments on both
sides of elections that are "at large," which gives everyone a say,
or "by trustee area," which makes a trustee concentrate on his or
her particular area. It depends on a situation which is best.For
Capo Unified, the current system – at-large – definitely is better
... Although usually not stated so candidly, public-employee unions
know that, by electing particular candidates, they can sit on both
sides of the bargaining table: as employee and employer. That's
exactly what they have done at the state and local levels, with
disastrous results...
CUSD Watch: Rancho Santa Margarita Unanimously Adopts Resolution Against Union’s “Measure H” Ballot Initiative
September 24, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Tony Beall, Red County The City of Rancho Santa
Margarita just adopted a resolution officially opposing
“Measure H” – a ballot initiative promoted and supported by the
public employee unions in Capistrano Unified School District which
would change the way CUSD school board members are elected in the
future. Today voters in CUSD get 7 votes -- 1 for each of
their school board members. If Measure H passes – voters
would lose 6 of their votes. The Rancho Santa Margarita
Resolution reads in part:
City Council Adopts Resolution in Opposition to Measure H
September 23, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
City Clerk, City of Rancho Santa Margarita
At it's September 22nd City
Council meeting, the City Council unanimously approved a resolution
to Measure H, Capistrano Unified School District's Ballot measure
that will be before the voters at the November 2nd General
Election. Currently, all 7 members of the Capistrano Unified School
District Board are elected at large, providing every voter the
opportunity to vote for each of their 7 elected representatives. If
passed, Measure H would change this process by taking away from
every voter six of those seven votes -- each voter would only be
allowed to vote for the Trustee in his/her immediate Trustee
area...
Initiative aims to boost college-bound grads
September 22, 2010 Filed in:
Education
Programs
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
The Orange County United
Way launched a program this week aimed at increasing the number of
at-risk students who graduate from local high schools and head to
college. The initiative, Destination Graduation, will work directly
with 10 schools in the Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Capistrano and
Santa Ana reaching a minimum of 1,600 students, officials
said…
Student immigration bill goes to U.S. Senate today
September 21, 2010 Filed in:
Education Programs
| Public Education
Cindy Carcamo, The Orange County Register
Activists ratcheted up
their lobbying Monday, generating thousands of calls and faxes to
members of Congress in a last-minute push over an immigration
reform act due to hit the Senate floor Tuesday. Democratic Senate
leaders plan to introduce the DREAM Act – Development, Relief and
Education for Minor Aliens – to be included as an amendment to the
Defense Authorization bill. The act would give students and
military hopefuls who are in the country illegally a pathway to
U.S. citizenship…
School intervention specialist works to impede drug use
September 17, 2010 Filed in:
Accountabiliy | Corruption
Brittany Levine, The Orange County Register
A frantic parent shot off
an e-mail laced with exclamation marks to Mike Darnold. Her son was
losing weight and told her he was smoking marijuana. She was
concerned that he may be doing harder drugs. She asked, "Don't you
get the munchies when you smoke pot?" Another parent called Darnold
as the parent was running down the street after his stepdaughter,
who had been caught having parties involving alcohol. What should
he do?…
Update: Sac school district asks CSBA executive board to resign
September 16, 2010 Filed in:
Corruption
Melody Guiterrez, The Sacramento Bee
The California School
Boards Association (CSBA) has come under fire since it was revealed
in July that its executive director Scott Plotkin was paid $516,517
in 2008 and $403,955 in 2009 after receiving sizable bonuses and
other compensation. Plotkin also admitted to using the group's
credit cards to withdraw cash at area casinos. He said he repaid
that money … CSBA is not a government agency, but receives the bulk
of its funding from taxpayer funded public school districts through
membership dues and other fees … Sacramento City Unified is not the
first district to recently drop out of CSBA. Capistrano Unified
School District trustees voted Tuesday to sever ties with CSBA,
citing the recent scandal…
Help on way for parents of problem kids
September 15, 2010 Filed in:
Education
Programs
Fred Swegels, The Orange County Register
The Parent Project is a
10-week course focusing on topics such as defiant behavior,
negative peer associations, drugs, alcohol and
violence...
Saddleback's new superintendent: It's all about 'we'
September 15, 2010 Filed in:
Superintendents
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
Clint Harwick doesn't use
the words "I" or "me" to describe his accomplishments or his goals
– it's all about "we," he says. The new superintendent of the
33,000-student Saddleback Valley Unified School District says the
challenges faced by the district – including mounting financial
problems and recent employee unrest over an imposed 13.5 percent
pay cut – will only be resolved if he can bring everyone together
to work as a team…
Study: Dropouts cost state billions
September 15, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
A new study says that
California's high school dropouts cost state taxpayers more than $1
billion in Medicaid payments and another $1 billion in lost tax
revenue. The study, "California's High School Dropouts: Examining
the Fiscal Consequence," comes from Foundation for Educational
Choice, a national group that promotes open school choice and
school vouchers…
278 O.C. students named National Merit semifinalists
September 15, 2010 Filed in:
School Rankings
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
Orange County is home to
278 high school students who this year have been named National
Merit semifinalists, an elite designation awarded to just 1 percent
of seniors nationwide who took the Preliminary SAT. About one out
of every seven semifinalists in California who achieved the
designation this year is from Orange County, according to data
released Wednesday by the Evanston, Ill.-based National Merit
Scholarship Corp. The O.C. group represents those who scored a
minimum of 219 out of 240 on their PSAT exam as juniors last
spring…
Be wary of social media in the classroom
September 15, 2010 Filed in:
Health and
Safety
Column: Elizabeth Esther, The Orange County
Register The
nasty e-mail stunned me. Several parents, myself included, were
accused of complaining about our kids’ teacher and reprimanded for
not volunteering in the classroom. The assumptions were only
partially true — yes, I had been unable to volunteer that year due
to newborn twins — but it was just plain false that I had ever
complained about my daughter’s grades. Worst of all, the e-mail had
been sent to every parent on the classroom e-mail list. I was
embarrassed and confused. Should I respond? And if so, how?…
Illegal immigrant students' act on way to Senate
September 14, 2010 Filed in:
Education Programs
| Public Education
Cindy Carcamo, The Orange County Register
Activists on both sides of
the immigration debate in Orange County are abuzz, planning their
next move after learning that a slice of immigration reform is
expected to get a Senate vote next week. In a last-ditch effort to
pass some sort of immigration overhaul before the November
elections, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he would
introduce a proposal to grant students who are in the country
illegally a pathway to residency. The DREAM Act – for Development,
Relief and Education for Minor Aliens – will be included as an
amendment to the Defense Authorization bill…
New K-8 charter school approved for South County
September 14, 2010 Filed in:
Public Education
| School Choice
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
Two former administrators
of a shuttered Jewish elementary school won approval Tuesday to
open a K-8 public charter school in southern Orange County that
encourages kids to work in small groups on long-term projects and
problems. Community Roots Academy, which will open next fall in the
Capistrano Unified School District, will emphasize "project-based
learning," an educational approach intended to boost student
motivation and mastery of a subject…
Fewer O.C. schools met tougher U.S. standards
September 13, 2010 Filed in:
School Rankings
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
Only 34 percent of Orange
County's public schools met the 2010 federal No Child Left Behind
testing targets – a marked decline from 2009 when standards were
lower, according to figures released Monday. The results show that
even though local schools are posting steadily better results on
state tests each year, the improvement isn't fast enough to meet
federal goals. … In Capistrano Unified, nearly all of the
district's 60 campuses earned an API score of 800 or higher this
year, but fewer than half made adequate yearly progress. "These
results speak to the often contradictory standards schools and
school districts are forced to meet," said Superintendent Joseph
Farley. The superintendent said whether or not educators agree with
the federal accountability system, it's their responsibility to
work to meet the tougher standards…
ACLU suit: 6 O.C. school districts charge illegal fees
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
The American Civil
Liberties Union on Friday sued the state and Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger for allowing public school districts – including six
in Orange County – to charge fees for books and other essential
educational supplies. The class-action suit says the districts are
charging students for text books, Advanced Placement exams, science
lab supplies, P.E. uniforms, cheerleading outfits and dozens of
other school-related costs. The suit claims these fees violate the
state Constitution’s provision for a free public education. The
suit lists 32 districts, including Capistrano Unified, Orange
Unified, Los Alamitos Unified, Anaheim Union, Irvine Unified and
Tustin Unified...
Mission Viejo council opposes CUSD trustee measure
September 10, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Niyaz Pirani, The Orange County Register
The City Council voted
unanimously this week to oppose Measure H, a November ballot item
that, if passed, would restrict Capistrano Unified voters to
electing one trustee to represent their geographical area, instead
of voting for all seven in an at-large election. Mayor Trish
Kelley, who served as PTA president at Capo Valley High, Newhart
Middle and Viejo Elementary schools brought the item to the
council. She said if a trustee only has a specific voting pool to
which to answer, the trustee would be less likely to work for the
benefit of all CUSD students…
4 O.C. schools named best in nation
September 09, 2010 Filed in:
School Rankings
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
The U.S. Department of
Education on Thursday awarded four Orange County public and private
schools Blue Ribbons, the nation's top honor for individual
campuses. The local recipients of the prestigious prize are
Sunnyside Elementary in Garden Grove, Capistrano Valley Christian
School in San Juan Capistrano, Richard Henry Dana Elementary in
Dana Point, and Carl Harvey Elementary in Santa Ana. The schools
were chosen primarily for high scores on the Academic Performance
Index and on standardized tests in math, English and other core
subjects…
San Juan Hills welcomes first graduating class
September 08, 2010
Brittany Levine, The Orange County Register
Four years after opening,
San Juan Hills High School is less of a ghost town, students say,
and Wednesday, the campus welcomed its first graduating class. On
the first day of school, the student body totaled about 2,000, with
500 new ones arriving this year. Twenty new teachers and several
new classes and programs have been added. For the first time, the
school will have a speech and debate team and a variety of new
Advanced Placement courses…
Bilingual program 'skyrockets' at San Clemente school
September 08, 2010 Filed in:
Education
Programs
Brittany Levine, The Orange County Register
2010-11 school year opens
at Las Palmas Elementary with enrollment boosted by demand for a
growing Spanish/English program.
CUSD Watch: Mission Viejo Unanimously Adopts Resolution Against Union’s “Measure H” Ballot Initiative
September 08, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Tony Beall, Red County The City of Mission Viejo just
adopted a resolution officially opposing “Measure H” – a ballot
initiative promoted and supported by the public employee unions in
Capistrano Unified School District which would change the way CUSD
school board members are elected in the future. Today voters
in CUSD get 7 votes -- 1 for each of their school board
members. If Measure H passes – voters would lose 6 of their
votes. The resolution was proposed by Mayor Trish Kelley and
was supported by each of the other City Council members, John Paul
Ledesma, Frank Ury, Cathy Schlicht and Dave Leckness. Kudos
to the entire Mission Viejo City Council for taking a public stand
to protect democracy and the peoples’ right to vote for their
elected representatives.
Union Sympathizers in CUSD Suffer Three Humiliating Court Losses
September 07, 2010 Filed in:
Litigation | Unions
Tony Beall, Red County All three lawsuits brought by
supporters of the so-called "Children First" organization (a front
for the public employee unions in CUSD) were just rejected in their
entirety by Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Brenner on
the merits, vindicating the truthfulness of the official ballot
statements submitted by the conservative CUSD Reform
Trustees. In all, five separate lawsuits were heard in OC
Superior Court, on the merits, and the conservatives won decisive
victories in all five. I just published the story of the first two lawsuits
in which the conservatives
prevailed over the leaders of the union’s so called “Children
First” organization – and against their endorsed candidate, John
Alpay. This is the story of the three baseless lawsuits
brought by desperate union sympathizers against the conservative
incumbents and their supporters...
Union Sympathizers in CUSD Suffer Three Humiliating Court Losses
September 04, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Tony Beall, Red County “In Capistrano Unified's hotly
contested school board race this November, the ferocious rhetoric
between two dueling slates of candidates is likely to boil down to
two basic talking points – one side accused of being right-wing and
anti-public education, the other of being left-wing and pro-labor
union.” That’s how the OC Register described the intense court
battles that played out in court this week. In the end, five
separate lawsuits were heard in OC Superior Court, on the merits,
and the conservatives won decisive victories in all five.
This is the story of the first two (which were brought by the
conservatives against the union sympathizers)...
CUSD Conservatives Win Two Court Victories Over Union’s “Children First” organization and their candidate John Alpay
September 04, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Tony Beall, Red County “In Capistrano Unified's hotly
contested school board race this November, the ferocious rhetoric
between two dueling slates of candidates is likely to boil down to
two basic talking points – one side accused of being right-wing and
anti-public education, the other of being left-wing and pro-labor
union.” That’s how the OC Register described the intense court
battles that played out in court this week. In the end, five
separate lawsuits were heard in OC Superior Court, on the merits,
and the conservatives won decisive victories in all five.
This is the story of the first two (which were brought by the
conservatives against the union sympathizers).
Intellectuals must 'push back,' urges teacher sued by student
September 04, 2010 Filed in:
Litigation
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
High school history teacher
James Corbett, found to have violated a student's First Amendment
rights last year by disparaging Christianity in class, on Saturday
urged "intellectuals of all political persuasions" to push back
against the "right-wing authoritarianism" that is eroding mutual
tolerance and democracy in America. Speaking at a convention in
Irvine hosted by the Orange County chapter of the high IQ society
Mensa, Corbett railed against what he described as
anti-intellectual conservatives who rely on "submission" and
"cherished cultural myths" to maintain power and influence…
Capo incumbents can keep candidate statements as is
September 03, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
An Orange County judge
ruled Friday that the five incumbents in Capistrano Unified's
contentious school board race do not have to change their 200-word
campaign statements, rebuffing opponents' demands for dozens of
revisions and deletions. Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael
Brenner in Santa Ana also ruled that the incumbent trustees – led
by the Committee to Reform CUSD – could accuse their opponents in
the Nov. 2 sample ballot materials of having close ties to labor
unions, a key point of contention in the election. The ruling comes
just two days after Superior Court Judge Kim Dunning, allowed the
other side – led by the Capistrano Unified Children First group –
to deny labor union involvement in sample ballot arguments for
Measure H, which seeks to change election rules…
State targets $96 million for O.C. school jobs
September 02, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
Orange County will receive
$96.8 million to save the jobs of hundreds of teachers and other
school employees, the state announced Thursday. State
Superintendent Jack O'Connell released the preliminary amounts
targeted for public school districts from the federal jobs bill,
signed by Pres. Barrack Obama last month. California will receive
$1.2 billion from the federal legislation. State lawmakers approved
a bill earlier this week outlining how the funding would be
dispersed among districts. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected
to sign the bill in the next few days. State officials said it will
still take several weeks before districts will begin receiving the
funds. The money will be distributed based on enrollment size and
attendance rates...
Another meeting tonight about Dana Hills theater
September 02, 2010 Filed in:
Facilities
Vik Jolly, The Orange County Register
This will be the third
discussion the Capistrano Unified School District has hosted about
a proposal for a performing-arts center at Dana Hills High School
that has drawn criticism from some community members...
