Articles 2010

November 3, 2010, 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...

November 3, 2010, 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...

November 2, 2010, 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...

November 2, 2010, 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...

October 26, 2010, 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...

October 26, 2010, 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...

October 20, 2010, 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...

October 19, 2010, 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...

October 13, 2010, The Capistrano Dispatch - This week, we asked Capistrano Unified School board candidates the following question: Capistrano Unified School District achieves well academically, but seems mired in political disputes that seem to capture more headlines than the student achievement. Is that a real problem and what is the key for the district to move forward with the confidence of the community behind it? Here are their answers, unedited, in the order in which they will appear on the ballot…

October 13, 2010, 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...

October 12, 2010, 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...

October 11, 2010, 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...

October 5, 2010, 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...

September 29, 2010, 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...

September 28, 2010, 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...

September 27, 2010, 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"…

September 22, 2010, 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…

September 21, 2010, 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…

September 17, 2010, 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?…

September 16, 2010, 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…

September 15, 2010, 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.

September 15, 2010, 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…

September 15, 2010, 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…

September 15, 2010, 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…

September 14, 2010, 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…

September 14, 2010, 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…

September 13, 2010, 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…

September 10, 2010, 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...

September 10, 2010, 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...

September 9, 2010, 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…

September 8, 2010, 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.

September 8, 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…

September 4, 2010, 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…

September 3, 2010, 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…

September 2, 2010, 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...

September 2, 2010, 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...

September 2, 2010, 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.

September 1, 2010, 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…

August 31, 2010, 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…

August 31, 2010, 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...

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...

August 24, 2010, 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…

August 17, 2010, 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.

July 27, 2010, 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...

July 21, 2010, 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...

July 21, 2010, 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...

July 19, 2010, 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…

July 16, 2010, 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…

July 13, 2010, 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...

July 12, 2010, 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...

July 6, 2010, 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…

June 30, 2010, Ellyn Pak, The Orange County Register - The Irvine Unified School District board has adopted its next fiscal year's budget, which includes $20 million in cuts. The plan includes $200.6 million of expenditures against $196.8 million of total revenue. The difference will be offset by one-time carryover funds, according to Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Lisa Howell in a brief…

June 29, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - The Capistrano Unified School District on Tuesday approved a $364 million budget for 2010-11 that borrows against the district's rainy-day reserve fund, eliminates half of high school counselors and ends the class-size reduction program. In a 5-2 school board vote, trustees authorized borrowing $5.5 million from the district's $7.3 million reserve fund for 2010-11. District officials are assuming the money will be repaid via pay concessions from the district's non-teaching classified employees. The district and its classified employees union are in contract negotiations now…

June 29, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - California ranks 23rd among U.S. states in per-pupil spending on public education, below the national average of $10,259, according to newly released financial data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The average $9,863 that California spent per student is based on data from the 2007-08 school year – the latest year for which financial figures are available – and thus does not reflect the dramatic cuts in state spending over the past two years that have decimated local school districts' budgets…

June 29, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - The number of school districts on a statewide budget watch list because of their uncertain financial futures has increased by 38 percent in just three months, according to state education officials, with 11 of the 174 districts coming from Orange County. The California Department of Education said Tuesday that 174 school districts and other educational agencies out of 1,077 statewide filed preliminary spending plans in March indicating they may not to be able to or don't expect meet all of their financial obligations over the next two years. By contrast, three months earlier, some 126 districts statewide reported such financial problems…

June 27, 2010, 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…

June 25, 2010, 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...

June 25, 2010, Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register - DATABASE: Compare your high school...

June 25, 2010, 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…

June 25, 2010, 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…

June 25, 2010, 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…

June 24, 2010, 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…

June 24, 2010, 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…

June 22, 2010, 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…

June 22, 2010, 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…

June 18, 2010, Brittany Levine, The Orange ounty Register - 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…

June 16, 2010, 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.

June 16, 2010, 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…

June 15, 2010, 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…

June 14, 2010, 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…

June 11, 2010, 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…

June 11, 2010, 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.

