EdSource Today: It’s a deal: Brown, top lawmakers raise base funding in finance formula

By 

In a nod to suburban districts that argued they would be shortchanged, Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders negotiated a new version of Brown’s plan for school finance reform that will increase the base funding level for all students and lower the extra dollars for some high-needs students.

Late Monday, the Joint Legislative Budget Conference Committee, made up of lawmakers from the Senate and the Assembly, approved a compromise version of Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) with little discussion. The full Legislature is expected to take it up as part of the state budget later this week. Legislative leaders circulated only a one-page summary of the new version, along with a district-by-district breakdown that the state Department of Finance had prepared, but no other information on Monday.

via It’s a deal: Brown, top lawmakers raise base funding in finance formula – by John Fensterwald.

EdSource Today: Majority of California districts offer transitional kindergarten in first year of program

By 

An estimated 39,000 students enrolled in transitional kindergarten this school year, the first year districts were required to offer the program, according to a new report.

The report, released Tuesday by the American Institutes for Research, is the first in a series planned by the Institute on how the new grade level for children whose fifth birthdays fall between Sept. 1 and Dec. 1 is being implemented in the 868 unified and elementary districts that must offer it. The report found that 89 percent of those districts offered the program this year; 7 percent of the districts that didn’t offer the program reported there were no eligible students in their districts. Most districts that didn’t offer the program were rural and had a very small student population, the report said.

via Majority of California districts offer transitional kindergarten in first year of program – by Lillian Mongeau.

EdSource Today: Elk Grove program brings stability, sense of normalcy to foster youth

By 

Shuffled from home to home and school to school, often with no one to turn to for guidance and support, foster youth can end up feeling isolated, alienated and without purpose. A simple but effective program at Elk Grove Unified is helping to restore a sense of normalcy and stability to the lives of foster students, allowing them to connect to their school and community.

The brainchild of district resource teacher Mike Jones, the program brings together all the foster youth at a high school for a weekly “advocacy” class where the students can support each other and develop a feeling of family and a desire to succeed.

via Elk Grove program brings stability, sense of normalcy to foster youth – by Susan Frey.

Daily Republic: UC Berkeley Inventor’s Lab goes mobile in Solano

FAIRFIELD — The stationary Vallejo location of the Inventor’s Lab is going mobile this summer.

The Inventor’s Lab, a satellite offering from The Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley’s Science Center, is closing its 18-month endeavor at the Norman C. King Center and going on the road to various locations in Solano County.

via UC Berkeley Inventor’s Lab goes mobile in Solano.

Daily Republic: FSUSD to consider contract to cut energy costs

FAIRFIELD — The school board will have a public hearing and later will discuss an energy contract that could cut more than $18,000 from its budget each year.

The Fairfield-Suisun School District will start the hearing at 6 p.m. Thursday at the district office at 2490 Hilborn Road in Fairfield. It will be followed by an item to contract with Syserco, Inc. for energy efficiency projects at several campuses across the district.

via School district to consider contract to cut energy costs.

SCOE’s Facebook Wall: 8th-graders from Golden Hills received certificates of achievement

8th-graders from the Golden Hills Community School in Fairfield received certificates of achievement on June 5. Family, friends, and SCOE staff were on hand to praise the students and recognize their hard work and perseverance. Congratulations!

via 8th-graders from the Golden Hills Community School in Fairfield received certifi….

SCOE’s Facebook Wall: High school students at Golden Hills were celebrated for their achievements

High school students at Golden Hills Community School in Fairfield were celebrated for their achievements during the school’s Graduation and Student Recognition Ceremony on June 5. Family, friends, and SCOE staff were on hand to wish the students well.

via High school students at Golden Hills Community School in Fairfield were celebrat….

The Reporter: Vacaville High School bids adieu to 425 graduates

By Richard Bammer/ RBammer@TheReporter.com

Vacaville High School Principal Ed Santopadre said the Class of 2013, which graduated Saturday morning, was a “hard-working class that put in extra time to be successful.”

“Look around you,” he said after the school’s 118th commencement, standing midfield at Tom Zunino Stadium. “It’s 100 degrees and no one is leaving. They liked being in school and being involved.”

via Vacaville High School bids adieu to 425 graduates.

Vallejo Times-Herald: Third annual Mare-a-Thon gets students out of the classroom, into community

By Marie F. Estrada Times-Herald staff writer/

More than 450 K-8 students and parents from Mare Island Health and Fitness Academy completed the third annual Mare-a-thon on Friday.

Students and parents wore baseball caps, visors and carried spray bottles to keep cool in the 70 degree weather while they completed the four-mile walk.

The group started at the school, crossed the Mare Island Causeway and finished at the John F. Kennedy Library on Santa Clara Street.

via Third annual Mare-a-Thon gets students out of the classroom, into ….

The Reporter: Vacaville High School’s Larry Baker reflects on 36 years as a teacher

By Richard Bammer/RBammer@TheReporter.com

Sitting in room 103 at Vacaville High School last week, Larry Baker faced a stack of essay/multiple-choice finals, all them needing a good, careful read and a grade. The essays, about how the 1950s and ’60s civil rights movement changed American society, would take more time, of course, but it would be time well spent, closing out a 36-year career in Vacaville public schools, most recently as an 11th-grade U.S. history teacher.

