Working in a bi-partisan manner, Senate Republicans encourage the Democratic Leadership to join local teachers, parents, and students across the state to ensure that California qualifies for and embraces the $4.35 billion Educational Grants offered by the Obama Administration.
As stated in the Los Angeles Times article, “President Obama singled out California on Friday for failing to use education data to distinguish poor teachers from good ones, a situation that his administration said must change for the state to receive competitive, federal school dollars.”
Our state spends more than $40 billion on education. That investment buys us 25th place among the states. We have an opportunity to protect the jobs of our local teachers and end the status quo that says this is the best we can do and this is the best our children can achieve.
The Senate Republican goal is to offer a funding stream to protect education (teacher) jobs. There were 26,000 pink slips issued this year. A few changes that would make our state educational system more accountable to parents has the potential to save teacher jobs. Will the Democratic leadership join us in helping save teacher jobs?
Below is a list of stories from legislators and the California Teachers Association on the potential White House Educational Grants and a link to dozens of stories from teachers and parents who would be interested to see more money in their schools. Stories are provided courtesy of the California Teachers Association.
Senator Bob Huff is the Vice Chair of the Senate Education Committee and represents portions of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.
Union Opposed To $4.35 Billion in Education Grants
White House Offers $4.35 Billion In Education Grants. “Race to the Top" applicants must show progress in four key areas to compete for the $4.35 billion: adopting rigorous academic standards, recruiting and retaining talented educators, turning around chronically low-performing schools, and building data systems to track student and teacher effectiveness. But Obama also pointed out that teachers should not be judged solely on student test scores.” (Jason Song and Jason Felch, “Obama Chides California For Not Using Test Scores To Evaluate Teachers,” Los Angeles Times, 7/25/09)
California Could Also Compete For An Addition $5.6 Billion In Education Grants. “In addition to Race to the Top grants, the federal government plans to release another $5.6 billion in education-related stimulus money.” (Diana Lambert, “California Schools May Miss Out on Federal Funds,” Sacramento Bee, 7/25/09)
California Union Voice Opposition. “The state’s teachers unions have already voiced their opposition to such a move. When the 2006 law was drafted, teachers unions insisted that it include an amendment saying: ‘Data in the system may not be used . . . for purposes of pay, promotion, sanction, or personnel evaluation of an individual teacher or group of teachers, or of any other employment related decisions related to individual teachers.’” (Jason Song and Jason Felch, “Obama Chides California for Not Using Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers,” Los Angeles Times, 7/25/09)
California Students & Teachers May Be Denied Education Grants. “The state isn’t likely to see any of the $4.35 billion in competitive federal grants that will be passed out as part of the American Recovery Act if legislators don’t rescind a law that prevents teachers from being evaluated based on student test scores, say federal officials.” (Diana Lambert, “California Schools May Miss Out On Federal Funds,” Sacramento Bee, 7/25/09)
Missing Important School Data. “California’s education code states that a system tracking teacher data, to be online next year, is not to be used in combination with student information to evaluate teachers.” (Diana Lambert, “California Schools May Miss Out On Federal Funds,” Sacramento Bee, 7/25/09)
Education System Is Falling Apart – A Tarnished California Brand
Students in Dire Need Of Help. “Statistics show that only one-third of U.S. students could read and do math at the current grade levels on national tests in 2007, the most recent year for which data are available. And the high school dropout rate is one in four kids.” (Diana Lambert, “California Schools May Miss Out On Federal Funds,” Sacramento Bee, 7/25/09)
Chris Lehane (Democratic Crisis Communications Consultant): Public Education Has Tainted California Brand. "‘Thirty years ago, by any analysis, California had the best public education system in the country,’ Lehane said. ‘It’s one reason why the state was a great place to live.’ But the precipitous decline in the quality of public education here has become ‘a significant taint on the brand,’ he said.” (Carla Marinucci, “Fiscal Crisis Tarnishes Golden State’s Image,” San Francisco Chronicle, 7/5/09)
Will The Democratic Leadership Let $4.35 Billion In Education Grants Slip Away?