June 10, 2010, 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…

June 9, 2010, 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…

June 9, 2010, 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…

June 7, 2010 (Updated from April 16, 2010), 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…

June 4, 2010, 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…

May 28, 2010, 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.

May 27, 2010, 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…

May 27, 2010, Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register - 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…

May 26, 2010, 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…

May 26, 2010, 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…

May 25, 2010, 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…

May 24, 2010, 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...

May 21, 2010, 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…

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...

May 20, 2010, 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...

May 20, 2010, 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…

May 20, 2010, 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…"

May 20, 2010, 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...

May 19, 2010, 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…

May 19, 2010, 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…

May 19, 2010, 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…

May 19, 2010, Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register - 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…

May 19, 2010, 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…

May 18, 2010, Fermin Leal and Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - 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.”

May 18, 2010, 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...

May 18, 2010, 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."

May 18, 2010, 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...

May 17, 2010, 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…

May 14, 2010, 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…

May 14, 2010, 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…

May 14, 2010, 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…

May 13, 2010, 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...

May 13, 2010, 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...

May 13, 2010, 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...

May 11, 2010, 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…

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…

May 10, 2010, 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 declined to comment Monday, emphasizing he was a finalist for the position and has not been hired.

May 10, 2010, 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.

May 10, 2010, 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.

May 10, 2010, Fermin Leal and Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - 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.

May 4, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - Saddleback Valley Unified schools chief Steven Fish will retire July 1 after five years at the helm of the 33,000-student school district, leaving behind an academically top-notch district beset by deep state funding problems. Fish, 61, announced his retirement to the school board privately last week. He sent out a memo to district administrators Monday confirming his retirement.

May 4, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - District board has not released the name of the tentative finalist pending a reference check and a visit. Capistrano Unified's school board has tentatively selected a successor to outgoing Interim Superintendent Bobbi Mahler, but has not released the finalist's name pending a reference check and visit to his school district, school board President Anna Bryson said. The individual, who is male and a superintendent at another school district, would 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 May 11 and would assume the post by July 1, Bryson said.

May 4, 2010, Rich Lowry, Real Clear Politics - We will never be Greece. We aren't a Southern European country with an ingrained culture of tax avoidance and labor unrest. But our own shock troops of bankruptcy operate by Greek rules. Growth in public-sector wages and benefits has been outstripping growth in the private sector. Some states and localities are effectively Greek isles within America. Commuter-rail workers in New York get $120,000 in annual compensation, on average, and can retire with a full pension at age 55. In the fiscal wreck of California, teachers and prison workers are the highest paid in the country. They feast on government so effectively, Greece's powerful ADEDY union should make them honorary members.

May 3, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - Omar Khan, 20, was scheduled to face a jury beginning Monday. An Orange County judge on Monday postponed by four months the jury trial for a former Tesoro High School student accused of breaking into his school multiple times to change grades and steal tests.

May 3, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - A group of Capistrano Unified activists attempting to recall two district trustees from office this November has collected more than 32,000 petition signatures per trustee from community members, about 50 percent more than the minimum number required to put the issue on the ballot, organizers said. The signatures will be submitted to the county registrar by the end of the month to be counted and verified, organizers said. If a minimum 21,850 signatures are declared valid, the politically fractured school district will face its second recall election in as many years.

April 30, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - The Capistrano Unified School District is expected to hire its next schools chief Monday to replace outgoing interim Superintendent Bobbi Mahler, just a week after a crippling teacher strike laid bare the political rancor and community unrest in Orange County's second-largest school district. The school board will meet behind closed doors Monday night to consider hiring one of two finalists; neither of their names has been released.

April 30, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - Six individuals have filled the top Capistrano Unified administrative spot in the past four years. The school board hires superintendents, who then hire the rest of his or her staff.

April 16, 2010, Updated April 30, 2010, Fermin Leal and Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - Irvine Unified and the county Department of Education have provided their lists of teachers who were issued layoff warnings on March 15 or told their temporary contracts won't be renewed. In March, districts told us they would issue 2,586 pink slips, but acknowledged that the figure is likely greater than those who will receive final notices May 15. Already, as the layoff lists come through, the numbers show a slight decline.