Parts of election statements in CUSDrace must be revised
September 02, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
A judge [Kim Dunning] on
Wednesday ordered revisions to two political statements that will
be printed in the Capistrano Unified School District's election
materials, but handled a key victory to the authors by permitting
them to deny having ties to labor unions … Dunning noted repeatedly
during the hour-long hearing she was only focusing on the language
of the statements themselves. For example, she emphasized in court
that the statement "No union was involved in the placement of this
measure on the ballot" was limited in its scope and its
meaning.
Judge strikes parts of Capo election statements, keeps others
September 01, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
An Orange County judge on
Wednesday ordered revisions to two political statements that will
be printed in the Capistrano Unified School District's official
election materials this fall, but handed a key victory to the
authors of those statements by permitting them to deny having ties
to labor unions. The Capistrano Unified Children First group and
one of the candidates it endorsed for the district's Nov. 2 school
board election, John Alpay, were sued last month to force revisions
to the written arguments they prepared for publication in
Capistrano's sample ballot, which will be distributed to the
district's 220,000 registered voters…
Judge may be drawn into Capistrano district politics
August 31, 2010 Filed in: Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
In Capistrano Unified's
hotly contested school board race this November, the ferocious
rhetoric between two dueling slates of candidates is likely to boil
down to two basic talking points – one side accused of being
right-wing and anti-public education, the other of being left-wing
and pro-labor union. This was the gist of campaigning during the
district's 2008 election, and these themes have rocketed to the
forefront of debate again this year, as the two slates battle for
control of Capistrano's five open school board seats. But unlike
two years ago, when the political fighting was largely unchecked
from a legal standpoint, an Orange County judge is expected to
weigh in on these core issues in the coming weeks, and determine
which side – or sides – is being less than truthful…
Saddleback school district imposes 13.5% pay cut
August 31, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Teachers
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
The Saddleback Valley
Unified School District unilaterally imposed an average 13.5
percent pay cut on all of its non-teaching, classified employees
Tuesday, after nearly a year of failed contract negotiations with
union leaders. All 1,286 district employees who are members of the
California School Employees Association union will take a 2.8
percent salary cut, 10 to 15 mandatory days of unpaid leave,
freezes to their longevity raises and increased costs for health
insurance. The two-year plan, retroactive to July 1, was approved
in a unanimous school board vote...
Capo asks Walmart, others to pull unofficial district products
August 31, 2010
Kristy Chu, The Orange County Register
District officials said at
least one Walmart was selling unauthorized products using logos of
Dana Hills, Aliso Niguel and San Clemente high
schools...
Schools must enroll even without vaccinations
August 31, 2010 Filed in: Health and
Safety
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register After
extensive study of the vaccines issues, my wife and I do not want
our baby to have vaccines. But there is an issue with the school
system's mandatory vaccines policy before attending school. From my
reading, we have the legal right to claim the vaccines would be
against our "beliefs." Are you aware of what school districts allow
students to enroll/attend without having vaccines and the
success/failure of the 'beliefs' option?...
O.C. exit exam scores top state's
August 24, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
About 86 percent of Orange
County students who took the state's high school exit exam for the
first time passed at least one section of the test, figures
released Tuesday reveal. Local scores on the exam, which aims to
ensure students graduate with basic skills, remained steady from
the previous year, while county students again outperformed peers
statewide…
Test scores can be a valuable tool to improve teaching
August 24, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register In
regard to that the LA Times using the value-added model model, they
cannot evaluate us "expendable" kindergarten or first-grade
teachers, now can they? It is true that this model will not measure
the value that kindergarten or first-grade teachers add. In fact,
if a school has a highly effective kindergarten and first grade
staff, that can have a negative impact on the school's VAM score.
The students might be prepared to score at or above average in
second grade and their beginning scores may be too high. The model
tries to predict how high a student will continue to score each
year…
Half of Capo school board candidates being sued
August 17, 2010 Filed in: Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
Half of the 12 candidates
in the Capistrano Unified School District's contentious school
board race are being sued to stop their 200-word campaign
statements from being printed in official election materials. The
lawsuits, consisting of three separate complaints filed by private
citizens Monday, essentially contend that the candidates' campaign
statements are riddled with unlawful attacks on their rivals and
mislead voters through erroneous and deceptive remarks...
Reform Progress at CUSD
August 01, 2010 Filed in: Trustees
Column: August 2010, Larry Christensen, Trabuco Canyon
News At first
glance one might wonder if the reform Board of Trustees at
Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) has affected any change
at the troubled district. The original “ABC” slate comprised of
Addonizio, Bryson and Christensen were handily elected four years
ago come November. One year later a successful recall installed
Palazzo and Maddox and in the subsequent year Winston and Brick
were elected to posts. Within a two-year span all seven long-termed
trustees under the regime of the now indicted superintendent James
Fleming had been removed. Two decades of misappropriation of
funding, nepotism, favoritism, creation of “enemy lists” and
extravagant deficit spending was too much for the public to
bear...
College freshman, 18, seeks Capo Unified board seat
July 27, 2010 Filed in: Elections
Salil Dudani and Scott Martindale, The Orange County
Register He
could become the youngest elected official in Orange County, an
18-year-old who will barely have started college by the time this
November's election rolls around. Saam Alikhani, a Dana Point
resident and incoming UC Irvine freshman, announced Tuesday he is
running for school board in the high-performing but politically
fractured Capistrano Unified School District, Orange County's
second-largest...
Teachers say today's challenges argue for smaller class sizes
July 21, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register Q. I
don't think teachers are "spoiled" by the smaller class size at
all. The number of children who need more intensive assistance or
attention is much higher than it used to be, yet there are far more
standards and benchmark testing that our teachers need to prepare
students for than in decades past. This also necessitates more time
spent on individual testing, which means less time for general
classroom teaching. Most people aren't aware of this. Top this off
with the on-going layoffs of many of the support staff, custodians
(who just by their presence add to the security and safety of a
campus by moving around and monitoring the campus), library
personnel, etc. – teachers will have to do more to compensate for
the loss of this assistance…
Street near high school stays open for parking
July 21, 2010 Filed in: Health and
Safety
Brian M. Cuaron, The Orange County Register
San Juan Capistrano will
look into installing a sidewalk rather than designate one side of
Camino Lacouague for pedestrians and bicyclists...
Residents, high school parents at 'war' over street
July 21, 2010 Filed in: Health and
Safety
Brian M. Cuaron, The Orange County Register
People who live on or near
Camino Lacouague in San Juan Capistrano say parents using the
street as an unofficial drop-off point for San Juan Hills High have
been making it unsafe for pedestrians and bicyclists...
Teachers union out on fringe
July 20, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Column: Ben Boychuk, The Orange County
Register The
National Education Association boasts a membership of more than 3
million teachers and is one of the most powerful interest groups
within the Democratic Party. But, despite its size and influence,
the nation's largest teachers union has positioned itself well
outside America's political mainstream. The NEA is so far out, the
New York Times reported that union officials didn't invite
President Barack Obama or U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
to speak at the union's annual convention in New Orleans this year
out of concern the 9,000 delegates might heckle them off the
stage…
109 O.C. students named National Merit Scholars
July 19, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
A total of 109 students
from Orange County have been named National Merit Scholars this
year, a highly elite designation bestowed on just 0.5 percent of
seniors nationwide who took the Preliminary SAT. The honorees will
receive college scholarships ranging from $500 to $10,000; some are
renewable annually for up to four years…
Facing an uncertain future
July 16, 2010 Filed in: Teachers
Column: Nicholas Wishek, The Orange County
Register The
upcoming election will make or break America. I am now one of over
28 million Americans who are retired. For some, ex-congressmen, for
instance, their financial future is as secure. For most of the rest
of us who aren't in the same fiscal neighborhood as Warren Buffett,
the economic future is anything but secure. This is especially true
for the 11 million Americans on Social Security. Everyone, retirees
and future retirees, should be deathly concerned about what the
future holds for us economically...
O.C. district to lower grad requirements
July 16, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
Anaheim Union High School
District on Thursday became the third Orange County district in two
years to lower the number of credits required for graduation,
saying ongoing budget problems have hurt the ability of schools to
serve some students. Meanwhile, educators predict other
cash-strapped districts may follow the same path as they slash
programs and services, leaving students in larger class sizes, with
fewer teachers and counselors, and less overall support…
Teachers can teacher larger classes – and do so well
July 13, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register Q.
Recently, I was going through a box of old pictures and came across
a picture taken in 1970 of my first-grade class. It brought back
fond memories of a sweet, loving teacher I still remember! Today, I
read your column about the first grade teacher who is nervous about
teaching next year because her class size will increase to 33
students. So, I went back to the photo and counted the students in
my class. There were 32 of us. I must confess, I think teachers
today are spoiled by the small class sizes and, honestly, I don't
think our children are doing better than we did 40 years ago. I
hope this teacher looks within herself and considers where her
passion is and, if it is teaching, then I hope she has the same
impact on her 33 students that my first grade teacher had on
me…
Capo school factions gear up for 'ugly' election
July 13, 2010 Filed in: Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
The recall election date
hasn't even been officially set and challengers can't legally
declare their candidacy yet. But the parents and other activists in
the Capistrano Unified School District who are trying to oust two
trustees have already hand-picked the candidates they want to
replace Ken Lopez-Maddox and Mike Winsten. On Tuesday, the
Capistrano Unified Children First coalition endorsed corporate
attorney John Alpay and community college professor Gary Pritchard,
jumpstarting what's sure to be another bitterly fought, divisive
election this fall in the politically fractured school
district...
9 from O.C. named Edison Scholars
July 12, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
George Ma, The Orange County Register -
Nine math-, science-, and engineering-oriented students from Orange
County have been selected as Edison Scholars, and honor that will
bring each a scholarship of up to $10,000 that help to pay for
rising college costs...
Teacher strike nets Capistrano $1.7 million
July 06, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
It crippled the Capistrano
Unified School District for three days, causing lost instruction
time, wild swings in student attendance and unexpected bills for
substitute teachers, security guards and consulting fees. In the
end, though, the teacher strike in Orange County's second-largest
school district in April netted Capistrano $1.7 million in extra
cash, even after all of the bills were paid, according to a
Register financial analysis…
CUSD Update
July 03, 2010 Filed in: Elections
July 3, 2010, Mission Viejo Watchdogs
One characteristic of the
2010 Capo recall group (also known as Children First and Parents
for Local Control) is its attempt to distance its supporters from
the teachers union, Capistrano Unified Educators Association. Press
releases repeatedly state the recall is a "parent-backed effort."
While opinions may differ, campaign finance reports and Registrar
of Voters' records are not opinion. Following is information that
shows who funded the signature drive and signed on as proponents.
Official recall documents list proponents (two separate attempts to
file paperwork to recall Trustees Mike Winsten and Ken
Lopez-Maddox)…
Free summer meals for scores of O.C. kids
June 27, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Health and
Safety
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
School districts throughout
Orange County will start serving free summer lunches and breakfasts
this week to scores of students as part of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Summer Meals Program. Dozens of schools, parks,
community centers and other sites in communities in Santa Ana,
Tustin, Garden Grove, La Habra and other locations will serve
sandwiches, pizza, pasta, burritos and other meals through the end
of August. No forms are needed. Everyone under 18 is
welcome…
Free lunch for students over summer break
June 25, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Health and
Safety
Elysse James, The Orange County Register
A free breakfast and lunch
is provided to students in the Seamless Summer Program through the
Tustin Unified School District Nutrition Services
Department...
Special report: O.C.'s best high schools
June 25, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
DATABASE: Compare your high
school...
Special report: O.C.'s best high schools
June 25, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
Orange County's best public
high schools are succeeding academically, preparing students for
college and careers, and providing a safe and supportive
environment for learning. That's the conclusion of The
Orange County Register's 2010 report on high school quality,
an analysis of standardized test scores, graduation data,
enrollment figures and other measures for some 65 comprehensive
high school campuses. Fullerton's Troy High School edged out Oxford
Academy in Cypress as the county's best school. Troy's top-notch
academic curriculum, and specialized programs and services lead
hundreds of students to top colleges each year…
O.C.'s top high schools take different paths, but share strengths
June 25, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
This year's "Orange
County's Best Public Schools: High Schools" report again shows that
Orange County's very best high schools offer a rich assortment of
programs and services leading to unique paths to success. But these
top schools also share some common themes – strong academic
achievement, high rates of college-ready graduates and a supportive
environment for learning…
Troy and Oxford: O.C.'s best
June 25, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Fermin Leal and Scott Martindale, The Orange County
Register In
Orange County, finding the very best high school often boils down
to choosing between two campuses – Oxford Academy and Troy High
School. Educators, parents, local newspapers and national magazines
often regard the two as among the best schools not just in
California, but across the nation…
Gay activists to protest outside of Exodus conference
June 24, 2010 Filed in: Religion
Ellyn Pak, The Orange County Register
Local members of the
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are planning to
protest religious activists' efforts to cure people from
homosexuality this weekend. The demonstration will be held at the
intersection of Ridgeline and University drives outside of
Concordia University's campus where Exodus International is holding
its annual conference…
School district dropped from anti-Christian lawsuit appeal
June 24, 2010 Filed in: Litigation | Religion
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
The Mission Viejo teen who
is seeking a stronger court ruling against his former high school
teacher for violating his First Amendment rights is dropping the
portion of his appeal targeting the school district as a liable
party. Chad Farnan, a graduating senior at Capistrano Valley High
School, will continue his federal appeals case against teacher
James Corbett for disparaging Christianity in class. But Farnan has
decided against appealing the part of the May 2009 court decision
that found the Capistrano Unified School District not liable for
the veteran teacher's actions…
Capo recall qualifies for November ballot
June 22, 2010 Filed in: Elections
Scott Martindale, The Orange County
Register South County
voters will decide this November whether to remove two Capistrano
Unified School District trustees from office, following an
announcement late Monday from county election officials that recall
proponents collected enough valid petition signatures. The Nov. 2
recall election targeting Capistrano trustees Ken Lopez-Maddox and
Mike Winsten will be the second such election in as many years in
the politically fractured school district. Lopez-Maddox himself was
brought to office in a 2008 recall election…
Jerry Brown's Nurses Union Monopoly Worth at Least $2.5 Million
Chip Hanlon, Red County From now until November, you will hear
endless whining from Jerry Brown about the financial resources Meg
Whitman is committing to this campaign. Now you know exactly how
empty such crying truly is. In reality, when one understands the
true value of the massive financial support Moonbeam will enjoy
from his union boss cronies, it’s pretty easy to see that Meg
Whitman is actually the underdog in this race, financially. The
battle for California is on, and the opposing sides couldn’t be
more clear: it’s union bosses vs. taxpayers…
Class sizes, custodians hit by Saddleback's $33 million in cuts
June 22, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
Saddleback Valley Unified
School District trustees on Tuesday passed a $229 million budget
for 2010-11 that calls for increasing class sizes at all grade
levels, cutting custodial services nearly in half and requiring
deep employee pay concessions. The spending plan calls for $33
million in cuts in response to reduced state funding, and restores
none of the deep cutbacks to programs and services made last year,
including eliminating most of the district's bus routes and
dramatically scaling back counselors and school library
staffing…
'Equal-opportunity bullying' hits O.C. schools
June 18, 2010 Filed in: Health and
Safety
Brittany
Levine, The Orange County As more education officials take an
interest in dealing with bullying, here's a look at what some
schools are doing to combat it. Welcome to the world of
equal-opportunity bullying, where everyone from the little girl
with a Hello Kitty backpack to the hulking boy with abusive parents
is just as responsible for making other kids miserable. In the past
few years, area schools have shown more of an interest in
prevention as they've seen bullying become more prolific due to an
increase in cyber-bullying. On top of that, the stakes are higher
due to highly publicized teen suicides and high school shootings.
