Oakbrook Recognized with Distinguished California Education Honor – Daily Republic

By Kris Corey

Oakbrook Academy of the Arts receives Golden Bell Award from California School Boards Association. Celebrating outstanding education programs and governance practices.

Fairfield, Calif., (December 9, 2020) –Oakbrook Academy of the Arts was selected as one of 40 recipients of California’s leading educational honor, the Golden Bell Award. The Golden Bell Awards, celebrating their 41st year, are presented by the California School Boards Association to promote excellence in public education and school board governance by recognizing outstanding programs and governance practices. The awards reflect the depth and breadth of education programs and governance decisions supporting these programs that are necessary to address students’ changing needs.

Source: Good News: Oakbrook Recognized with Distinguished California Education Honor

FSUSD breaks ground for $6M performing arts building at Oakbrook Academy – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

The value of the arts, which supports creative and critical thinking skills so highly prized in a 21st-century economy, is getting more than symbolic due in Fairfield-Suisun Unified.

The district, the county’s largest with some 22,000 students across 30 campuses, recently broke ground on a $6 million performing arts building at Oakbrook Academy of the Arts in Fairfield. When completed in August, the structure is projected to enhance the TK-8 school’s mission of commingling core academic subjects with a wide array of arts offerings, from the visual arts and dance to music and theater.

The news comes 11 months after state schools chief Tony Thurmond cited the Oakbrook Drive school for its “exemplary arts education,” one of 13 California schools that demonstrated a high level of arts education programs and practices as it transformed into an arts academy. The academy also was a 2020 recipient of the distinguished California School Boards Association Golden Bell Award, given to creative programs and meet the needs of a diverse population of students.

Source: FSUSD breaks ground for $6M performing arts building at Oakbrook Academy – The Reporter

Fairfield-Suisun trustees support more money for California schools – Daily Republic

By Ryan McCarthy

State spending on public schools doesn’t match California’s wealth, ambitions, demographics or demands of a 21st century education, says a resolution that Fairfield-Suisun School District trustees approved Thursday.

“This is so very necessary,” said David Isom, the board of trustees president.

The resolution states that “Despite its vast wealth, California has consistently underfunded public education while widening its scope, adding new requirements and raising standards without providing appropriate resources to prepare all students for college, career and civil life.”

Source: Fairfield-Suisun trustees support more money for California schools

As deadline looms, California struggles to finalize new school accountability system | EdSource

By Louis Freedberg

California is on the verge of finalizing what leading educators believe is the most ambitious attempt in the nation to use multiple dimensions to measure how well – or poorly – a school or district is doing, rather than focusing primarily on test scores.

“All across the country people are paying attention to what California is doing,” Linda Darling-Hammond, the president of the Learning Policy Institute, said at a recent California School Boards Association conference.

The deadline for approving the plan is barely two months away, as required by a state law championed by Gov. Jerry Brown that implemented the Local Control Funding Formula, which reformed both the way schools are funded and how progress will be measured.

The state’s goal has been to come up with a system that will require schools and districts to measure how they are doing on eight “priority areas“ ranging from test scores to less definable measures such as school climate.

Source: As deadline looms, California struggles to finalize new school accountability system | EdSource

Education groups withhold support of rainy day fund | EdSource

By John Fensterwald

Gov. Jerry Brown won’t have key education groups helping him make the case to voters for a bigger and more restrictive state rainy day fund. The most he can count on is that they won’t actively campaign against it.

Organizations representing school district financial officers (California Association of School Business Officials) and school superintendents and principals (Association of California School Administrators) voted during the summer to officially oppose Brown’s Budget Stabilization Account, which will appear on next month’s ballot as Proposition 2. And at a meeting in late September, the board of the California School Boards Association voted not to take a position on the proposition. That decision was actually good news for the governor, since at a press conference in May, association President Josephine Lucey vowed to push her board to fight the proposal.

 

via Education groups withhold support of rainy day fund | EdSource.

Some sober words for school boards amid predictions of plenty | EdSource Today

By John Fensterwald

For the first time since the Great Recession, school districts are getting more money this year from the state; some – big beneficiaries of the new Local Control Funding Formula – are getting a lot. And that increase is expected to be larger next year, in one-time and ongoing money, if the Legislative Analyst’s predictions for a rebounding economy are on target.

School finance experts John Gray and Joel Montero, however, injected a cautionary note during a presentation Friday at the California School Boards Association’s annual convention in San Diego.

via Some sober words for school boards amid predictions of plenty | EdSource Today.

EdSource Today: State ordered to pay back districts $1 billion for 20-year-old special ed mandate

By 

A state commission has ruled that the state must reimburse school districts about $1 billion in mandated special education costs dating back 20 years. But like many protracted mandate cases, the victory is largely one of principle. Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing to include a small payback in next year’s budget, and the dollars will come from funding within Proposition 98, so it will essentially involve shifting education dollars around.

The unreimbursed expenses are for intervention plans for special education students identified with behavior problems. In the early 1990s the State Board of Education, under orders from the Legislature, prescribed interventions that teachers should incorporate into individual education plans, known as IEPs, according to Paul Golaszewski, an analyst with the Legislative Analyst’s Office who has followed the case.

via State ordered to pay back districts $1 billion for 20-year-old mandate – by John Fensterwald.