April 29, 2010, Ellyn Pak, The Orange County Register - COSTA MESA – Proponents of an adult education program are hosting a town hall meeting Friday to address the Newport-Mesa Unified School District's recent cuts ... In February, the School District – staring down a $13.5 million budget gap and more than 240 teacher positions at stake – anticipated axing much of its near $850,000 adult education program, leaving intact the high school diploma lab and GED programs next year.

April 29, 2010, Updated April 30, 2010, Fermin Leal, The Orage County Register - ANAHEIM – The Anaheim Union High School District school board approved a contract agreement with teachers Thursday that calls for six furlough days for the next school year. The furlough days would essentially amount to a salary reduction of 3.24 percent for the 2010-11 school year. District officials and the teachers union will determine this spring how many of the six days would come from instruction days and how many would come from days set aside for teacher preparation and professional development.

April 29, 2010, Peter Schelden, The Orange County Register - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – The San Juan Hills High School theater program stands to lose a lot of money if parents and other family members don't support its musical "Into the Woods" this week, performing-arts booster president Joe LaRosa said. Last weekend, three performances were canceled because of the teachers strike. LaRosa made an urgent e-mail request to parents Wednesday asking them to attend the school's spring musical.

April 28, 2010, Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register - Most Californians believe the state's economic crisis has left public education inadequately funded, leading to concerns that schools will continue to suffer with fewer teachers, larger class sizes and fewer instruction days, according to a report released Wednesday. The Public Policy Institute of California surveyed about 2,500 residents statewide for the report "Concern Rises Over Impact of Budget Cuts on Public Schools."

April 28, 2010, Carla Rivera, The Los Angeles Times - Teachers in the Capistrano Unified School District returned to classes Tuesday after reaching a midnight deal to end a three-day strike that disrupted academic and extracurricular programs and shrank attendance in Orange County's second-largest school district. The tentative agreement would maintain a 10% pay cut that was imposed by the school board in March but would restore salary and furlough days if school revenue increases.

April 27, 2010, Updated April 28, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Capistrano Unified School District teachers are proclaiming victory after three days of striking, saying "we can hold our heads high." District officials, meanwhile, are touting a tentative settlement agreement reached with teachers late Monday as “providing consistency and stability” for Orange County’s second-largest school district. But the long-term impacts of the five-day standoff over a 10.1 percent pay cut are probably best described in less rosy terms, observers say.

April 27, 2010, Times Staff Writers, The Los Angeles Times - The Capistrano Unified School District announced late Monday night that it had reached a tentative contract agreement with teachers, which would end a strike that began last Thursday over the duration of pay and benefit cuts imposed in response to a $34-million budget shortfall.

April 27, 2010, Brittany Levine, Alejandra Molina and Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - The five-day standoff between the Capistrano Unified School District and its teachers union ended late Monday when negotiating teams agreed to a three-year deal modifying a 10.1 percent pay cut imposed on teachers in March.

April 27, 2010, Rachana Rathi, The Los Angeles Times - For years, Capistrano Unified was the picture of a quiet, upper-middle-class, high-performing school district. Students in the south Orange County district still do well academically, but the adults have waged a loud political war for more than half a decade. And they show no signs of stopping. Last week, the teachers went on strike over a 10% pay cut. The school board wants to make at least part of that cut permanent; the teachers union has accepted the cut for this contract year but contends any extension should be open to negotiation. And that's just the latest dust-up.

April 26, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – A five-day standoff between the Capistrano Unified School District and its teachers union ended late Monday, with the two sides coming to a tentative agreement that ends teacher picketing. Teachers will all return to their classrooms Tuesday morning.

April 26, Carla Rivera, The Los Angeles Times - Thousands of Capistrano Unified School District teachers resumed picketing Monday as a strike over pay and benefits entered its third day. Schools in Orange County's second-largest school district were open and staffed with more than 600 substitutes and some regular classroom teachers. But attendance in the 51,000-student district remained substantially decreased, with just 17% of high school students in class and 37% of students in school overall.