And in this complicated world of cyber and face-to-face bullying,
more expect schools to respond to incidents both on and off
campus…
Parcel tax defeat a call for reform
June 18, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Elections
Column: Mike Stryer, Daily News WHY would so many LAUSD teachers - who
theoretically stood to gain so much from the proposed Measure E
parcel tax - celebrate its decisive defeat last week? For the
simple reason that many teachers, together with large numbers of
voters, no longer will tolerate the continued financial
mismanagement by Los Angeles Unified School District. Voters have
clearly communicated that LAUSD should not ask for more money until
it implements meaningful financial reform...
State releases survey detailing school budget cuts
June 16, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Corey G. Johnson, California Watch
Over the last two years,
$17 billion in educational budget reductions have prompted nearly
400 school districts to cut back on maintenance, class materials
and critical faculty, according to a state survey released last
week. In May, 387 school districts, county offices of education and
charter schools answered questions from the state Department of
Education about how they have balanced their budgets in light of
state budget cuts. State officials wanted to know which programs,
if any, were cut or eliminated in the last two school years and if
staff reductions, school closures, or reduced school years were
occurring as the result of funding cuts. The results of the survey
are as follows…
While Waiting Lists for Charter Schools Grow, Liberals Heap New Onerous Regulations on Them
June 16, 2010 Filed in: School
Choice | School Rankings
Evelyn B. Stacey (Pacific Research Institute) Flash
Report Last
week, after the governor signed the state’s pro-charter-school
application for Federal Race to the Top funding, the Assembly
passed a bill that would hamper charter school growth. AB 1950 by
Assembly Education Chair Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) adds
regulations that will hinder the innovative qualities that have
made charter schools successful and popular among parents … As of
last year, more than 20,000 California students are on charter
school waiting lists and the demand for good charter schools is
growing. The Obama administration has emphasized the importance of
innovation in charter schools, encouraging states to remove
obstacles impeding their success. Some California legislators seem
intent on quashing charter school achievement and further denying
families any choice in their child’s education. This will not help
California race to the top in student achievement. AB 1950 awaits a
hearing in the Senate this month...
Government by State Employees is Not Government by the People
June 16, 2010 Filed in: Legislation | Unions
K. Lloyd Billingsley, Pacific Research
Institute From
Susanville to San Diego, California cities are struggling
financially but now face more bad news. Assembly Bill 155, by Tony
Mendoza, Artesia Democrat, would prevent California cities from
filing for federal bankruptcy protection. The union-backed bill
would allow a union-friendly state agency, the California Debt and
Investment Advisory Commission, to deny any municipal bankruptcy
filing and keep intact all labor contracts. This measure invites a
look at the power of government employee unions…
Jerry Brown: Founding Father of the Annual Budget Crisis
June 16, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Mark Standriff, Flash Report In 1978, then Governor Jerry Brown
signed into law the legislation granting collective bargaining
rights to state employees. Since then the state legislature has
fulfilled its constitutional obligation to pass a balanced budget
by June 15th a total of four times over the past 31 years.
The Bad News Bears had a better batting average. By unionizing the
state workforce, Brown and the Democrat majority in the Legislature
set in motion the single most destructive process in California’s
political history; union lobbying and campaign contributions paid
for with taxpayer dollars…
Students honored for stand against bullying
June 16, 2010 Filed in: Health and
Safety
Fred Swegles, The Orange County Register
San Clemente salutes Cool
to Be Kind, a San Clemente High School club that spreads the
message that bullying should not be tolerated. It aims to spread
the movement to other schools...
CalPERS health premiums to rise an average 9.1 percent
June 16, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Bobby Caina Calvan, The Sacramento Bee
State workers, already
financially drained by furloughs and threatened with
possible pay cuts,
can brace for another
potential hit to their pocketbooks next year: A surge in
health
insurance premiums, some by more than 16 percent.
A CalPERS committee on Tuesday recommended an
array of premium
increases and
other measures to rein in its rising costs in providing
health care
services to 1.3 million
public employees, retirees and their families…
Voters, not leaders, confront Vallejo's mess
June 15, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Column: Chip Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
Two years after Vallejo
made history as the first city in the Golden State to file for
bankruptcy, voters have grasped the city's dire financial situation
even if some members of local government haven't. Residents
appeared to have approved Measure A by a slim margin last week. The
vote count is close and provisional ballots are still being
counted, so results haven't been made official. The ballot measure
would remove binding arbitration from the City Charter, effectively
ending the public employee unions' grip on labor contract
negotiation….
Most O.C. districts pay trustees less than allowed
June 15, 2010 Filed in: Trustees
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
Orange Unified trustees are
trimming their stipends by 10 percent next year, Capistrano cut
their compensation in half and two districts don't pay their
trustees anything at all. On the other hand, school board pay has
risen at least 20 percent since 2004-05 at Centralia, Fullerton
Joint Union, the O.C. Dept. of Education and Magnolia school
districts. So goes the hodge-podge of pay practices at Orange
County's 28 school boards, where just over 150 trustees in 2008-09
earned just over $753,000 – a figure that has changed little in
five years … Capistrano Unified had the steepest decrease in
compensation countywide since 2004-05 after trustees voted two
years ago to cut their pay in half, to $4,500 annually…
Heat Is On for the Public Employee Unions Heat is On for the Public Employee Unions
June 14, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Larry Sand, Red County Lawyer and journalist Peter Scheer has
written an
excellent article which asserts that our public employee
unions are now in defense mode. (HT – Warner Todd Huston.) Cities
on the verge of bankruptcy, six figure pensions for retired 50 year
olds, tales of employees who have successfully gamed the system and
blatant influence buying have earned the unions in question a trip
to purgatory. And of course all the lavish perks of being a public
employee are at the expense of a populace beleaguered by our anemic
economy. And, we are now starting to see the political
ramifications of an angry citizenry…
2 O.C. high schools make Newsweek's top 100
June 14, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
Oxford Academy in Cypress
ranked 11th in the annual Newsweek magazine's "America's Top High
Schools" report released Monday. It's the fourth consecutive year
the school has ranked in the top 20 nationally. The school jumped
five spots from last year, when it ranked 16th. The school ranked
ninth in 2008 and eighth in 2007. Troy High School in Fullerton,
ranked 53rd, was the only other Orange County high school in the
top 100. Troy ranked 31st in 2009. Dallas' School for the Talented
and Gifted ranked as the top school in the nation…
Unions lose battles; war continues over pensions
Editorial, The Orange County Register
Orange County voters won
the first battle, in what could be a long war with public employee
unions, when they soundly defeated union-backed candidates in the
races for sheriff-coroner and 4th District supervisor. In both
cases, voters turned down union-backed candidates by ample margins
despite combined county union spending of nearly $1
million...
Hotel plan raises school parking, safety concerns
June 11, 2010 Filed in: Environmental
Brittany Levine, The Orange County Register
Some parents express
worries that the proposed 124-room Plaza Banderas hotel, restaurant
and commercial project in San Juan Capistrano could further
restrict already tight parking at a nearby elementary school. Fears
of being squeezed out of already scant parking drove residents'
concerns at the first public meeting about environmental issues
related to a proposed three-story hotel on the old Mission Inn
property. "I just don't understand how the traffic is going to
work. I can't get my hands around it. It doesn't work now," said
Tim McCanna, whose kindergartner goes to San Juan Elementary
School, near the
site of the proposed 124-room Plaza Banderas Hotel at the northeast
corner of Ortega Highway and El Camino Real…
Taking On The Unions In Calif. — And Winning
Steven Greenhut, Investors Business Daily
A political candidate can
take on the public-employee unions in a nasty street rumble and
emerge bloodied but victorious. That's the message from Tuesday's
election to fill a board of supervisors seat in Orange County,
Calif. It was a race that could have statewide and even national
implications because of the particularly gutsy role the Republican
Party played in directly challenging union power…
Prop.14, partisans and 'pragmatists'
June 11, 2010 Filed in: Elections
Column: George Will, The Orange County
Register Under
the current imperfect administration of the universe, most new
ideas are false, so most ideas for improvements make matters worse.
Given California's parlous condition, making matters worse there
requires ingenuity, but voters managed to do so Tuesday. Actually,
8.9 percent of eligible voters did. By a margin of 54.2 percent to
45.8 percent, they passed Proposition 14, the Top Two Candidates
Open Primary Act. Proponents outspent opponents 20-1. Of the
approximately $4.6 million spent promoting the measure, $2 million
came from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's political committee. He
seems to consider this reform his defining achievement, which, in a
sense, it is. The percentage of Californians who approve of
Schwarzenegger is a number beginning with 2. But now California has
adopted a candidate selection process that is intended to nominate
candidates like him...
Reader Rebuttal: Teacher retirement
June 11, 2010 Filed in: Teachers
Letters: Charlie Fry, The Orange County
Register I am a
teacher in the same school district as Nicholas Wishek, last week's
writer ["Why I'm retiring early," Commentary, June 6] … Are you
serious? We have the greatest job in the world! We go to work each
day and are surrounded by kids who want us to teach them about ...
everything. Our job is to teach children academics and life skills
and help prepare them for their future. It doesn't matter if it's
fun all the time because we are being paid by the citizens of this
state and nation to work at it, to the best of our abilities. This
is by no means personal, Mr. Wishek, it's just a difference of
opinion…
NJ Gov Christie reforming education, taking on teacher unions
June 11, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Orange Punch, The Orange County Register
Governors around the
country should take note of governor Christie if they really want
to reform the public education system.
Academia-Gate: Peter Dreier, ACORN, Revisionism, ‘Cry Wolf,’ and Academic Whores
June 11, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Matthew Vadum, Big Journalism ACORN’s radical allies are now
attempting to rewrite history to cast the organized crime syndicate
as victim instead of as the prolific victimizer that it has been
ever since it was created in 1970. ACORN online campaign
director Nathan Henderson-James served notice in February that a
propaganda effort was about to begin. “[T]here will be a fight over
the narrative of ACORN’s demise,”
he wrote to
members of Townhouse, a discussion forum run by Matt Stoller,
senior policy adviser to Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.). The other side
wants “a narrative about the corruption of popular organizations
and how they are simply vehicles for the personal enrichment and
power fantasies of their top staff members while pushing public
policies that destroy middle America.”
More kids join club to fight bullying
June 11, 2010 Filed in: Health and
Safety
Brittany Levine, The Orange County
Register - San Clemente High School's Cool to be Kind club says
Blue Ribbon Week peaked students' interest in trying to stop youth
violence...
Taxpayers Going Postal Over Public Employee Pensions, Perks. Unions’ miscalculation: Opting for secrecy.
Column: Peter Scheer, First Amendment
Coalition Public
unions’ traditional strength–the ability to finance their members’
rising pay and benefits through tax increases–has become a
liability. Although private sector unions always have had to worry
that consumers will resist rising prices for their goods, public
sector unions have benefited from the fact that taxpayers can’t
choose–they are, in effect, “captive consumers.” At some point,
however, voters turn resentful as they sense that: (1) they are
underwriting, through their taxes, a level of salary and benefits
for government employment that is better than what they and their
families have; and (2) government services, from schools to the
DMV, are not good enough—not for the citizen individually nor the
public generally—to justify the high and escalating cost. We are at
that point…
Cheat Sheet: Under Pressure, Teachers Tamper With Tests
June 10, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Trip Gabriel, The New York Times The staff of Normandy
Crossing Elementary School outside Houston eagerly awaited the
results of state achievement tests this spring. For the principal
and assistant principal, high scores could buoy their careers at a
time when success is increasingly measured by such tests. For
fifth-grade math and science teachers, the rewards were more
tangible: a bonus of $2,850. But when the results came back, some
seemed too good to be true. Indeed, after an investigation by
the Galena Park Independent School
District, the
principal, assistant principal and three teachers resigned May 24
in a scandal over test tampering…
Academia-Gate: As Big Labor and Media Push ‘Researchprop’ on Our Kids, Who’s Really Paying the Cost? (Part 2)
June 10, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Liberty Chick, Big Journalism In the academic world, employees are
very often public employees. This means that they are also very
often union employees. At all levels. This includes everyone from
janitors, to dormitory housekeepers, cafeteria workers, clerical
staff, and computer techs, to even the graduate assistants and
professors. While the salary gap between a cafeteria worker and a
senior professor may be huge, the solidarity of the unions is a
powerful magnet that creates an unbreakable bond amongst them.
Unions are fond of bashing capitalism with seething rhetoric,
decrying the economic system as irredeemably corrupted by greed and
racism and classism. But the ideology they themselves embrace is
itself driven by the same ugly characteristics they profess to
detest. Except in their case, power is the motivating force, the
passion that drives them…
Academia-Gate: As Big Labor and Media Push ‘Researchprop’ on Our Kids, Who’s Really Paying the Cost? (Part 1)
June 09, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Liberty Chick, Big Journalism A small committee of professors and
academic professionals, normally held in high regard, have
blatantly betrayed the trust of the public and quite possibly
smeared the reputations of all colleges and universities
nationwide. By soliciting “paid activists” to create research
papers that are intentionally designed to silence opposing
viewpoints, they have undermined the political system and
manipulated the governmental policy making process. And in
the meantime, they’ve also implicated all of academia in the
manufacturing of their propaganda. It is an abuse of their power,
and an abuse of the institutions they represent. It is
appalling and repellent. Perhaps even against their
employers’ rules or the industry’s ethical code. Consider it an
ominous warning — this will have a dire impact on our political and
economic system in the future, if we remain apathetic in the face
of such a rhetorical and intellectual assault…
Teacher's advice may have crossed the line, but so did parent's response
June 09, 2010
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register Q. I
just received parenting "advice," if you want to call it that, from
a person that does not have children of her own. My son's
fourth-grade teacher asked me if I really wanted her to tell me
what she really thinks of my parenting. I took the challenge and
this old, childless woman told me I have no idea what I am doing.
Tell me, teacher, is this right? I am shaking still and this
happened three days ago. I don't even want to send my child to
finish the year with this person. How dare she tell me how to
parent? She never even became a parent herself...