EdSource Today: Let’s bring the Brown Act into the 21st century

By 

Both lauded and maligned—and perhaps occasionally violated—the Brown Act has been an integral part of California politics for over half a century. The Ralph M. Brown Act, often referred to as California’s “open meetings law,” was first passed in 1953 to ensure that work of publicly elected bodies was done openly and transparently. It also remains one of the most confusing pieces of legislation, particularly for “amateur” politicians such as school board members, because of its non-obvious provisions and multiple exemptions.

The California School Boards Association’s annual conference has multiple sessions every year devoted to explaining the Brown Act to school board members (and CSBA publishes a 63-page book to explain the law), but even attorneys specializing in the area disagree on the application of some of the law’s provisions, particularly in the modern era.

via Let’s bring the Brown Act into the 21st century – by Seth Rosenblatt.

The Educated Guess: EdWatch 2013: Unfinished agenda on school discipline

A California assemblyman is once again trying to curb expulsions and suspensions for what’s known as “willful defiance,” when kids act out or misbehave in class or during school activities.

Advocates who support the assemblyman want to shift the state’s discipline policies away from punitive practices and toward alternative approaches that keep students in school and get to the root of their misbehavior. The advocates were largely successful in the last legislative session, sponsoring five discipline bills that became law.

via EdWatch 2013: Unfinished agenda on school discipline – by Susan Frey.

FSUSD’s Facebook Wall: The award winning Fairfield High School Scarlet Brigade Bagpipe Band

The award winning Fairfield High School Scarlet Brigade Bagpipe Band performed before a very appreciative audience at the annual California School Boards Association Conference this past Friday Night. Band Director Brian Swetland was presented with a $1,500 donation from the evening’s host, WLC Architects, Inc.

via The award winning Fairfield High School Scarlet Brigade Bagpipe Band performed b….

SacBee: Funding fight on if Prop. 30 fails

By Kevin Yamamura

Long before political ads dominated the airwaves and arguments erupted over which Nov. 6 tax initiative best serves schools, Gov. Jerry Brown sought crucial support from county officials in a cramped conference room one block from the Capitol.

County leaders in January had one priority – to ensure the state would continue sending them several billion dollars to assume former state responsibilities such as housing lower-level inmates and watching parolees.

Some wanted to pursue their own initiative without the tax hike because they represent conservative voters or thought the governor’s initiative didn’t stand a chance.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/23/4930852/funding-fight-on-if-prop-30-fails.html#mi_rss=Education#storylink=cpy

via Funding fight on if Prop. 30 fails.

CA Dept of Education: Strong Schools for a Strong Economy Tour

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson launched a month-long statewide tour today highlighting innovative career technical programs that help prepare students for jobs in the 21st-century economy.

Partnering with California School Boards Association (CSBA) President Jill Wynns along with teachers, parents, administrators, and school employees, Torlakson said the “Strong Schools for a Strong Economy” effort would underscore the link between California’s education system and the future of its economy.

“Despite cuts of more than $20 billion over the last few years, schools across California are doing more than ever to connect students to careers and the modern world of work,” Torlakson said. “The Linked Learning approach and programs like it keep our students more engaged while they are in school, and brighten their prospects for college and a career once they graduate. Schools have made preserving these programs a priority, but I’m deeply concerned that further cuts could see them placed on the chopping block.”

via Strong Schools for a Strong Economy Tour.

EdSource Extra!: Multiple bills to reform school discipline laws get hearing in Sacramento

By Susan Frey ~ EdSource Extra

A major legislative push is underway to reform California’s laws governing school discipline. A half dozen bills intended to do just that will be heard today in the state Senate and Assembly education committees.

The bills have been introduced against a backdrop of recent research that shows that African American and Latino students are disproportionately suspended or expelled. Some districts have introduced alternative approaches to school discipline and have reduced suspension rates, but these strategies have not been universally adopted. The flurry of bills is an attempt to make such practices part of California law, as well as to clarify aspects of school discipline policies.

In a sign that some reforms might emerge from this legislative session on the issue, two key school organizations are now supporting three of the measures they had previously opposed after the bills’ authors accepted a range of amendments.

via Multiple bills to reform school discipline laws get hearing in Sacramento.

SFGate: Budget shortfall could mean shorter school year

Wyatt Buchanan

Sacramento — California’s public schools could see as much as a month of classroom time slashed from the calendar if voters reject a plan to raise taxes in November.

Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed giving school districts the option of cutting up to 15 days from the school year if voters reject his proposed income and sales tax initiative. The significantly shortened year would help offset a multibillion-dollar automatic midyear cut that would be implemented upon rejection of the taxes.

via Budget shortfall could mean shorter school year.

The Educated Guess: CSBA: Vote for both tax plans

By John Fensterwald – Educated Guess

The state PTA backs the tax initiative financed by civil rights attorney Molly Munger; the California Teachers Association and the Association of California School Administrators endorsed the governor’s initiative. This week, the California School Boards Association decided to support both.

On Sunday, at the urging of CSBA’s board of directors, school board members in the Delegate Assembly voted 129-79 to encourage their constituents to vote for both tax proposals that will appear on the November ballot. They did so after an hour-and-a-half debate and after defeating, by voice vote, an amendment calling for CSBA to support only Munger’s “Our Children, Our Future” initiative. There was no motion to support only “The Schools and Local Public Protection Act of 2012,” which Gov. Jerry Brown and the California Federation of Teachers are sponsoring.

via CSBA: Vote for both tax plans – by John Fensterwald – Educated Guess.