April 26, 2010, Fermin Leal and Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - In a statement released Monday, union leaders criticized the district for its “shifting parameters and lack of consistent direction from the board” to explain why hundreds of teachers were walking the picket lines for a third day ... School board President Anna Bryson denied that trustees had been in any way inconsistent in their direction to the district’s negotiating team, stressing that talks were continuing and an agreement would be reached eventually.

April 26, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - The head of the state teachers union said Monday he expected the 5-day-old strike standoff in Capistrano Unified would end soon and that the district's 2,200 teachers would get a fair employment contract. California Teachers Association President David Sanchez explained that the bitter pay cut dispute in Orange County's second-largest school would come down to "figuring out the devil-in-the-details-type of language," and that the two sides could and would resolve their differences.

April 26, 2010, Fred Swegles, The Orange County Register - Saturday's scheduled public opening of the seventh annual student art exhibit at Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens might be postponed as a result of a Capistrano Unified School District teachers strike.

April 25, 2010, Updated April 26, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - Teachers across the Capistrano Unified School District will return to the picket lines Monday morning for a third day of striking, after district officials and teachers union leaders failed to reach a settlement Sunday in a bitter pay cut dispute. Talks ran from 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday, with a dinner break in between. Negotiations were scheduled to resume at 11 a.m. Monday.

April 25, 2010, Fermin Leal and Scott Martindaale, The Orange County Register - Education communities across the state have watched closely as teachers in Orange County's second-largest school district walked picket lines for two days last week. But while other cash-strapped districts are dealing with the same stalled negotiations with their teachers unions, experts say the strike in the Capistrano Unified School District was largely the product of years of aggressive politicking unmatched by most districts.

April 24, 2010, Updated April 25, 2010, Scott Martindale, Brittany Levine and Adam Townsend - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – The Capistrano Unified School District and its teachers union failed to reach a settlement Saturday on Day 3 of a strike standoff that has crippled programs and activities across the 52,000-student district and pushed classroom attendance rates down to about 30 percent. District and union bargaining teams have already met for the past three consecutive days – about 15 hours in all – even as hundreds of Capistrano teachers walked the picket lines in front of their schools Thursday and Friday. The 5-1/2 hours of talks Saturday ended about 7:30 p.m.

April 24, 2010, L.A. NOW, The Los Angeles Times - New negotiations are expected to occur Saturday after a two-day strike by Capistrano Unified School District teachers over pay and benefits failed to be resolved Friday. Teachers vowed to continue the strike until their demands are met and said talks Friday didn't produce any breakthroughs.

April 24, 2010, My-Thuan Tran, The Los Angeles Times - What was supposed to be a one-day teachers' strike in the Capistrano Unified School District could continue into next week after negotiations with the district over pay and benefits failed to be resolved Friday.

April 23, 2010, Updated April 25, 2010, Scott Martindale, Brittany Levine and Claire Webb, The Orange County Register - Day 2 of settlement talks between the Capistrano Unified School District and its striking teachers ended Friday afternoon without a resolution, although the two sides were expected to reconvene Saturday afternoon. District and union bargaining teams met for about four hours Friday, ending just after 6 p.m., but had nothing to report, a union spokesman said.

April 23, 2010, My-Thuan Tran, The Los Angeles Times - What was supposed to be a one-day teachers' strike in Capistrano Unified School District continued for a second day Friday morning after negotiations with the district over pay and benefits failed to be resolved Thursday.

April 23, 2010, Carla Rivera, The Los Angeles Times - Schools in the Capistrano Unified School District opened Thursday with fewer students in classrooms, scores of unfamiliar substitutes and disordered schedules, as hundreds of striking teachers took to picket lines in a labor dispute.

April 22, 2010, Carla Rivera, The Los Angeles Times - Hundreds of Orange County teachers were walking picket lines Thursday, the first day of a strike protesting pay and benefits cuts in the Capistrano Unified School District. Schools in the 51,000-student district remained open, but most after-school activities and sports events were canceled.