Buena Park parcel tax defeated
June 09, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Michael Mello and Amanda Portillo, The Orange County
Register A
parcel tax that would have provided $1 million to the struggling
Buena Park School District suffered a sound defeat in Tuesday's
election. Of about 3,000 voters who cast ballots on the measure,
50.66 percent voted "yes" and 49.34 percent voted "no." The measure
needed more than 66 percent to pass…
Garden Grove's $250 million school facility bond passes
June 09, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Deepa Bharath, The Orange County Register
Voters came out in support
of Garden Grove Unified School District's $250-million bond measure
to help improve aging school facilities. Measure A passed with 59.2
percent voting in favor and 40.8 percent against…
Keep Chris Christie in Mind on June 8th
Larry Sand, Red County While I am not the first to post
this
terrific video of Chris Christie calling out the New
Jersey Education Association at a recent town hall meeting in NJ,
the significance of its content necessitates yet another repost. In
this brief video, he refers to the teachers’ union as a bully and
assures us that he isn’t backing down from a fight. I think
it’s especially important to keep Mr. Christie’s fighting words in
mind when we go to the polls tomorrow. (Note to CA teachers: In
this video, Mr. Christie laments that the average NJ teacher pays
$730 in dues yearly. He doesn’t realize how lucky they are. In
CA, you are paying on average over $1,000 per year for the
“privilege” of being a member of the teachers’ union.)
Layoff database: Nearly 350 teachers get their jobs back
June 07, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Fermin Leal and Scott Martindale, The Orange County
Register Nearly
350 teachers and other certificated school staff members have
regained their jobs, either thanks to a layoff warning that wasn't
finalilzed or via rehiring by their districts after they received
their final notice. That brings the amount of certificated staff to
elude layoffs up to 40 percent, with some districts still to report
their actions since layoff warnings were issued March 15. Still,
that leaves about 1,100 temporary teachers and scores of classified
employees facing job losses. In all, our partial list has more than
2,259 employees who faced termination or hour reductions at some
point in school budgeting efforts…
Budget impasse could force IOUs
June 07, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Column: Dan Walters, The Orange County
Register It's a
week before the June 15 constitutional deadline for enacting a
California state budget, an appropriate moment to consider the
status of this year's version of the annual fiscal drama. And that
is? Up the proverbial creek without the proverbial paddle. In the
weeks since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled his revised 2010-11
budget, there's been absolutely no progress on closing the deficit
that approaches $20 billion. In fact, the situation may have grown
worse because the extra federal funds that the governor and the
Legislature have counted on are evaporating…
Democrats still default to tax hikes
June 07, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Column: Jon Coupal, The Orange County
Register Like
the proverbial wolf that continues to lick the knife blade because
it enjoys the taste of its own blood, the Democrats running the
Legislature are back with another huge tax increase.. At a time
when the state's economy and taxpayers are still staggering under
the burden of last year's $12.6 billion tax increase, Democrats are
pushing a plan to raise taxes by yet another $5 billion and to
borrow an additional $8.7 billion. Among the proposals are
extensions of last year's increases in sales, income and car taxes
that were due to expire after two years. This goes to prove the
adage that there is nothing so permanent as the temporary…
College scholarship is not for U.S. citizens
June 04, 2010 Filed in: School
Choice
Deepa Bharath, The Orange County Register
A scholarship in honor of a
27-year-old immigration activist who died in a car accident last
month, will be available to immigrants who are on a path to
American citizenship, but not to American citizens, Santa Ana
College administrators said Friday. The
college's announcement last week that the Tam Tran Memorial
Scholarship could go to illegal immigrants created
a controversy and
drew criticism from community members and Rep. Dana
Rohrabacher…
Time to reform teacher tenure
June 03, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Column: Ben Boychuk, The Orange County
Register SB955
would move California toward a more rational layoff policy and set
the foundation for a performance-based evaluation system. With
several more difficult state budget years likely, principals and
superintendents need concrete performance criteria for deciding who
gets a pink slip. Teachers should be paid for performance. A
merit-pay system that rewards the best while encouraging the worst
to find another line of work is a necessary reform. The current
system is about preserving union jobs, not giving kids the best
possible education.
CUSD And The Strike
June 01, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Column: Larry Christensen, The Orange County
Register The
cuts were neither temporary nor permanent but to be tied to the
State’s ability to reinstate funding back to schools at historic
levels. CUEA conceded the fact that at least a l0% cut was
required, however they touted that since no specific date was given
as to when teacher’s pay would be reinstated then the cuts were
permanent. Strike posturing began almost immediately and the mantra
associated with strike chants built upon the word “permanent”, even
though the word was never part of the imposed language. Though
pre-strike rhetoric against the board was disseminated on a daily
basis the board honored the precondition to remain quiet about
their reasons or viewpoints in order not to violate fair practice
laws by negotiating in public. CUSD offered a date to meet with
CUEA to resolve the remaining issues and to set language for a new
contract in order to avoid a strike. CUEA set that very same day to
strike…
Tough Love for Teachers
June 01, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Larry Sand, Red County Teachers, who have always been one of
the most respected groups in America, have been losing some love
recently. It seems that the New Jersey Education Association
has convinced many of its members that they are victims. And this
unfortunate turn hasn’t gone unnoticed by the recession-inflicted
general public, which has become contemptuous of the greedy
educators. It’s all spelled out in this
article by Kevin Manahan. He says, “An overwhelming majority of
teachers refused to accept a pay freeze. They could have won
taxpayers’ eternal gratitude, but instead demanded their negotiated
raises and fought against contributing a dime toward
budget-breaking health insurance benefits. Teachers could have
pitched in, but they dug in.”
Teacher columnist's layoff rescinded
June 01, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register I do
not think I complain about my salary. I am not asking for more nor
am I calling for raises. I do grow tired of people saying we are
overpaid, which is not the case, and I think the cuts coming to our
salaries are significant. The last part of your letter really made
me think. I received news today that I have a job next year, where
I thought I was laid off after receiving my final notice. It is a
strange year when this all happens. I am feeling relieved to have
my job back and yet your last sentence about all of those people
who would love to replace me really hit home. I know how true that
is, as I was just one of those people a few hours ago worried about
what I would do for a job next year.
Municipal bankruptcy bill slogs forward
Column: Dan Walters, The Orange County
Register To
appease unions looking to make it tougher for cities to go
bankrupt, the bill was laden with amendments that could still leave
cities exposed to creditors ... So far, just one California city,
Vallejo, has declared bankruptcy, but nearby Antioch is considering
it. If the recession persists and revenues continue to stagnate,
others may follow. That's why municipal employee unions are making
a big-time push for legislation that would make bankruptcy more
difficult. The unions' underlying motives are crystal clear. They
fear a bankruptcy judge might rule that a city's labor contracts,
or even pension obligations, could be abrogated. They want to make
municipal bankruptcy more difficult to discourage troubled local
governments from resorting to it…
O.C. politicos wrong to demonize public unions
June 01, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Columns: Nick Bernardino, The Orange County
Register It's
campaign season again and that means the anti-union political
attacks are once again at their peak. In a desperate search for
votes, public employees have become the target of distorted
political attacks. There's a serious flaw with this approach – it
assumes voters don't know the truth and don't want to. These
misleading attacks on unions intentionally disregard the fact that
Orange County's public employee unions, including the Orange County
Employees Association (OCEA), have initiated and achieved multiple
initiatives to reform pensions and other benefits that help save
local governments millions in costs now and in the future. Yet,
instead of acknowledging and praising these efforts, political
opportunists stretch credibility by ignoring facts and banking on
voters to do the same…
Jon Coupal: What's really behind Prop. 14
Column: Jon Coupal, The Orange County
Register A
free-for-all primary system would result in higher taxes.
Promoters of Proposition 14
on the June ballot say they want an "open" primary. "Open" makes it
sound so inclusive, so liberating, so egalitarian – what could
possibly be wrong with that? If you pay taxes in
California,
the answer is: plenty! Prop. 14 is the result of collusion between
an ambitious politician, newly appointed Lt. Gov.
Abel
Maldonado, and
entrenched Sacramento
spending interests. A year
ago, then-Sen. Maldonado, a Republican,
sold his vote for the most massive tax increase in the history of
all 50 states, in return for an agreement to place a measure on the
ballot that would make it easier for him to run for statewide
office. That measure is Proposition 14…
School uses hand-held technology to improve test scores
May 28, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Jaimee Lynn Fletcher, The Orange County
Register California State Test scores have
jumped 20 points with interactive teaching system, according to
officials at Oak Middle School in Los Alamitos.
Reason TV: Strikeburger in Paradise
May 27, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Ed Morrissey, Reason TV, HotAir.com
With much of the national
focus on education and compensation falling on
New Jersey and Governor Chris Christie, Reason
TV takes a look
at a standoff on the opposite end of the country. South
Orange County, California is a wealthy area with plenty of good
schools, but even those districts have to meet a budget, and the
school board has already had one recall over mismanagement in the
past decade. With the economic collapse, state funding has
been seriously reduced, and the Capistrano Unified School District
has to find ways to get its budget balanced. Eighty-five
percent of that budget goes to employee compensation, and that made
it the most logical target for savings — but the teachers disagreed
and went on strike rather than agree to an across-the-board pay
cut…
How much do O.C. superintendents make?
May 27, 2010 Filed in: Superintendents
Scott
Martindale, The Orange County Register They are typically the first to be
blamed when districts grapple with budget problems, employee unrest
and community criticism. They draw ire and scorn for being the
highest-compensated figures in the K-12 public school system,
making an average of $233,477 in Orange County last year. Yet their
salaries seem to be lurching ever upward, by 24 percent countywide
over the past five years … When Joseph Farley – currently schools
chief for the Anaheim Union High School District – takes over as
superintendent of the politically fractured, 52,000-student
Capistrano Unified School District this July, he will be among the
top-paid, if not the highest-paid superintendent in Orange County,
making $297,887 annually…
Anaheim Union names interim chief
May 27, 2010 Filed in: Superintendents
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
Trustees with the Anaheim
Union High School District have named retired superintendent Sandra
Barry as the district's interim chief following the departure of
Joseph Farley. Barry, 63, served eight years as superintendent of
the Anaheim City School District until her retirement in 2008. She
will serve in the interim role starting June 24 until a permanent
replacement is selected. Farley, who served as chief in Anaheim
Union for five years, was hired earlier this month as
superintendent for Capistrano Unified…
Teacher: Putting faces on schools' 'failure'
May 27, 2010 Filed in: Public Education
| School Rankings
Column: Christian Cushing-Murray, The Orange County
Register Public
schools are failing. Say it a few times; it rolls off the tongue
easily enough. In fact, it's been said often enough that whatever
bitterness may have once flavored it has faded, like the wads of
gum stuck on the undersides my students' desks. The condemnation
comes easy, but is it true? I teach English at Century High School
in Santa Ana, one of several Orange County schools newly labeled
"persistently low-achieving" by the state Department of Education.
Brought on in part by relatively stagnant language-arts test
scores, I suppose I'm something of an expert on the notion of
failing public schools. What, then, is the truth?
Dems want to tax, borrow, avoid cuts
May 26, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Column: Dan Walters, The Orange County
Register The California
Legislature's Democratic
leaders, after months of hoping against hope that the state budget
deficit would magically disappear, have finally returned to their
ideological roots, proposing new taxes and new borrowing to avoid
deep spending cuts. Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger's no-new-taxes budget would eliminate
welfare grants, hit K-12 education and slash deeply into the
remainder of the social services and health safety net for millions
of poor Californians – anathema to the Legislature's liberals.
However, the nearly $5 billion in temporary new taxes proposed by
Democratic senators and the more than $9 billion in one-time
borrowing favored by Democratic Assembly members, absent some
economic miracle, would, as Schwarzenegger often says, merely "kick
the can down the road."
Sanchez co-sponsors immigrant-education bill
May 26, 2010 Filed in: Education Programs
| Legislation
Cindy Carcamo and Dena Burns, The Orange County
Register After
years of lobbying Rep. Loretta
Sanchez to
co-sponsor the Dream Act, proponents of the bill said Wednesday
that they are ecstatic that the Congresswoman has signed on.
Sanchez, D-Santa Ana, co-sponsored the bill Tuesday, according
congressional records. Sanchez declined to comment on her
co-sponsorship of the bill, which proposes allowing students who
are in the country illegally the chance to apply for legal
permanent residency, protect them from deportation and make them
eligible for student loans and federal work-study programs.
Opponents of the DREAM Act say it would reward illegal behavior.
Most local Congress
members are against the
bill, stating that it would encourage others to enter the country
illegally in an effort to get the same benefits for their
children…
What it really costs to run an LAUSD school
May 26, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Column:
Louis Pugliese, Daily News IN June, once again taxpayers will be
asked to ante-up in a parcel tax for the financially and
academically bankrupt LAUSD - the money-sucking bureaucratic
nightmare that should have disintegrated long ago and gotten out of
the business of running schools. It's high time that Los Angeles
Unified School District comes clean on the real costs to run a
school - without the added cost of the district administration as
the toll collector. Taxpayers, parents and teachers have the right
to know what operating a school would take without the district's
bumbling bureaucracy, fees, consultants, waste and "encroachments."
Of course, they'll never do that. So maybe it's best we just do it
ourselves...
Scholarship to go to illegal immigrants
May 26, 2010 Filed in: School
Choice
Deepa Bharath and Cindy Carcamo, The Orange County
Register Santa
Ana College will dedicate a scholarship for illegal immigrant
students in memory of 27-year-old immigration activist
Tam
Ngoc Tran of Garden Grove,
who was killed in a crash involving a suspected drunken driver
in Maine
on May 15. The dedication
will take place during a ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Tran and
26-year-old Cinthya Felix Perez of Los
Angeles were
both killed in the crash. The friends were active members of
the
DREAM Act immigration reform movement, which aims to allow students who are
in the country illegally the chance to apply for legal permanent
residency, protect them from deportation and make them eligible for
student loans and federal work-study programs…
School choice to high court
May 26, 2010 Filed in: Litigation | School Choice
Editorial: The Orange County Register
Education reform advocates
should have been encouraged Monday as the Supreme Court announced
its intention to decide a case where the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals called into question the constitutionality of a
Arizona
school-choice tax credit
program that provides mostly disadvantaged students with
scholarships to private schools. Arizona's 13-year-old program is
pretty straightforward. Private donors are given a
dollar-for-dollar state income tax credit for contributions made to
school-tuition organizations. These private, not-for-profit STOs
distribute the money as scholarships to students interested in
attending private schools, some of them secular and some
religious…
Cuts will hit teachers hard in June
May 25, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Carol Veravanich, The Orange County Register
Q. Can you do me a favor
and put the cuts coming to our salary in dollars and cents for your
readers so quick to criticize us? Do they know how much is being
taken out of our pay this coming month? These furlough days are a
huge hit to us and yet I keep hearing people say we need to do our
share. How many of them would like to take this huge chunk out of
their pay?
