Initiative Reform — One Bridge Short
As someone who participated in the working group on initiative reform package that ended up as Sen. Darrell Steinberg’s SB 1253 signed by Governor Brown over the weekend, I can say the bill is, well, okay as far as it goes. But to invert a title used for a World War II book and movie, […]
What Should State Do With Those Tesla Millions?
Don’t tell us you don’t have the money, Jerry. Gov. Brown and the legislature were perfectly willing to give a single company, Tesla, $500 million, mostly in tax credits, to build a battery plant here. But now that Tesla took a better deal in Nevada, state leaders are dropping the subject of that $500 million, […]
Is Common Core Technology Worth It?
California’s transition from its previous STAR program to the Common Core State Standards has been slow and more costly than expected. With the first Common Core tests scheduled for this spring, school districts are still struggling to provide all of the necessary technology and bandwidth for the new assessments, which are required to be administered […]
Why Suburbia Irks Some Conservatives
For generations, politicians of both parties – dating back at least to Republican Herbert Hoover and Democrat Franklin Roosevelt – generally supported the notion of suburban growth and the expansion of homeownership. “A nation of homeowners,” Franklin Roosevelt believed, “of people who own a real share in their land, is unconquerable.” Support for suburban growth, […]