Aprill 22, 2010, Updated April 23, 2010, Scott Martindale, Vik Jolly, Peter Schelden, Lindsey Baguio, Niyaz Pirani, Rashi Kesarwani, Fermin Leal and Brittany Levine - Student attendance plunged well below 50 percent across the Capistrano Unified School District on Thursday as hundreds of teachers picketed outside schools, but there still weren’t enough substitute teachers to go around and at least one high school was reportedly vandalized by unsupervised students.

Aprill 22, 2010, Scott Martindale, Niyaz Pirani, Peter Schelden and Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register - Here's a more detailed look at how the teachers strike is playing out at several schools.

April 22, 2010, Fred Swegles, The Orange County Register - Teacher Todd Horton picketed his school, Vista del Mar Elementary in San Clemente, then left to unite with parents and students to conduct a South County field trip gathering weather and business data. He says he wanted to show how much he cares about the kids' education. For 22 students in Todd Horton's fifth-grade class at Vista del Mar Elementary School in San Clemente, teacher strike day was a new adventure in learning. Instead of attending class with a substitute teacher, the students met at 9 a.m. Thursday at Bella Collina Towne & Golf Club, where one parent is a member. Horton, after walking a picket line early in the morning, united with students and parents at the golf club and they broke up into five teams to spend the day in San Clemente and Dana Point.

Aprill 22, 2010, Peter Schelden, The Orange County Register - Like many parents Thursday morning, Suzanne Ansari wrestled with whether to take her son to San Juan Hills High School as the Capistrano Unified teachers walkout began. As Capistrano Unified teachers strike, parents and students Thursday have had to wrestle with some difficult questions. Should they go to school despite the strike? And if they do, what message is it sending?

Aprill 22, 2010, Brittany Levine, The Orange County Register - San Clemente teachers walk the picket line, blowing whistles and holding signs reading 'We'd rather be teaching.' As teachers marched on the picket line at San Clemente schools as part of a districtwide strike over a 10 percent permanent pay cut imposed by the school board, some schools, such as San Clemente High School, felt like ghost towns and students said it disrupted their learning. At others, principals maintained that school went on smoothly.

April 22, 2010, Peter Schelden, The Orange County Register - News from San Juan Capistrano's public high school on the first day of the teachers strike.

April 22, 2010, Updated April 24, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - Capistrano Unified educators continued picketing Friday in the second day of a teacher strike that has crippled many school programs and services, even as their union leaders indicated they would resume talks over a bitter pay cut dispute.

April 21, 2010, Carla Rivera, The Los Angeles Times - Negotiations with the Capistrano Unified district over reducing pay and benefits have hit an impasse. Both sides offered to talk again Thursday even as teachers head out to the picket lines

April 21, 2010, Kate Linthicum, The Los Angeles Times - Thousands of Orange County teachers say they will strike Thursday to protest stalled salary negotiations with the Capistrano Unified School District. The district on Wednesday said it is scurrying to assemble substitute teachers to fill in for the more than 2,200 teachers who plan to strike.

April 21, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – All campuses in the Capistrano Unified School District will remain open if teachers begin striking Thursday as anticipated, but the school day will be shortened at some schools and many programs and services will be canceled, including bus transportation across the 52,000-student district, officials said. Most of the district's 2,200 educators are expected to start picketing outside their campuses Thursday morning to protest Capistrano Unified's failure to make a "clear, unambiguous offer" to settle a bitter pay cut dispute, according to the teachers union.

April 21, 2010, Updated April 23, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - The Capistrano Unified teachers strike stems from a conflict brewing since mid-2009, when district leaders first began pursuing a permanent 10 percent pay cut. The following is an overview of the negotiations, recent events leading to the Capistrano Unified Education Association union's decision to call a strike, and links to key documents and websites.

April 21, 2010, Vik Jolly, The Orange County Register - In a message sent to parents and students via telephone and e-mail at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday, Dana Hills High School Principal Robert Nye outlined the Thursday teachers strike day emergency bell schedule, setting an early 1:30 p.m. dismissal time for the day and postponing all athletic and after school activities until further notice.