Vermont's pension experiment
May 25, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Stephen C. Fehr, Stateline.org Vermont officials have reached
agreement on a teacher pension plan that could become a model for
financially-strapped states seeking ways to reduce the rising cost
of employee retirement benefits. The
accord between
the Legislature, the state treasurer and Vermont’s largest public
employee union will result in most teachers working additional
years and making higher contributions to the pension fund but
receiving a larger pension check on retirement. The state will
initially save $15 million a year, or about 10 percent of Vermont’s
current budget shortfall…
Lawsuit moves school duel to new level
Dan Walters, The Sacramento Bee California's perpetual
public debate over the sad condition of its K-12 schools entered a
new and potentially climactic phase last week when a coalition of
education groups filed a lawsuit alleging that the entire 6
million-student system is unconstitutional. The suit, filed in
Alameda County, declares that the state "has failed its
constitutional obligation to support its public schools in a way
that ensures that all students are provided an opportunity to meet
the state's academic goals."
Why can't teachers stop whining about salaries?
May 25, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register Q. If I
hear one more time about how teachers are paid less than the
private sector, I'm going to scream. What do you think a person
with a four-year degree and no experience should earn? Also, take
into consideration that they work less than 200 days a year and
have a lifetime of pension income and no or very little health
insurance costs that also cover their dependents. I realize that
the teachers unions have to keep this myth alive to remain viable.
Please just stop the whining! I have to go now, I am 62 years old
and got to get back to work ... I don't have a pension…
Citizen Victory Over Teachers' Union in Texas
May 24, 2010 Filed in: Litigation | Unions
Larry Sand, Red County On May 14, Texas Attorney General Greg
Abbott delivered an opinion that could have national educational
and political ramifications for years to come. In short, the
decision stated that school districts may not fund political action
committees of teacher unions via payroll deductions … What are the
ramifications of the ruling for those of us in California? As one
who worked on the Citizen Power Initiative – a measure that if
passed would have accomplished the same thing as the Texas AG
ruling - I will tell you that this is great news...
Middle school portable catches fire
May 24, 2010 Filed in: Health and
Safety
Elysse James, The Orange County Register
A fire broke out on
Saturday night in a portable building at a Tustin middle school. An
air conditioning unit on top of the building at Hewes Middle School
caught on fire, setting off an alarm around 11 p.m., said Tustin
Unified School District Spokesman Mark Eliot ... The fire was
caused by an electrical short, Eliot said...
The California quagmire
May 24, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Column: Karl Manheim, John S. Caragozian and Don Warner,
The Los Angeles Times - We share the emerging consensus that
California is broken. State government is failing its citizens in
education, infrastructure, parks and elsewhere. These failures, in
turn, cause counties, cities and school districts to slash their
own services. Given the Legislature's chronic inability to deal
realistically with the state budget, these failures may worsen. The
governor's recent May revise, pilloried in the May 18 Times'
editorial, "Schwarzenegger's 'ugly' budget," is another indicator
that the state's problems are escalating...
44% of O.C. English learners pass test
May 21, 2010 Filed in: Education
Programs
May 21, 2010, Fermin Leal, The Orange County
Register About
44 percent of Orange County's public school students still learning
English passed a state test measuring fluency, figures released
Friday reveal. More than 122,000 English learners took the
California English Language Development Test, administered this
spring. Statewide, 40 percent of the state's 1.3 million students
still learning English passed … English learners make up about a
quarter of the 500,000 students enrolled in county public
schools...
State Faces Multiple Suits of Failure to Adequately Fund Schools
David Greenwald, The People's Vanguard of
Davis Given the
state of California's economy and cutbacks to education, perhaps it
is not surprising that several different groups are threatening to
sue. On Thursday a lawsuit was filed in Alameda County by the
California School Boards Association, the Association of California
School Administrators, and the California State PTA. The suit calls
for the courts to get rid of the current financing system and to
direct the governor and Legislature to create one that is sound,
stable and sufficient. They argued it prevents six million
students from receiving the education that they are entitled to
under the state's constitution. The suit contends that the state
has failed to prioritize school funding as the constitution and
Prop 98 requires. California has set some of the highest
standards in the county, but ranks nearly last among all states in
per-pupil funding and in the ratio of students to teachers,
counselors, and nurses. The result is that California
students perform poorly compared with those in other states…
Historic Lawsuit Challenges California’s Unconstitutional Education Finance System
California School Finance, YubaNet.com
May 20, 2010 - A historic
lawsuit was filed today against the State of California requesting
that the current education finance system be declared
unconstitutional and that the state be required to establish a
school finance system that provides all students an equal
opportunity to meet the academic goals set by the State. The case,
Robles-Wong, et al. v. State of California, was filed in the
Superior Court of California in Alameda County. Specifically, the
suit asks the court to compel the State to align its school finance
system-its funding policies and mechanisms-with the educational
program that the State has put in place. To do this, plaintiffs
allege, the State must scrap its existing finance system; do the
work to determine how much it actually costs to fund public
education to meet the state's own program requirements and the
needs of California's school children; and develop and implement a
new finance system consistent with Constitutional
requirements…
Lawsuit seeks to overhaul school finance system
May 20, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Litigation
Associated Press, The Orange County Register
A coalition of students,
school districts and education groups sued the state of
California
on Thursday, seeking to
force the governor and Legislature to develop a new system to fund
its cash-strapped public schools. The lawsuit asks the court to
declare the current school finance system unconstitutional because
the state doesn't provide enough money to cover its educational
mandates and programs…
In some states, pension pain yields budget gains
May 20, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Stephen C. Fehr, Stateline.org This is turning out to be a pivotal
year in public pension policy, as states move to bring down
escalating retirement costs that threaten their governments’
stability. Since the Wall Street meltdown in 2008, nearly every
state has taken some steps to curb rising pension costs. But many
of those steps have been minor ones. This year, however, a dozen
states have enacted reforms more substantial than those in the past
… All this has happened against the backdrop of the pension crisis
in Europe, and of global fears that unsustainably generous pension
commitments in American states could cause the same disastrous
consequences as they have already caused in Greece. The events in
Europe brought into focus growing worries about public pension
costs as large numbers of baby boom workers near retirement. It
also magnified a change in the tone and visibility of the public
pension issue that had already been gathering momentum…
School districts lack $1 billion to pay retiree health benefits, grand jury says
May 20, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Diana Lambert, The Sacramento Bee
School officials are
effectively ignoring the mounting debt, the report concludes, and
barring a drastic change of course, could end up bankrupting their
districts or stiffing retirees on health benefits. The grand jury
report recommends that every district immediately start reducing
unfunded liabilities for retiree health benefits. It calls on every
district to include a funding plan in its 2011-12 budget. "All of
those involved – administrators, school boards teachers and unions
– have a responsibility to resolve this problem…"
See your school's new AP, SAT scores
May 20, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
Orange County's high school
Class of 2009 outperformed peers statewide and nationally on the
SAT and Advanced Placement tests, according figures released
Thursday. Last year's local graduating class scored an average of
1,600 on the three-part SAT, which includes verbal, math and
writing sections. Statewide, students earned an average SAT score
of 1,502, while nationally students earned an average of 1,509.On
AP tests, about 68 percent of local test-takers scored a 3 or
higher. A score of 3 is the minimum generally accepted for college
credit. Statewide, 58 percent of students earned a 3 or higher,
while 59 percent nationally scored a 3 or higher...
Possible TB case reported at Esperanza High
May 19, 2010 Filed in: Health and
Safety
Jessica Terrell, The Orange County Register
Parents have being invited
to a special information session at Esperanza High School on
Thursday night, after Orange County health officials identified a
person at the school as possibly having active tuberculosis.
Health Care Agency officials would not say if the individual was a
student or member of the staff, but said they had worked diligently
to identify everyone who may have been in close contact with the
person and been exposed to the disease…
150 rally against school cuts
May 19, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
About 150 students,
teachers, parents, and others marched along Chapman Avenue on
Wednesday to rally against ongoing cuts to education. The rally,
one of 36 planned statewide, was organized by the newly formed
grassroots group of parents and educators called
California
Advocates United to Save
Education, or CAUSE…
Nursing board opposes student anti-seizure bill
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
The state nursing board
voted Wednesday to oppose a Senate bill that would give school
workers clear authority to administer an anti-seizure medication to
students in an emergency. The 7-1 vote by the state Board of
Registered Nursing was the culmination of more than an hour of
emotional, tear-filled testimony from local parents who support the
bill and the nursing union leaders who oppose it…
Teacher columnist receives final layoff notice
May 19, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Carol Veravanich, The Orange County Register
I am responding to your
writer who "wonders how they [those who criticize teachers] would
do spending one week in the classroom." I taught for nine years
then moved to the private sector, where I worked for the next 28
years. I mean no disrespect when I state that teaching is far
easier. I also wonder: Do educators really understand how their
benefits compare to the private sector? We could start with tenure
and continue with health benefits, vacation and sick pay, and
contracted work days. Perhaps you should dedicate a column to this
subject…
Why doesn't federal government fully fund special ed?
May 19, 2010 Filed in: Education
Programs
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register It
really stuck out that the federal government only funds special
education 19 percent when they should fund it at least 40 percent.
Seems to me that they should fund it 100 percent and then we would
be out of the woods, so to speak. Is this an Obama administration
cut from funding it down to 19 percent from 40 percent?
Education rally planned for Orange
May 19, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Diana Lambert, The Sacramento Bee
Students, teachers,
parents, and others plan to hold a rally Wednesday afternoon at El
Modena High to protest ongoing cuts to education. The rally, the
only one scheduled for Orange County, is one of 36 planned
statewide. The newly-formed grassroots group of parents and
educators called California
Advocates United to Save
Education, or CAUSE, organized the rallies to call on lawmakers to
reject further education cuts… More News...
Grand jury slams Sacramento City Teachers Association
May 19, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Melody Guiterrez, The Sacramento Bee
The
Sacramento City Unified School District faces bankruptcy if its teachers union
does not agree to contract concessions, according to a Sacramento
County grand jury report released today. The report painted
Superintendent Jonathan
Raymond as a man
on a mission to get district finances in order while improving
programs for students. The Sacramento
City Teachers Association received a critical review. "It is time
for unions to become more of an advocate for children," the report
states…
CTA Provides Kool-Aid for the Children
May 18, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Larry Sand, Red County For those of you in California who are
too busy trying to make a living and otherwise managing your busy
lives, I’ll bet that you didn’t know that this Saturday is a
holiday of sorts – yup, it’s Harvey Milk Day. Now, while you may
not have been aware of this, there is a good chance that your
children are and will be celebrating it to some extent in their
schools, with the help of the California Teachers Association … If
the CTA hagiography of Milk is what many in the teaching profession
will be using as source material, your children will be getting a
wretchedly sanitized and bowdlerized view of an undistinguished and
possibly evil man. Parents, you might want to investigate what kind
of Kool-Aid your child’s school is planning for this
“holiday.”
O.C. schools finalize more than 1,500 teacher cuts
May 18, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Fermin Leal and Scott Martindale This year, many districts are relying
heavily on negotiations with unions for furlough days, salary
reductions and other concessions that could pare away at their
layoff numbers, officials said. Capistrano Unified, Magnolia
and Anaheim
Union High school
districts, for example, have already rescinded dozens of notices
after receiving some concessions from unions in new contracts.
Capistrano Unified rescinded 38 of 84 layoff notices to tenured
teachers and other certificated staff after union leaders and
trustees settled a long-running contract dispute. “We are doing
everything we can to retain personnel and not increase class
sizes,” Capistrano Trustee Ken Lopez-Maddox said. “But the state
budget is in a tailspin and we don’t yet know what it holds for
public education. We are doing all we can to brace ourselves for
what Sacramento
might do.”
Teachers union tells Steinberg to halt education cuts
May 18, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Susan Ferriss, The Sacramento Bee
A fresh billboard heading
into Sacramento
off Interstate 5 showcases
the California
Teachers Association's dissatisfaction with a chief ally in
the state Capitol: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell
Steinberg. "Dear Senator
Steinberg,"
reads the pink billboard, which appeared over the weekend. "Stop
the blame. Stop the cuts." The state's largest teachers union is
also launching a direct-mail campaign to exert pressure on
Steinberg as he gears up for negotiations with Gov.
Arnold
Schwarzenegger and other legislators over how to
address the state's $19.1 billion budget
deficit...
Plumbers union flexes muscle in local campaigns
Ryan Lillis, The Sacramento Bee From prison guards to teachers,
organized labor wields influence over California politics like an
iron pipe. In the Sacramento region, one group's clout rises above
the others. In 2005, Sacramento City Unified School District's
board approved a policy requiring contractors on projects over $1
million to use union workers. Trustees re-approved the labor
agreement policy for an additional four years in September 2009 …
The wages are often higher than nonunion workers would otherwise
make and help ensure that union shops can compete for projects
nonunion shops would otherwise underbid. "They're playing within
the rules to elect people who share their philosophy," Cline said.
"They're protecting their empire."
CalPERS raises state contribution by $600 million
May 18, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Dale Kasler, The Sacramento Bee A key CalPERS committee
today voted to raise the state's annual contribution to the pension
fund by $600 million in the upcoming fiscal year. CalPERS' full
board will vote on the increase Wednesday. The increase means the
state's annual tab for CalPERS would rise to about $3.9 billion,
putting additional strain on the troubled state budget...
Judge: Prayer at college events can continue
May 17, 2010 Filed in: Religion
Niyaz Pirani, The Orange County Register
A request that would have
barred religious invocations at Saddleback and Irvine Valley
colleges until a lawsuit on the matter could be heard has been
denied by a federal judge. The request stemmed from a lawsuit filed
in November by
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
against the South Orange
County Community College District. Judge R. Gary Klausner, a
federal judge in the Central District of California,
denied the request last week because the plaintiffs did not show
that "irreparable injury" would be caused if the invocations are
included as part of the program at college events…
Landmark ruling on teacher layoffs
May 14, 2010 Filed in: Litigation | Unions
Column: John Festerwald, The Educated Guess
- A Superior Court judge
has served notice to school districts statewide that the seniority
rights of teachers do not trump the fundamental right of students
to an equal opportunity for a good education. Los Angeles Superior
Court Judge William Highberger issued a preliminary injunction
Wednesday preventing any teacher layoffs for budgetary reasons at
three Los Angeles Unified middle schools where large numbers of
teachers have been given pink slips…
Capo recall leaders turn in 65,875 signatures
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
Community activists
attempting to recall two Capistrano Unified trustees from office
turned in about 33,000 petition signatures per trustee Friday to
the county registrar, about 50 percent more than the minimum
required to put the issue on the November ballot. The Parents for
Local Control recall group is targeting trustees Ken Lopez-Maddox
and Mike Winsten with 32,803 and 33,100 signatures, respectively,
or 65,903 total. If at least 21,850 signatures for each trustee are
declared valid by the county registrar, the politically fractured
school district will face its second recall election in as many
years…
O.C. superintendents lobby for reforms
May 14, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Superintendents
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
Orange County’s public
schools could avert further massive budget cuts if state and
federal lawmakers allow more local control over restricted money
for schools, end unnecessary and unfunded mandates and pay their
fair share of special education costs, county school leaders said
Friday. Twenty superintendents from the county’s 28 districts
gathered at the county Department of Education headquarters to
announce their campaign for reforms they say would relieve much of
the budgetary constraints facing public schools…
Editorial: Unions above taxpayers
May 14, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Editorial: The Orange County Register
Even modest pension reforms
are being fought tooth and nail by government unions. In the
delusional world of the state Capitol, Wall
Street shoulders
the blame for pension-fund shortfalls – not the unions or pension
funds or legislators who boosted pensions retroactively and missed
the mark by a country mile on their investment projections.