“It’s kept me busy,” said Baker, a widely known and well-liked athletic coach of, through the years, football, track, girls and boys basketball and girls golf.

via Vacaville High School’s Larry Baker reflects on 36 years as a teacher.

Vallejo Times-Herald: Vallejo schools offer free summer meals

By Lanz Christian Bañes Times-Herald staff writer/

The end of the school year is usually a time of relief for students.

But for working parents, it could pose a daunting problem — how to feed children who rely on schools for meals.

That’s why the Vallejo City Unified School District is again bringing back its summer lunch program, which for the last dozen years or so has served tens of thousands of meals during the hot months between terms.

via Vallejo schools offer free summer meals.

Daily Republic: Solano College board looks at past, future at retreat

FAIRFIELD — The Solano Community College governing board will conduct its annual retreat from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

The retreat gives the board a chance to establish upcoming goals, discuss the previous year and it’s also the time the superintendent receives his annual review in closed session.

via Solano College board looks at past, future at retreat.

Daily Republic: Solano College moves forward with Measure Q bond sales

FAIRFIELD — Solano Community College is moving forward with the first batch of Measure Q bonds authorized for sale at a March board meeting.

The bonds were sold this week – $90 million in tax-exempt bonds and $30 million in taxable bonds – said David Casnocha, a bond counsel representative from Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth who briefly spoke before the governing board Wednesday.

via Solano College moves forward with Measure Q bond sales.

Daily Republic: Fairfield High grads – 267 strong – bid farewell to Falcons’ nest

FAIRFIELD — The Bakke family is closing in on the expert level of improvisation.

They were told signs weren’t allowed at the Fairfield High graduation Friday morning. They came up with their own idea to catch the eye of daughter, sister and granddaughter, Kiersten Bakke, who was one of the 267 graduates.

The party, which also included two friends, wore bright orange T-shirts. Each had an iron-on photo transfer of the graduate at different stages of her life, starting at about 2 and ending with her senior picture.

via Fairfield High grads – 267 strong – bid farewell to Falcons’ nest.

Daily Republic: Buckingham graduates enter the world

VACAVILLE — Graduates talked Friday morning about how much they will miss their friends and their teachers who helped them mature during their four years of learning at Buckingham Charter Magnet High School.

“It is bittersweet,” Shynice Mays said while waiting for the graduation ceremony for the class of 2013 to begin. “I want to leave, but I love my classmates so much.”

Rohan Luhar was indicative of the how his peers felt about the event.

via Buckingham graduates enter the world.

Daily Republic: Wood graduates brave heat to enter adult world

VACAVILLE — Will C. Wood High School graduates and their families did not let near-century-mark temperatures keep them from enjoying the crowning achievement of the students’ school careers Friday night.

“What a fine-looking group of sweaty graduates you are,” said Wood Principal Cliff DeGraw, welcoming the 499 members of his school’s class of 2013 onto the football field at Zunino Stadium.

Graduation programs were used more as fans to keep family members cool than as guides to the evening’s ceremony. Most of the audience clustered on the west side of the stadium in whatever shade they could find, only filling the east-side bleachers when there was no more room on the west side.

via Wood graduates brave heat to enter adult world.

Daily Republic: Rodriquez student kicks off backpack drive to help young students

SUISUN CITY — Many local needy children will get the backpacks and school supplies they need to excel in school this fall thanks to the efforts of Rodriquez High School student Tamia Wilson.

“I just like helping people and giving back,” said Wilson. “It is great to see the excitement that this brings to their eyes.”

This is the second year that the 16-year-old Rodriquez High student and basketball player, has organized her backpack drive. It was inspired by other family members who had been involved in toy drives during previous years.

via Rodriquez student kicks off backpack drive to help young students.

Daily Republic: SCC board discusses past and plans for future at annual retreat

ROCKVILLE — Hoping to develop a more cohesive team and spawn ideas for how to achieve goals, the Solano Community College Board of Trustees gathered Saturday for its annual retreat.

On the agenda was a closed session to deal with the performance evaluation of college president Jowel Laguerre.

No action was taken and the evaluation process is ongoing, said board president Sarah Chapman.

via SCC board discusses past and plans for future at annual retreat.

Daily Republic: Heat wave fails to wilt Vacaville High graduates

VACAVILLE — Members of Vacaville High School’s class of 2013 braved the hot weather Saturday morning to collect their diplomas and offer a heartfelt thanks to their teachers and families.

“It is a great class,” Principal Ed Santopadre said of the graduates he described as accomplished, funny and into helping the community. “We will miss them.”

The class of 447 graduating seniors marched out onto the field in Vacaville High’s Zunino Stadium amid rising temperatures that brought in Vacaville paramedics to care for a couple of people who were overcome by the heat. Both caps and programs did double duty as fans to fight off some of the heat, and umbrellas were out in force in the stands to create shade.

via Heat wave fails to wilt Vacaville High graduates.

Daily Republic: Erika James – Will C Wood Class of 2013

VACAVILLE — The hard academic work quietly accomplished by University of California, Berkeley-bound Erika James is indicative of the young woman.

“She is such a great student and she doesn’t realize it,” said Karla Gonzalez, a college counselor at Will C. Wood High School who helped her prepare for college.

Part of that is to become the legacy that her mother, who died late in her junior year, would be proud of ”because it was what my mother would have wanted me to do, to work hard,” James said.

via Erika James – Will C Wood Class of 2013.