April 21, 2010, Fred Swegles, The Orange County Register - San Clemente High School students get permission to stage their musical comedy as scheduled Thursday through Saturday due to the economic consequences of canceling.

April 21, 2010, Peter Schelden, The Orange County Register - Three San Juan Capistrano campuses announce changes as they prepare for the planned teachers strike Thursday.

April 21, 2010, Adam Townsend, The Orange County Register - Fullerton Joint Union High School District officials discuss how to make up $11 million shortfall. FULLERTON – Officials at the Fullerton Joint Union High School District are planning on increasing class sizes, cutting 30 full-time employees and negotiating health premium and pay concessions from employees to deal with a projected $11 million budget shortfall for 2010-11 and succeeding years. "We're being told that the state budget crisis isn't going to resolve itself until 2015," Buchi said. "You can only weather the storm for so long."

April 21, 2010, Peter Schelden, The Orange County Register - Eric Gruenewald, principal of Del Obispo Elementary, sends a lengthy e-mail to parents telling them what to expect Thursday, when teachers are scheduled to strike.

April 20, 2010, Updated April 21, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Accusing Capistrano Unified of fostering “chaos instead of communication,” the district's teachers union says educators will begin striking Thursday to show they’re fed up with the district's failure to make a "clear, unambiguous offer" to settle their bitter pay cut dispute. It will mark the first teacher strike in Orange County in a decade.

April 19, 2010, Updated April 20, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - ALISO VIEJO – Seeking to avert a strike with an 11th-hour offer to the school board, Capistrano Unified's teachers union has offered to stop fighting a 10.1 percent pay cut imposed on teachers in exchange for a written agreement stating salaries will be restored if the district receives additional, "unforeseen" funding. The compromise, which comes just three days after teachers resoundingly authorized going on strike, represents a significant reversal of the union's position. Union leaders previously said teachers would walk off the job unless trustees were willing to renegotiate all elements of the 10.1 percent pay cut imposed in March.

April 19, 2010, Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register - Forty-eight Orange County public elementary schools have been named 2010 California Distinguished Schools, the state's top honor for campuses and an award based primarily on test scores. The prize goes to just 10 percent of campuses in the state. Statewide, 484 schools were selected. The award rotates annually between elementary campuses and middle schools and high schools. Last year, 31 middle schools and high schools in the county were chosen as distinguished schools. The previous year, 49 elementary schools won the honor.

April 17, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Trustees in the Capistrano Unified School District have affirmed that they will not back off their decision to impose a 10.1 percent pay cut on the district's 2,200 teachers, even as union leaders could decide as early as Monday what day teachers will begin striking. School board President Anna Bryson released a statement Saturday saying trustees were "very disappointed" by Friday's vote authorizing a teacher strike, but that the district "simply cannot" return to the bargaining table, as the Capistrano Unified Education Association union is demanding.

April 16, 2010, Updated April 20, 2010, Fermin Lean and Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - Orange County school districts have started releasing the names of teachers and other staff who were issued layoff warnings on March 15 or told their temporary contracts won't be renewed. In all, 2,586 educators have been given pink slips, though districts acknowledged that the figure is likely greater than those who will receive final notices May 15.

April 16, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - ALISO VIEJO – The Capistrano Unified School District teachers union announced Friday that its members have authorized a strike to protest the 10.1 percent pay cut imposed on teachers by the school board. Nearly 87 percent of the 1,848 Capistrano Unified teachers who cast ballots over a two-day period ending at 5 p.m. Friday voted for the strike. The union's elected governing board will decide at an undetermined date if and when to strike.

April 16, 2010, Updated April 21, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about the strike:

April 16, 2010, Updated April 21, 2010, Fermin Leal and Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - In March, districts told us they would issue 2,586 pink slips, but acknowledged that the figure is likely greater than those who will receive final notices May 15. Already, as the layoff lists come through, the numbers show a slight decline.