Here Is What They Said & Did During The Recent Budget Negotiations:
Bass: $1.4 Billion Would Have Long Term Impact. “Steinberg, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and school officials said that the governor’s proposal would lower by $1.4 billion the base used to calculate future funding for public education. ‘My understanding is that a temporary suspension has long-term impact,’ Bass said.” (Jim Sanders, “Budget Battle Lines Forming Over School Funding,” Sacramento Bee, 7/2/09)
Bass: Ask For Other Options. “Although Bass and Steinberg both say they don’t relish the idea, which the governor recently broached, they’ve also hinted that they may have no choice. ‘I don’t want to suspend Proposition 98,’ Bass said. ‘I don’t know what my options are, though.’” (Mike Zapler, “California Budget Talk Produce Some Optimism, But Thorny Issues Unresolved,” San Jose Mercury News, 7/13/09)
Education Lobby to Get Involved. “Schwarzenegger has thus proposed to suspend the Prop. 98 guarantees, which many teachers and parents regard as sacrosanct. As Steinberg put it, the education lobby is ‘prepared to get engaged in a big way now.’” (Editorial, “State Budget Mess Only Gets Worse,” San Francisco Chronicle, 7/4/09)
10,000 Postcards and TV & Radio Buy Threat If Education Is Cut. “The powerful California Teachers Association launched an offensive Monday against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to suspend the Proposition 98 school-funding measure to help bridge this year’s budget gap. CTA President David Sanchez said his group delivered 10,000 postcards of protest to Schwarzenegger’s San Diego office and is prepared to wage a television and radio advertising campaign, if necessary, to fight the suspension. (Jim Sanders, “Teachers Union Defends Prop. 98,” Sacramento Bee, 7/7/09)
Education Lobby Airs TV AD Campaign Over Potential Education Cuts. “The politically powerful teachers union began a statewide TV ad campaign last week criticizing the governor, and Schwarzenegger is firing back with a TV spot that will begin airing today arguing he will not sign any budget deal that includes taxes or does not eliminate fraud, waste and abuse in government.” (Matthew Yi, “Budget Talks Center On Education Spending,” San Francisco Chronicle, 7/14/09)
Union Launches Million-Dollar Ad Buy. “The California Teachers Association launched a million-dollar television advertising campaign today to fight the governor’s proposal to suspend Proposition 98 in solving the state’s fiscal mess.” (Jim Sanders, “CTA Launches TV Attack On Schwarzenegger,” Sacramento Bee, 7/9/09)
Parents, Local Teachers, And Students Want Change And Action
Parents Threaten To Take Children Out Of Bad Schools. “There’s the Lemonade Initiative, started by "three LAUSD moms who are mad as hell about the current state of education in Los Angeles," as their website says. And there’s the Parent Revolution, which has more political clout and some financial backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates and Eli Broad foundations, among others. I haven’t yet met with the Lemonade moms, but I have been talking to the latter group, which has had it up to here with the Los Angeles Unified School District and the teachers union. So they’re plotting a takeover, one school at a time, and demanding improvements — or else. Or else what? Or else they’ll pull out their children and try to shut down the schools, forming charters in their place, with a teacher contract that rewards the good ones and tosses out the bad apples.” (Steve Lopez, “Could Parents’ Screams Jolt L.A. Unified Into Action?,” Los Angeles Times, 7/22/09)
Parents Want More. “Raul Fernandez, the principal at Mark Twain, told me he feels parents’ frustration but insisted the school is showing gradual improvement in test scores. Maybe, but the school website shows that fewer than one-third of its students are proficient in core subjects. ‘Parents want more, and I understand they want more,’ Fernandez said.” (Steve Lopez, “Could Parents’ Screams Jolt L.A. Unified Into Action?,” Los Angeles Times, 7/22/09)
Teachers Launch Rally Against Potential Layoffs & Cuts. “California’s struggling school districts expect to send out at least 26,000 pink slips by today’s deadline for warning teachers that they might be laid off. The teachers aren’t taking the news lying down. Thousands will march in rallies across the state today, wearing shades of pink to protest the threatened layoffs and the $8.4 billion being cut from public education by the state. ‘I’ll wear pink in support of myself and all 600 teachers in my school district who are getting pink slips,’ said Gabe Lucero, a third-grade teacher at Rio Vista Elementary in the Mount Diablo Unified School District.” (Nannette Asimov, “State Teachers To Rally Against Cuts, Layoffs,” San Francisco Chronicle, 3/13/09)
26,000 Pink Slips Are Issued To Teachers. “Because of the state’s less-than-rosy economic outlook, California’s 1,000 K-12 school districts have been instructed to absorb more than $8 billion in funding cuts over the next year. To draw attention to the situation, teachers and parents wore pink clothes and waved pink protest signs for a day California’s largest teachers’ union dubbed ‘Pink Friday.’ Rosemarie Ochoa, a fifth-grade teacher who’s in her third year with the San Lorenzo Unified School District, said she was pulled out of class Monday by a district official bearing a pink slip. “I smiled at her because I knew what she was there for,’ said Ochoa, 28, who was among 76 of the district’s 640 teachers who got a notice this week. Then I had to go back to my students and retain my composure.’” (Lisa Leff, “Calif. Teachers See Red Over Pink Slips,” Associated Press, 3/14/09)
These stories are provided courtesy of the California Teachers Association: Read Stories Here.