Taxpayers will have to pick up the slack for low-performing pension
funds. Programs will also need to be slashed. It says much about
the California Legislature that the dominant party would rather
embrace those choices than to pass modest reforms to excessively
generous pensions for future hires…
The Crippling Price of Public Employee Unions
May 14, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Column: Mortimer B. Zuckerman, U.S. News & World
Report The American public
feels it is drowning in red ink. It is dismayed and even outraged
at the burgeoning national deficits, unbalanced state and local
budgets, and accounting that often masks the extent of
indebtedness. There is a mounting sense that taxpayers are being
taken for an expensive ride by public sector unions. The
extraordinary benefits the unions have secured for their members
are going to be harder and harder to pay...
Ex-Capo chief's trial on indefinite hold
May 14, 2010 Filed in: Litigation | Superintendents
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
The court trial for
indicted ex-Capistrano Unified Superintendent James
Fleming and a
former assistant superintendent has been put on indefinite hold
while the parties await a decision from a state appeals court
concerning dismissal of some of the charges against them. Orange
County Superior Court Judge William Froeberg in February dismissed
two of the three charges against Fleming, and one of the two
charges against former Assistant Superintendent Susan McGill. Both
appealed Froeberg's decision to a state appeals court, asking that
the remaining charges also be dismissed. Prosecutors, meanwhile,
also appealed Froeberg's decision to the higher court, asking that
the dismissed charges be reinstated…
New Capo chief: Outreach must be genuine
May 13, 2010 Filed in: Superintendents
Scott
Martindale, The Orange County Register Joseph Farley says the key to repairing
the deep political divisions and community distrust in the
Capistrano Unified School District is to methodically and regularly
reach out to constituents, in a way that acknowledges their
frustrations, unhappiness and concerns ... Farley, 59, was hired
Tuesday as superintendent of high-achieving but politically
fractured Capistrano Unified – Orange County's second-largest
school district. He starts July 1...
22% of O.C. schools rank best in state
May 13, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
The API is a composite of
standardized test scores and other measures used by the state to
rate student achievement. Thursday’s rankings came from API scores
released nine months ago. State Superintendent Jack O'Connell said
the API rankings are an important accountability tool because they
let the public know how their local schools compare with others in
the state and with schools possessing similar socioeconomic
characteristics...
API DATABASE: O.C. outperforms state -- again
May 13, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
California's Department of
Education on Thursday released its latest Academic Performance
Index rankings -- statewide measures and comparisons with schools
of similar demographics. And once again, O.C. excels, out
performing the state on both measures...
Bill looks to fix Prop. 13 'loophole'
May 11, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Dan Walters, The Orange County Register
Altering Proposition 13,
which many public employee unions and other liberal groups support,
would require a ballot measure that it's generally believed would
be impossible to pass. But for decades, those groups have dreamed
of altering the rules governing "change in ownership" so that taxes
on commercial property would increase. In theory, it could be done
with a vote of the Legislature and a governor's signature, but
numerous attempts have failed...
Bad State to Be In
May 11, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Column: Larry Sand, Red County The bottom line is if something isn’t
done about the exorbitant public employee pensions that so many in
California receive, the state will soon be insolvent. The first
step to avoid this looming disaster is to make sure that those in
power in Sacramento start to roll back what has been bestowed on at
least some current retirees and to ensure that new and current
employees will never be given the same ridiculous payouts that many
in the system now receive...
Capo, Saddleback cuts showcase differences in approach, respect
May 11, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register Q. Why
did your district settle so quickly after the Capistrano Unified
strike? Did it turn out that they helped you guys in the end, doing
the dirty work for you guys? A. There is still a lot of animosity
surrounding the events that led to the strike in that district. My
district, Saddleback Valley Unified School District, handled things
differently than Capo...
Anaheim superintendent hired as Capo's chief
May 11, 2010 Filed in: Superintendents
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
Capistrano Unified trustees
on Tuesday hired Joseph Farley, the superintendent of
Anaheim's
33,700-student high school
district, to replace their outgoing interim schools chief – a
decision many hope will quell mounting community distrust and
dissent in Orange County's second-largest school district. Farley,
59, will be responsible for managing 56 schools and an annual
budget of about $372 million. He will assume the post July
1…
Capo's outgoing schools chief to consult
May 11, 2010 Filed in: Superintendents
May 11, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
Capistrano Unified trustees
on Tuesday hired outgoing Interim Superintendent Roberta Mahler,
whose one-year contract ends June 7, to stay on in a part-time
capacity through Aug. 31. She will work for a maximum of 40 hours a
month at $125 an hour, under a consulting contract not to exceed
$15,000 total…
Reader: Sick of teacher 'tax grabbers'
May 11, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register Q. I am
so sick of the sense of entitlement of you tax grabbers, also known
as teachers. I pay your salary and you all need to do your job and
stay quiet. A. I honestly do not understand why someone would write
this to me. Your perception of teachers is horrible, but your
willingness to insult everyone in the teaching profession is
unsettling…
Respect and courtesy go a long way with teachers
May 11, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register Q. You
say that you are entitled to respect as a teacher. Respect must be
earned. It is not an entitlement. A. Yet, when my students walk
into my room, even on the first day, I hope their parents have
taught them to show me respect. I think that should be a given. It
is how I was raised. Before I meet someone, I show them respect.
People do not have to earn my respect, I give that to
people...
Anaheim superintendent named as Capo's finalist
May 10, 2010 Filed in: Superintendents
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
Joseph Farley, the
superintendent of Anaheim's
33,700-student high school
district for the past five years, has been named the sole finalist
to become the next schools chief of the high-performing but
politically fractured Capistrano Unified School District. Farley
will be responsible for managing 56 schools and an annual budget of
about $372 million. He is expected to be officially hired at a
school board meeting Tuesday and would assume the post July
1...
Saddleback teachers to take 9.7% pay cut
May 10, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
Saddleback Valley Unified
teachers will accept a 9.72 percent pay cut and larger class sizes
at most grade levels under a tentative agreement reached with the
school district to help close a $33 million budget deficit. The
school year, meanwhile, will be shortened by three days this year
and five days next year, with teachers also losing all four of
their staff development days. Class sizes in the fourth through
12th grades will inch up by an average of 0.5 students each
beginning next fall, necessitating some teacher layoffs...
Sacramento grand jury issues dire financial warning to school districts
May 10, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Diana Lambert, The Sacramento Bee
Sacramento County school
officials may be ignoring mounting debt that could bankrupt
districts or leave retirees without health
benefits, according to a grand jury report
released today. Twelve of the 13 districts in the county don't have
enough money to pay the health benefits promised future retirees
and are not setting aside any money to pay them, said the
report...
Bad State to Be In
May 10, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Larry
Sand, Red County We the people must tell all who are
running for public office in next month’s primary and in the
November election that if they will not promise to work to stop our
road to ruin, they will not get our vote. Period. If we don’t do
that, then we will be complicit in the crime that is now being
perpetrated on us by the public employee unions and their lapdogs
in Sacramento…
Public-sector employees are the new fat cats
May 10, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Column: Fred Barnes, WashingtomExaminer.com
John Edwards was right.
There are two Americas, just not his two (the rich and powerful
versus everyone else). The real divide today is, on one side, the
20 million people who work for state and local governments and the
additional 3 million who've retired with fat pensions. On the
other, the rest of us, about 280 million Americans. In short,
there's a gulf between the bureaucrats and the people…
Calif. ranks last on states tax list
May 10, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
California is tied for last place on
yet another study of how and what states tax. The new report,
entitled “Taxifornia,”
is part of the California Prosperity Project by the
Pacific Research
Institute, a
nonprofit, free-market advocate based in San Francisco. It assesses
California’s tax burden, the structure of its tax system, and how
they affect the state’s competitiveness. Taxifornia takes a
different approach in analyzing states’ tax structure and
illustrates that no matter how you slice and dice the data,
California is a high-tax state...
School layoffs: More than 1,915 teachers listed
May 10, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Fermin Leal and Scott Martindale, The Orange County
Register Orange
County school layoff warning list: Search here for teachers and
other staff who have been issued layoff warning notices or who have
been informed their temporary teaching contracts won't be renewed
for 2010-11. School districts are beginning to make final layoff
decisions, rescinding warnings sent by March 15 for some and
finalizing others as the state's May 15 deadline
approaches...
Democrats dreamin' -- a public demanding tax hikes
May 09, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Column: Steven Greenhut, North County Times
California's Assembly
Democrats want you to be part of the state's budget solution, which
is how they are touting a series of live budget forums across the
state. In other words, the state's Democrats want you to show up to
their town hall and tell them how important it is to pass an
initiative stripping away the two-thirds budget vote requirement,
so that they will have an easier time passing budgets with their
tax-and-spend philosophy firmly in place. This ultimately will lead
to the removal of the two-thirds vote requirement for tax
increases. Democrats in California believe that the state's
problems stem entirely from a lack of revenue and tax rates that
they always find to be too low. I can't imagine anything that would
be more destructive to California than giving the majority party
unchecked power to raise taxes...
Referendum on unions in OC
May 07, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Column: Steven Greenhut, The Orange County
Register (Updated May 11, 2010)"Most residents
probably don't think too much about the Board of Supervisors, but
there is one question that all voters should ponder before Election
Day: "Which candidate has the stomach to stand up to the county's
politically powerful public employee unions?" If a supervisor can't
say "no" to these groups, then the county's finances and public
services will suffer, especially now, when the economy is lean, and
pension debts are growing … This is the showdown we needed and that
I had in mind when I gave my speech," OC Republican Party
Chairman Scott
Baugh told me.
"Voters will be given clear choices between those who want to
reform a severely broken system and the union candidate who wants
to perpetuate the status quo." Baugh is referring to his speech
last year calling on Republican candidates – even in officially
nonpartisan races, such as supervisor – to eschew union
money...
Prop. 14: Open invitation to bland candidates
May 07, 2010 Filed in: Elections
Editorial, The Orange County Register
Prop. 14 does little to
change the status quo. Electoral districts in California are so
gerrymandered – drawn to give overwhelming advantage to one party –
that the eventual winner often is chosen in the primary, and the
general election doesn't matter. What supporters of Prop. 14 miss
is the need for the electorate to have clear choices among
philosophical visions for California. Creating an open primary this
way, thus encouraging moderate, middle-of-the-road candidates,
essentially amounts to elections between candidates with few policy
differences where personality trumps substance. If you seek to
encourage more candidates like Arnold
Schwarzenegger to run for office in California, vote
for Prop. 14. Otherwise we invite you to join us in opposing Prop.
14.
Breaking the Teachers Union Monopoly - Big Changes Ahead
Dick Morris And Eileen McGann, DickMorris.com
A perfect storm is brewing
for the nation’s schools and the teachers’ unions that have them in
a stranglehold. Voter anger at the socialist, big government
solutions of the Obama Administration and its Democratic lookalikes
in state capitals throughout the country is about to combine with
massive education funding shortfalls brought on by the unions’
waste of taxpayer money. These forces will combine in November,
2010 to force gigantic changes in school financing and governance,
leading to the prospect of genuine school choice for the poor and
middle class as the rich have always had…
Prop. 14: Reshaping the political battlefield
Columns: Dan Walters, The Orange County
Register The
gerrymander rendered the November elections irrelevant by
designating the party ownership of all 120 legislative districts,
thus making primary elections in Democratic districts the only ones
that really matter. Typically, business would support a relatively
moderate Democratic candidate in the primary while the Big 4 would
back a more liberal Democrat.
The game would change again if Proposition 14, creating a "top two"
primary election system, is approved by voters in June. The top two
vote getters in the primary would face each other in the November
election, regardless of party. That means, in theory, two Democrats
or two Republicans
could wind up in a November
runoff…
Prop 14: A year of desperate measures
May 04, 2010 Filed in: Elections
Columns: Debra Saunders, The Orange County Register
California desperately needs lawmakers who can
work together. Enter Proposition 14: This measure on the June 8
ballot would end the party primary system by putting the two
candidates who garner the most votes on the general election
ballot. The measure would apply to all state and federal races
except the presidency. Its goal is to elect more moderate lawmakers
from both parties. But can it deliver? To tell the truth, it's a
roll of the dice…
A Word About Strikes — An Editorial
May 01, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Ron Bennett, The Fiscal Report Unions have no legal
responsibility for the solvency of the district; their duty is to
their dues paying members. The School Board has full accountability
for the solvency of the district and must take whatever action is
necessary to meet its legal responsibilities and protect the
students and taxpayers. Over the past few weeks, we have seen
media attention drawn toward the collective bargaining process,
particularly when there has been a unilateral contract imposition
by management or a strike by labor. In my opinion, we are likely to
see a few—maybe quite a few—similar situations evolving over the
next several months. I would like to offer some opinions on how to
think about these situations and how to either avoid them or handle
them appropriately...
Pension Bomb Ticks Louder, California's public funds are assuming unlikely rates of return
April 27, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Column: The Wall Street Journal The time-bomb that is public-pension
obligations keeps ticking louder and louder. Eventually someone
will have to notice. This month, Stanford's Institute for Economic
Policy Research released a study suggesting a more than $500
billion unfunded liability for California's three biggest pension
funds—Calpers, Calstrs and the University of California Retirement
System. The shortfall is about six times the size of this year's
California state budget and seven times more than the outstanding
voter-approved general obligations bonds…
The Most Tax-Burdened States
April 26, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Commentary: Jason Clemens and Robert Murphy,
Forbes The
Golden State? More like Taxifornia. As the pain of April 15 fades, most
Americans are bluntly aware that taxes matter. Too many politicians
and bureaucrats, unfortunately, ignore this. They have forgotten
that taxes change the incentives for people to work hard, save,
invest and be entrepreneurial, the bedrock of a prosperous society.
As the nation struggles with a sluggish recovery and deficits, it's
worth noting the tax differences across the states...
The Beholden State, How public-sector unions broke California
April 23, 2010 Filed in: Corruption | Unions
Column: Steve Malanga, City Journal, Spring 2010, Vol. 20,
No, 2 How public
employees became members of the elite class in a declining
California offers a cautionary tale to the rest of the country,
where the same process is happening in slower motion. The story
starts half a century ago, when California public workers won
bargaining rights and quickly learned how to elect their own
bosses—that is, sympathetic politicians who would grant them
outsize pay and benefits in exchange for their support. Over time,
the unions have turned the state’s politics completely in their
favor. The result: unaffordable benefits for civil servants; fiscal
chaos in Sacramento and in cities and towns across the state; and
angry taxpayers finally confronting the unionized masters of
California’s unsustainable government...