April 14, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Capistrano Unified trustees said Wednesday they are willing to talk over some final terms of the 10.1 percent pay cut imposed on teachers, including the possibility that the cut would not become permanent, but union leaders swiftly condemned the gesture as an attempt at “sham bargaining” just two days before teachers may authorize a strike. School board President Anna Bryson said in a letter to union leaders Wednesday that the district is willing to “begin discussions to conclude any remaining 2009-10 contract items,” although she confirmed that trustees are not reopening contract negotiations.

April 13, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – About 900 Capistrano Unified educators, parents and students descended on district headquarters Tuesday night to protest a 10.1 percent pay cut imposed on teachers by the school board, continuing the rallying cry of an estimated 3,880 students who staged a mass sickout earlier in the day. Carrying signs that said "What's the board's real agenda?" and "Respect our teachers," the teachers demanded that the school district return to the bargaining table to hash out a compromise with union leaders.

April 13, 2010, Scott martindale, The Orange County Register - Hundreds of students across the Capistrano Unified School District are estimated to be staying at home Tuesday morning as families stage a one-day "student strike" to protest the 10.1 percent pay cuts imposed on teachers by the school board. Initial reports from parents and school officials at several of the district's 56 campuses indicate that student attendance is unusually light, with none of the gridlock that typically accompanies the morning drop-off.

April 12, 2010, Updated April 13, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Parents and students across the Capistrano Unified School District are expected to stage a one-day "student strike" Tuesday in which kids will be kept at home to protest the 10.1 percent pay cuts imposed on teachers by the school board. The sickout is being organized by parents through e-mail and word of mouth to draw attention to the way the district – Orange County's second largest – has handled contract negotiations with its 2,300 teachers. Hundreds of parents, teachers and students are expected to descend on district headquarters in San Juan Capistrano on Tuesday night for a school board meeting.

April 9, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - SANTA ANA – An Orange County judge on Friday dismissed the sole attorney for the former Tesoro High School student accused of breaking into his school multiple times to change grades and steal tests, even as the judge ordered Omar Khan to report to court in three weeks for the start of his trial. Superior Court Judge Frank Fasel granted attorney Kazbek Soobzokov's request to be removed from the case on the grounds that Soobzokov had an ethical "conflict of interest," but he refused to consider postponing Khan's May 3 trial date.

April 8, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – The Capistrano Unified School District is planning to hire private security guards for all of its campuses if teachers in the district go on strike in the coming weeks. The school district – Orange County's second-largest with 56 campuses – last month placed open purchase orders totaling $100,000 with two private security firms for an estimated 250 guards.

April 5, 2010, 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...

April 5, 2010, Denis C. Therault, 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…

April 2, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - Assistant Superintendent Susan McGill still must face a jury on charge she may have lied under oath about involvement in the creation of Capo Unified "enemies" lists.

April 2, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - Capistrano Unified trustees said Friday they understand and respect the sudden groundswell of student activism at two district high schools in response to recent teacher pay cuts, but stressed that the walkouts cannot continue and disruptions to learning will not be tolerated.

April 2, 2010, Brittany Levine, The Orange County Register - Campus is calm Friday after a morning announcement that a repeat of Thursday's demonstration against teacher pay cuts would be punished.

April 2, 2010, Claire Webb, The Orange County Register - Hundreds from Aliso Niguel High School walked out of class Friday morning to show support for their teachers facing pay cut.

April 2, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - SANTA ANA – An Orange County judge ruled Friday that he would not dismiss a perjury charge against a former Capistrano Unified assistant superintendent implicated in the creation of school district "enemies" lists in 2005 and 2006. Superior Court Judge William Froeberg said former Assistant Superintendent Susan McGill, 66, still must face a jury on the sole charge she may have lied under oath about her involvement in the purported criminal misconduct, which prosecutors say was orchestrated by ex-Superintendent James Fleming.

April 1, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - DANA POINT – Hundreds of students staged a half-hour walkout and a raucous protest at a Capistrano Unified high school Thursday morning to protest the 10.1 percent pay cuts that have been imposed on all district teachers by the school board. About 200 students at Dana Hills High School in Dana Point walked out of class around 9:51 a.m., the start of the school's 28-minute tutorial period, and congregated on a front lawn, Principal Robert Nye said. School administrators and sheriff's deputies were able to convince about 100 of them to return to class, but the rest remained outside for about 30 minutes.

April 1, 2010, 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."

March 30, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - Capistrano Unified's teachers union says it will consider going on strike in the coming weeks as the school board moves forward with plans to impose a 10.1 percent pay cut on the district's teachers. Vicki Soderberg, president of the 2,300-member Capistrano Unified Education Association union, said Tuesday she was "blown away" by the district's plan and that she would hold a general membership meeting with teachers in about two weeks to gauge support for a strike.

March 29, 2010, Updated March 30, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Stressing that teachers must do their "necessary" part to shoulder the burden of budget cutbacks, the Capistrano Unified school board on Wednesday is expected to unilaterally impose a 10.1 percent pay cut on teachers, an action that could prompt a strike. The decision would be the culmination of months of bitter negotiations with Capistrano's teachers union, which has been locked in a fierce ideological battle with the school board over how to achieve about 10 percent in pay concessions from the district's 2,300 teachers and other certificated employees.

March 29, 2010, Rebecca Kimitch, Pasadena Star-News - State Controller John Chiang said Monday the worst of California's budget crisis is still to come. Although lawmakers are challenged by a nearly $20 billion deficit, "the bad year's 2012," Chiang said. That year, state finances will be hit with a trifecta of pain: the temporary tax hikes approved last year will be over; federal stimulus funds will be gone; and funds that the state "raided" from local governments will come due. The deficit at that point will be some $25 billion, according to Schwarzenegger administration estimates.

March 27, 2010, Updated March 29, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - The Register’s 2010 report on middle school quality shows how Orange County’s 86 middle school campuses stack up against one another, but does not provide an analysis of most K-8 schools or of one that provides K-12 education. While we’d like to get a more comprehensive snapshot, adding these schools to the mix would skew our analysis, not clarify it. Most K-8 schools combine their elementary and intermediate school data, so the school’s Academic Performance Index score, for example, reflects the academic prowess of everyone at the school, not the target group we’re analyzing.

March 26, 2010, Updated March 29, 2010, Scott Martindale and Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register - Orange County's best public middle schools are succeeding on all fronts, meeting students' intellectual, emotional and social needs in spite of myriad challenges working with a challenging age group. That's the conclusion of The Orange County Register's 2010 report on public middle school quality, a comprehensive analysis of standardized test scores, misconduct figures and other measures for some 86 campuses.

March 26, 2010, Updated March 29, 2010, Scott Fermin Leal, The Orange County Register -

March 26, 2010, Updated March 28, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - Perhaps it's the intentional decision not to offer students any honors or accelerated classes, forcing everyone to learn together, regardless of skill level. Maybe it's the interdisciplinary block program that seamlessly integrates language arts and history, requiring daily collaboration among two teachers.

March 23, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - Waving handmade signs as passing cars honked in support, about 75 teachers, parents and kids rallied outside a Capistrano Unified elementary school Tuesday morning to protest the school board's insistence that all district educators take permanent, 10 percent pay cuts to help balance a gaping $34 million budget deficit.

March 22, 2010, Scott Martindale, The Iranhge 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.

March 19, 2010, 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.

March 19, 2010, 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?

March 17, 2010, 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.

March 16, 2010, 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.

March 12, 2010, 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.

March 10, 2010, 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...

March 5, 2010 (Updated March 8, 2010), Scott Martindale, The Orange County Register - The teachers union has taken an informal poll of its members to gauge support for a strike. The school board has passed an "emergency" resolution reminding teachers they could be disciplined or fired for "violating any directive" related to their conduct during a strike.

February 26, 2010, 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…

February 19, 2010, 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...

February 17, 2010, Updated February 18, 2010, 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. The resolution was passed during the committee's monthly meeting Monday night at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Irvine."

February 10, 2010, 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.

February 5, 2010, 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.

February 4, 2010, 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.

February 4, 2010, 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.

January 22, 2010, 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...

January 21, 2010, 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.

January 18, 2010, 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.

January 11, 2010, 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.

January 8, 2010, 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.

January 4, 2010, 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.