EDITORIAL: Public-sector unions bankrupting America
April 23, 2010 Filed in: Unions
April 23, 2010, The Washington Times
Usually it takes a national
government to spend itself into a debt measured in the trillions.
Yet it comes as little surprise that the same profligacy that
pervades the corridors of federal power infects this country's
87,000 state, county and municipal governments and school
districts. By 2013, the amount of retirement money promised to
employees of these public entities will exceed cash on hand by more
than a trillion dollars … California's public-employee retirement
system stands in the most perilous condition, facing a
half-trillion in unfunded liabilities…
Teacher pensions could create another state budget crisis
April 19, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Bankrupting America It would be comforting if the budget
crises inflicting states were just a temporary problem.
Unfortunately, as a new report
by the Manhattan Institute
details, states will face another crisis as their unfunded pension
benefits come due. This report focuses specifically on
teachers’ pension, and finds that all fifty-nine pension funds
dedicated to public school teachers face shortfalls.
California’s teacher pension alone has an unfunded liability of
almost $100 billion. All together, the unfunded liabilities
of these teachers’ pensions amount to between $332 (that’s the
estimate derived from the funds’ financial statements) and $933
billion (the report’s authors’ more conservative
calculations)...
The Left's pension dilemma
April 16, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Column: Steven Greenhut, The Orange County
Register (Updated April 18, 2010) Most of the
news stories focus, understandably, on the unsustainable costs to
government and taxpayers, as the bill for these millionaires'
pensions come due. There's no escaping the financial problem, borne
of elected officials who have bought labor peace by selling out
current and future taxpayers to the politically muscular public
employee unions. In a down economy, it's impossible to hide the
numbers much longer. But the other real story is that these pension
crises are undermining public services.
Taxifornia: PRI Study
April 15, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Robert P. Murphy, Ph.D. and Jason Clemens, Pacific Research
Institute The
Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in
San Francisco, found that California ranked dead last in a combined
measure of the state's tax burden and tax structure according to
the newly released study, Taxifornia. It is the second study
in the California Prosperity series, a PRI project to evaluate
California's economic performance relative to other
states...
State's 'distinguished' school honor only seems spotty in O.C.
April 13, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Column: Carol Varavanich, The Orange County
Register Q. I
was taken aback by the lack of schools that were titled
Distinguished Schools. Irvine Unified has 23 elementary schools,
and only eight got it. I also noticed your district that you speak
so highly of had no Distinguished Schools and that the big
Capistrano Unified had three. Santa Ana then had six. Why do the
numbers seem random? Also my child's school has the plaque on their
wall but wasn't named on the website or the article written by the
paper. Why is that?
In America, education is a right – not a privilege
April 13, 2010 Filed in: Public Education
Column: Carol Veravanich, The Orange County
Register Q. I
wanted to hear your answer to the question I heard from
Glenn
Beck, "Do you
think education is a right or a privilege?" A. I think every child
in America has a right to an education. All children get to come to
school here...
Capo and Saddleback both offer Spanish immersion programs
April 12, 2010 Filed in: Education
Programs
Column: Carol Varavanich, The Orange County
Register Q. Last
week there was a question about second-language learning. I didn't
know if you were aware that both Capistrano Unified and Saddleback
Valley Unified have two-way Spanish language immersion programs.
They are much cheaper than private lessons, they are free! My own
children, now in 11th and 12th grades, have been in this program
since kinder, I can't tell you how beneficial it has been
academically, socially, emotionally.... I could go on and
on...
Pension crater much deeper
April 09, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Column: Steven Greehut, The Orange County
Register (Updated April 11, 2010) Looks like
California taxpayers are on the hook to make up public employee
retirement system shortfalls to the tune of a half-trillion bucks.
Union leaders and the politicians they basically own have lashed
out at pension reformers, but the data continue to make it clear
that decades of union dominance and pension-hiking deals are taking
their toll on government budgets and on the fiscal health of the
nation. Could anyone really think it wouldn't cost anything to
create a class of government workers who can retire in their 50s
with 80 percent, 90 percent – or even more than 100 percent – of
their generous salaries?
Study: California Public Pensions Underfunded by Over $500B
April 06, 2010 Filed in: Unions
California Healthline California's three major public pension
funds are underfunded by more than half a trillion dollars,
according to a
report released Monday, the San Jose
Mercury News reports. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R)
commissioned the study, which was prepared by graduate students at
the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research…
Stanford report: Shortfall for California's pension systems as much as a half a trillion dollars
April 05, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Denis C. Theriault, Mercury News According to a new report by a group of
Stanford University graduate students, the shortfall facing
California's public pension systems could reach more than half a
trillion dollars over the next decade and a half. A summary of the
report, released Monday, also said the current recession has cost
the three systems — for the state's public employees,
schoolteachers and University of California workers — $109.7
billion in lost investment value. The report says the systems'
basic growth assumptions are too rosy…
California state pension funds going broke, Stanford study finds
April 05, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Gwyneth Dickey, Stanford University News
New calculations by
Stanford graduate students show that California's three main public
employee pension funds are in more dire financial trouble than
previously believed. California public employee pension systems are
worse off than anyone previously projected, according to a new
report generated by five graduate students in Stanford's graduate
Public Policy Program. The result could be greater pressure on the
state budget and a shortage of pension funds in the
future...
Going For Broke: Reforming California’s Public Employee Pension Systems
April 02, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Howard Bornstein, Stan Markuze, Cameron Percy, Lisha
Wang and Moritz Zander, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy
Research CalPERS, CalSTRS, and UCRS1 together
administer the pensions of approximately 2.6 million Californians.
Between June 2008 and June 2009, these three public pension funds
lost a combined $109.7 billion in portfolio value (see Table 1).
The ability of these three funds to meet their future obligations
has significant implications for the fiscal health of the state and
public employers, the effective underwriters of many public
pensions. In this policy brief, we ask two questions: (1) what is
the current funding shortfall of CalPERS, CalSTRS, and UCRS, and
(2) what policies would prevent a similar shortfall in the future?
… We conclude that California’s public pension liabilities are
substantially understated. Given the consequences of pension
underfunding, we believe every effort should be made in short order
to implement policy changes to reverse the current shortfall and to
prevent a similar shortfall in the future. Specifically, improved
long-term funding outcomes can be influenced through higher
contributions, investment in less risky assets, and lower benefit
levels…
Cash-Poor Cities Take On Unions
April 01, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Conor Dougherty, The Wall Street Journal
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
once organized for a teacher's union here, and later ran a branch
of the American Federation of Government Employees. That makes him
an unlikely advocate for cutting the benefits of the city's
workers. But with the city facing a budget deficit that could drain
its reserves by summer, Mayor Villaraigosa wants to re-open
contract talks with 45,000 cops, firefighters, librarians and other
city employees in hopes of persuading them to contribute more to
their pensions and health-care costs. His deputy chief of staff,
Matt Szabo, puts it bluntly: "Unions have priced themselves out of
a job."
Unfunded Liabilities for Retiree Health Benefits, A School District Fiscal Time Bomb!
April 01, 2010 Filed in: Unions
2009-2010 Sacramento Grand Jury While employers, employees, and
retirees seem to consider an employer-sponsored health plan a
desirable benefit, the continuing escalation of health care and
premium costs places enormous fiscal pressure on school districts
that try to maintain the benefits. Unless union contracts are
renegotiated so that benefits are reduced or employees contribute
to the payment of healthcare costs, the consequences will be
devastating. Health care costs will continue to escalate. If school
districts fail to plan for funding of negotiated obligations for
retiree health benefits, and employees and/or unions fail to assume
some of the costs of the benefits, school districts will be unable
to provide a quality education for students and may become
bankrupt…
Underfunded Teacher Pension Plans: It’s Worse Than You Think
April 01, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Josh Barro and Stuart Buck, Manhattan Institute for
Policy Research To all the other fiscal travails facing
this country’s states and largest cities, now add their pension
obligations, which are far greater than they may realize or are
willing to admit. This paper focuses on the crisis in funding
teachers’ pensions, because education is often the largest program
area in state budgets, making it an obvious target for cuts.
Although it is generally acknowledged that education is the
foundation of every modern society’s future prosperity, schools
unfortunately will have to compete with retirees for scarce
dollars. This competition is uneven, because retirees have a legal
claim on promised pension benefits that supersedes schools’
budgetary needs. Consequently, Americans can look forward to higher
taxes and cuts in services, resulting in fewer teachers, bigger
classes, and facilities that are allowed to deteriorate. In several
states, these developments have already arrived .. California, the
most populous state, has the largest unfunded teacher pension
liability: almost $100 billion…
Breaking bad: California vs. other states
April 01, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Richard Rider, San Diego Newsroom
Here’s a depressing but
documented comparison of California taxes and economic climate with
the rest of the states. The news is breaking bad, and getting worse
(I keep updating this factsheet): -California has the third worst
state income tax in the nation, according to the Tax Foundation’s
2010 State Business Tax Climate Index: approximately 9.5 percent
tax bracket at $46,349, and 10.55 percent at $1 million...
Talk of CUSD teacher strike getting louder
March 31, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Asha Patel, Orange County Local New Network
The Capistrano Unified
School District is expected to make official a more than 10 percent
teacher pay cut at a special meeting Wednesday, a move which has
the entire Capistrano education community worried about a possible
teacher strike. The proposed pay cut – to be put before the
district board at a public meeting Wednesday – would affect 2,300
CUSD teachers and certificate-holding employees. Capistrano Unified
is facing a $34 million shortfall for fiscal year 2010-2011 and an
additional $5 million shortfall in 2011-2012…
Capo district violates open-meeting laws for 5th time
March 22, 2010 Filed in: Transparency
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
An Orange
County judge has ruled that Capistrano Unified's school board
violated the state's open-meeting laws in August 2008 when it held
a closed-door evaluation of its then-superintendent, the fifth time
the governing body had been reprimanded in the past three years for
Brown Act violations...
The Beholden State
March 21, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Column: Steven Malanga, City Journal How public employees became members of
the elite class in a declining California offers a cautionary tale
to the rest of the country, where the same process is happening in
slower motion. The story starts half a century ago, when California
public workers won bargaining rights and quickly learned how to
elect their own bosses—that is, sympathetic politicians who would
grant them outsize pay and benefits in exchange for their support.
Over time, the unions have turned the state’s politics completely
in their favor. The result: unaffordable benefits for civil
servants; fiscal chaos in Sacramento and in cities and towns across
the state; and angry taxpayers finally confronting the unionized
masters of California’s unsustainable government…
O.C.'s best elementary schools
March 21, 2010 Filed in: School Rankings
Fermin Leal and Scott Martindale, The Orange County
Register Orange
County’s best public elementary schools challenge students with a
rigorous curriculum, promote parental involvement and encourage
good behavior. For the second straight year, we review test scores,
federal ratings, student data, misconduct figures and other
measures to rank the county’s 388 elementary schools – the first of
three installments in the Register's 2010 Best Public Schools
report...
Could School Bus Ads Save School Budgets?
March 19, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Donna Gordon Blankinship, Associated Press Writer, ABC
News/Money The
wheels on the bus go buy, buy, buy: Could school bus ads be the
answer to budget woes?
Getting California's house in order
March 19, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Alan
Bock, Brian Calle and Mark Landsbaum, The Orange County
Register The
state Legislature operates on the apparent notion that it should
spend as much money as politicians want to spend, or at least as
much as their constituents desire to have spent on them. That is a
bankrupting philosophy, rooted in the idea that government is the
granter of wishes, instead of the protector of rights. Ideally,
government would never spend a dime on anything except those things
that protect the peoples' God-given rights from those who would
abuse them. Alas, we don't live in an ideal world...
Judge dismisses ex-Capo chief's $5.5 million lawsuit
March 19, 2010 Filed in: Superintendents
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
An Orange County judge has
dismissed a $5.5 million breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by fired
schools chief A. Woodrow Carter against the Capistrano Unified
School District, his second such ruling since Carter's termination
more than a year ago. Superior Court Judge Steven Perk in Santa Ana
said Friday that Carter had "no facts" to support the argument that
he was wrongfully terminated under state labor laws, and no right
to have been notified of performance-related issues before he was
fired...
Irvine school board OKs $19.8 million in spending cuts
March 17, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Alexis Bergjans, The Orange County Register
The Irvine Unified School
District Board of Education unanimously approved more than $19.8
million in cuts and budget reductions for the next two years and
submitted a "positive" interim budget report to the county
superintendent's office on Tuesday. The cuts, to close the
district's deficit and demonstrate IUSD's ability to meet its
financial obligations, include more than $7.8 million in ongoing
savings and almost $12 million in one-time fiscal fixes...
Union-Run Schools
March 16, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Column: RiShawn Biddle, The American Spectator
Even among the
oft-intransigent locals that make up the American Federation of
Teachers, United Teachers Los Angeles is renowned for its bellicose
opposition to any kind of school reform. Notorious for its
successful battles against efforts by former L.A. Mayor Richard
Riordan and one of his successors, Antonio Villaraigosa, to
overhaul the infamously laggard Los Angeles Unified School
District, United Teachers behaved in typical form last August when
the nation's second-largest school district finally gave in to
school reformers and agreed to a plan that included spinning off 12
of its worst-performing schools into private hands and creating 24
new schools to be run by a hodgepodge of operators. Besides filing
a lawsuit against the district to prevent the reform measure from
being implemented without "majority teacher approval," the union
staged a series of protests against the plan. Declared A.J. Duffy,
United Teachers' square-jawed president: "We will stand up against
violations of the law and our members' rights"...
Capistrano Unified mediator offers compromise in teacher pay dispute
March 16, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
An independent mediator who
was retained by the Capistrano Unified School District to resolve a
festering, year-long dispute over proposed 10 percent pay cuts has
recommended that teachers take a series of temporary pay
concessions totaling 6.32 percent...
To cut $365 million, schools eye furloughs, short year
March 11, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Fermin Leal and Scott Martindale, The Orange County
Register Orange
County students are likely to lose up to a week of instruction next
year while classes grow ever more crowded, teachers are let go and
course options shrink. Employee furloughs – up to 10 days long –
have joined class-size increases and teacher layoffs as favored
options for balancing 2010-11 budgets at local school districts,
which need to slash $365.3 million even after consecutive years of
deep cuts...
West Contra Costa teachers must decide on president's recall, election
March 10, 2010 Filed in: Unions
Shelly Meron, The Oakland Tribune
West Contra Costa teachers
have some big decisions to make this month, with their union
holding both a general election and a recall vote on its president.
A group of teachers successfully petitioned last month to force a
recall vote of United Teachers of Richmond President Pixie Hayward
Schickele, with balloting scheduled from March 26 to April 1.
Meanwhile, the general election will be held starting Thursday,
including for the seat of president, where Hayward Schickele is
running for another term against one of her most outspoken critics,
member Diane Brown...
Teachers surveyed agree: end ‘quality-blind’ layoffs
March 07, 2010 Filed in: Unions
John Festerwald, The Educated Guess
Civil rights attorneys
aren’t the only ones opposed to a teacher layoff system based
strictly on seniority. Teachers themselves apparently aren’t crazy
about it either.
“A Smarter Teacher Layoff System” – a report this month by
The New Teacher Project –
included a survey of 9,000
teachers in two unnamed urban districts. Seventy percent of
teachers in one district and 77 percent of teachers in the other,
including most of tenured teachers, said that factors other
than just seniority should be considered in a layoff…
Who could blame us for cussing?
March 05, 2010 Filed in: Budget & Finance
| Unions
Column: Steven Greenhut, The Orange County
Register (Updated March 22, 2010)
California's
union-dominated,
Democratic-controlled Legislature is temperamentally incapable of
fixing the state's structural budget deficit, given that such a fix
would require reduced government spending and the granting of fewer
benefits to the state's class of government workers. As
Rome
burned, legislators last
week debated a meaningless "no-cussing" measure, which suggests how
out-of-touch these lawmakers remain...
Taxifornia: California's tax system, comparisons with other states, and the path to reform in the Golden State
March 01, 2010 Filed in: Budget &
Finance
Robert P. Murphy, Ph.D. and Jason Clemens, California
Prosperity Project, Pacific Research Institute
In a quest for solutions,
this second installment of the California Prosperity Project
assesses California’s tax burden, the structure of its tax system,
and how both of these affect the state’s competitiveness. The
research on which this study is based shows that taxes matter. When
we impose taxes on certain things, we basically tend to get less of
those things. Taxes influence decisions concerning work effort,
savings, investment, entrepreneurship, risk taking, and job
creation. These are all things California needs. Additional work,
greater investing by individuals and businesses, and more
entrepreneurship are the foundations for a prosperous society.
Understanding how tax rates, and in particular marginal tax rates,
influence these activities is critical in understanding the
challenges facing California…
2 charges against ex-schools chief dropped
February 26, 2010 Filed in:
Litigation | Superintendents
Peter Schelden, The Orange County Register
Orange County Superior
Court Judge William Froeberg on Friday dismissed two of three
charges against ex-Capistrano Unified Superintendent
James
Fleming, who was
indicted in 2007 for allegedly creating “enemies” lists of the
school district's political opponents. Froeberg said prosecutors
had insufficient evidence for count three of the indictment,
conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the public, and for count
two, urging defeat of the same recall – leaving one remaining
charge on felony misappropriation of public funds…
Editorial: Recall fever rises again in Capo Unified
Editorial: The Orange County Register
Story Highlights: Citizen
group, with union support, goes after two trustees who support
school choice...
Feeding the state budget beast
February 22, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
Column: Mark Landsbaum, The Orange County
Register Last
week enough Republican legislators defected to join with
tax-and-spend Democrats to approve $12.8 billion of new, allegedly
temporary, taxes, including another penny on the sales tax, as much
as a 0.5 percent hike in the income tax rate, a drastic two-thirds
reduction of dependent care tax credits and a near doubling of the
vehicle license fee. These people in Sacramento don't live in the
real world. They believe things will improve if they tax people
more even though they already are taxed more than people in 49
other states. They think increasing income taxes somehow is helpful
to Californians who already pay the nation's highest income taxes.
They think Californians who insisted that money raised by the state
Lottery should be restricted to schools will suddenly change their
minds. They foolishly believe Californians will approve a spending
cap for the Legislature even though it would mean an additional two
years of higher taxes. These people truly live in a make-believe
world…
State not exactly the well-oiled machine
February 19, 2010
Steven Greenhut, The Orange County Register
(Updated March 22, 2010) A
new report from the California
State Auditor should throw
cold water on those who believe that the best way to solve the
state's problems is by expanding government power, increasing
government funding and creating new regulatory powers and agencies.
The auditor has released its annual report analyzing how the
various government agencies have implemented the findings from
various auditor reports over the past two years. The reports,
released last week, themselves spotlight problems within government
agencies, but the beauty of the new "implementation" report is that
it shows that the agencies frequently give the auditor the back of
the hand and drag their feet on fixing the financial problems
spotlighted in the audits...
States tackling public employee retirement benefits in 2010
February 19, 2010 Filed in:
Budget & Finance
| Unions
Stephen C. Fehr, Stateline.org New Jersey appears headed towards
changing its state employee retirement system this year to bring
down costs. At least 16 other states besides New Jersey are
considering similar changes that could mean lower benefits, higher
retirement ages, freezes in cost-of-living adjustments and
increased employee contributions. Most of the changes would affect
newly hired state workers, but some states are weighing higher
contributions from current employees. The proposals are already
getting major pushback from state employees and retirees and their
unions … California voters may get to decide the fate of state
employee pensions in an election. Signatures are being
collected for at least three initiatives
for the November ballot
aimed at tightening retirement eligibility and offering reduced
benefits to new hires...
O.C. GOP leaders oppose Capistrano Unified recall attempt
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
The Orange County GOP's
governing body has unanimously passed a resolution opposing a
recall effort against two Capistrano Unified trustees, a move
quickly condemned by recall leaders as ill conceived and
irresponsible. The Orange County Republican Party's 73-member
Central Committee accused "public employee unions and their allies"
of "unjustly" targeting trustees Ken Lopez-Maddox and Mike Winsten
in the recall attempt, which began last month...
California students among best on AP exams
February 10, 2010 Filed in:
School Rankings
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
More California high school
students than ever are taking Advanced Placement tests, and the
number of students performing well on the exams continues to
improve, figures released today reveal...
State meddling hamstrings schools
February 05, 2010 Filed in:
Budget & Finance
| Unions
Steven Greenhut, The Orange County Register
(Updated March 22, 2010) To
show the results of union dominance of the public education system,
John Stossel, host of Fox News' "Stossel," on a recent show held up
a convoluted chart that detailed, in small print, the amazing
lengths to which New York school administrators must go to fire an
incompetent teacher. The viewer sees a long and detailed chart
filled with boxes connected by arrows. Then, Stossel reveals that
what he's holding up for the camera is only the beginning, as he
lets falls to the floor several more pages that had been hidden,
accordion-style, behind the first page of the termination
procedures chart. The joke – actually much sadder than funny – is
on us, as we realize that there's no way that even the worst
teacher can get sacked and that it's basically impossible to reform
the public school system as it is currently structured. Yet local,
state and federal officials go on proposing reforms that will
surely turn the nations' bureaucratic, government-controlled public
school systems into models of efficiency and high-performance
learning...
Best elementaries take different routes to success
February 04, 2010 Filed in:
School Rankings
Fermin
Leal and Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
The Orange County Register
2010 Best Public Schools Report: Elementary Excellence – news,
profiles and a comprehensive database of 388 schools. Orange
County's best elementary schools include campuses receiving federal
subsidies for high student poverty levels and campuses with
parent-run foundations that raise hundreds of thousands of dollars
annually. They are sprawling, rural schools where cows can be seen
grazing in the hillsides and sparkling, state-of-the-art campuses
squeezed on all sides by million-dollar homes and parks and
libraries. One thing they all share, though, is a stunning ability
to innovate, to keep pace with the latest in teaching strategies
and to cultivate dynamic, multi-sensory learning
environments...
Best schools ranking methods: How we did it
February 04, 2010 Filed in:
School Rankings
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
The Orange County
Register's rankings are designed to show which elementary schools
in Orange County provide the richest academic experience and
strongest environment for learning – from schools with the best
test scores to those with cultural diversity and small class sizes.
The results generated a ranking system of more than a dozen
measurements for 388 public elementary schools...
Guards union adds insult to injury
January 29, 2010 Filed in:
Budget & Finance
| Unions
Steven Greenhut, The Orange County Register
(Updated March 22, 2010)
Still, we should celebrate good ideas. And Baugh – who told me
Tuesday that he accepts his share of the blame for this situation –
ended his talk with a good proposal: "No candidate will be
supported by this party who receives contributions and endorsements
from public employee unions." Now we're getting somewhere. Union
power needs to be attacked at its many sources, whether it means
proposing pay and benefit cuts that are best for taxpayers but
anger union officials, forcing unions to pay their tab to the state
or exerting some countervailing political pressure to union muscle.
It's heartening that more California officials are recognizing this
truth...
$100,000-plus pension club in Capo schools, Coast College
January 27, 2010 Filed in:
Budget & Finance
| Superintendents
Teri Sforza, OC Watchdog, The Orange County
Register We
continue our “obnoxious” trek through the Big Public Pension Club
of the
California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS)
– adding to our list of
folks collecting more than $100,000 a year from OC
school/community college districts … Capistrano Unified School
District has 16: Sundra Hartman $194,015.64, James Fleming
$141,331.44, Stella Hubert $129,571.68, Geraldine Gordon
$119,301.72, Richard Johnson $117,128.40, Anthony Ferruzzo
$115,577.16, Elaine Hart $113,209.08, Patrick Levens $112,482.36,
Susan MacConaghy $111,425.88, Austin Buffum $110,602.32, James
Walshe $110,255.04, Richard Campbell $105,865.68, Lois Anderson
$105,126.60, Ronald Dempsey $103,703.52, David Schlesinger
$101,996.52, John Hopkins $100,583.88; Centralia Elementary has 4:
Roberta Mahler $149522.40...
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-lwxO4eXDj0NjhkYjVkZTQtOWNlMy00Y2YyLWFmNzItMmYxMjdiZDFiYTI1&hl=en
January 22, 2010 Filed in:
Elections
Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch
A parents’ group has
launched attempts to recall Capistrano Unified School District
trustees Mike Winsten and Ken Lopez-Maddox, signaling no end in
sight to five years of political rancor in the 52,000-student
district. Ironically, Maddox first gained his seat through a recall
in June 2008. Additionally, the first signature on the new “notice
to recall” was that of Capistrano resident Kevin Murphy, a leader
in an unsuccessful attempt to recall all seven trustees in 2005 and
a supporter of the 2008 recall...
Report: economy hurting state's public schools
January 21, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
Orange County's schools
plan to cut $280 million from next year's budgets – after cutting a
similar amount that last year...
Irvine schools' projected deficit now $22 million
January 18, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
Alexis Bergjans, The Orange County Register
Irvine Unified School
District's fiscal problem is worse than anticipated as new budget
numbers project a $22 million deficit, a nearly 50 percent increase
from the $15 million figure that the district had been relying on
as recently as early last week...
What's keeping state in sorry shape
January 15, 2010 Filed in:
Budget & Finance
| Unions
Column: Steven Greenhut, The Orange County
Register (Updated March 22, 2010) Listen to
former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, the dean of California
liberalism, in a recent San
Francisco Chronicle column: "The deal used to be
that civil servants were paid less than private-sector workers in
exchange for an understanding that they had job security for life.
But we politicians – pushed by our friends in labor – gradually
expanded pay and benefits ... while keeping the job protections and
layering on incredibly generous retirement packages. ... This is
politically unpopular and potentially even career suicide ... but
at some point, someone is going to have to get honest about the
fact." The time for honesty is now – or else forget about
reform...
State applies for $490 million more in stimulus funds for schools
January 11, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register
School districts and
universities used federal stimulus funds last year to fund programs
and hundreds of jobs that would have lost because of the ongoing
state budget crisis. But because the funds were one-time awards,
many districts are again faced with difficult decisions amid
looming deficits...
Optimism in short supply
January 10, 2010 Filed in:
Budget & Finance
| Unions
Steven Greenhut, The Orange County Register
(Updated March 22, 2010) As
the legislative session heats up in the coming days, there will be
two choices: We can cut down government, unleash the private sector
and allow free and industrious people to rebuild this once-glorious
but now increasingly tawdry state. Or we can avoid the tough
choices, ignore reality and find clever ways to temporarily balance
the budget or not-so-clever means to make it easier to raise taxes.
Those are the only two real choices. It will take a great deal of
involvement and toughness by the people for the first course of
action to come to pass. If Californians follow the second path,
then, quite frankly, the future ain't so bright. The budget
situation will get worse...
Capistrano recall rumors swirl, but nothing concrete in place
Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register
With embattled Capistrano
Unified Superintendent A. Woodrow Carter facing possible dismissal,
parents and teachers who have vowed to begin a school board recall
over the issue are continuing to express their outrage in blogs and
e-mails, although no formal recall effort has been
announced...
Steven Greenhut on the governor: partying on the Titanic
January 08, 2010 Filed in:
Budget & Finance
| Unions
Steven Greenhut, The Orange County Register
(Updated March 22, 2010)
But the state's education budget also is filled with waste. The
state spends 40 percent of its general fund on K-12 education, and
yet many of California's school systems are almost criminally
mismanaged and assure lifelong failure for the poorest students –
thanks in large measure to union work rules and protections for
incompetent, even abusive, teachers. The governor's proposed
constitutional amendment will never come to pass, and, even if it
did, it wouldn't do a thing other than create a legal mechanism to
further expand school spending...
Education spared more massive cuts
January 08, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
Fermin Leal, Gary Robbins and Scott Martindale, The
Orange County Register Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won't slash
K-12 or higher education like other services as part of a proposed
budget he announced today, but public schools still face a tough
road ahead, and it is possible Cal State University students will
experience another fee hike. The governor announced his proposed
budget will continue fully funding Prop. 98, the state law that
requires that about 40 percent of the state's budget be allocated
for K-12 education and community colleges...
O.C. schools expect to cut $365 million
January 04, 2010 Filed in:
Budget &
Finance
Fermin Leal and Scott Martindale, The Orange County
Register 2010-11
O.C. school budget cuts: Data sources: Academic Performance Index
provided by the state Department of Education; 2009-10 spending
provided by the O.C. Department of Education; 2009-10 cuts,
anticipated 2010-11 cuts and cut details provided by Orange County
schools. Enrollment data provided by Ed-Data, a non-profit service
that partners with the state to generate California school
information…
Our out of control civil service
January 03, 2010 Filed in:
Budget & Finance
| Unions
Willie Brown, Willie's World, The San Francisco
Chronicle The
deal used to be that civil servants were paid less than private
sector workers in exchange for an understanding that they had job
security for life. But we politicians, pushed by our friends in
labor, gradually expanded pay and benefits to private-sector levels
while keeping the job protections and layering on incredibly
generous retirement packages that pay ex-workers almost as much as
current workers…
Public Sector Unions and the Rising Costs of Employee Compensation
January 01, 2010 Filed in:
Unions
Chris Edwards, Cato Journal Public sector compensation is becoming
a high-profile policy issue. While private sector wages and
benefits have stagnated during the recession, many governments
continue to increase compensation for public sector workers. At the
same time, there are growing concerns about huge underfunding in
public sector retirement plans across the nation. This article
examines the compensation of state and local workers, who account
for 20 million of the 23 million civilian government workers in the
United States. State and local workers include teachers, college
instructors, police officers, health care administrators, and many
other occupational groups…