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June 2009
 | U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, right, discusses career and technical education with 2009 Federal Issues Council members including CSBA Region 8 Director Cindy Marks, CSBA Vice President Martha Fluor and CSBA President Paula S. Campbell. |
Web Only Articles
23 June 2009 - The state’s ever-worsening budget crisis has caused great uncertainty for school district and county office of education governing board members as they develop budgets for the 2009-10 school year. For boards considering the possibility of salary reductions, specific steps must be taken by July 1, advises Richard Hamilton, director of CSBA’s Education Legal Alliance.
23 June 2009 - In a victory for school district and county office of education governing boards, the California Supreme Court has upheld a district's policy banning the use of school mailboxes to distribute political materials endorsing school board candidates, even by a union in an effort to communicate with its members.
18 June 2009 - The Budget Conference Committee took action on a revised state budget this week, approving $3.2 billion in education cuts
16 June 2009 - School district and county office of education board members who may have been considering another round of certificated layoff notices this summer due to the worsening state budget crisis need to act quickly, legal experts urge in a Webinar that can be viewed on CSBA’s Web site.
9 June 2009 - CSBA, its Education Legal Alliance and the Association of California School Administrators last week joined plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to ensure that nearly $12 billion owed to public schools under Proposition 98’s minimum funding guarantee is eventually restored.
2 June 2009 - “California’s day of reckoning is here,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in an address to a rare joint session of the Legislature this morning. The governor urged immediate action to cut spending but didn’t include any new proposals, instead emphasizing the need to focus on reform and to eliminate and consolidate state departments, boards and commissions.
2 June 2009 - California could improve the quality of and access to its preschool programs if existing resources were used more efficiently, concluded researchers from the RAND Corp. in the fourth and last in a series of reports requested by state policymakers.
In California School News
Frustration, anger and worry were the predominant themes at CSBA’s annual Legislative Action Conference in Sacramento May 17-18.
With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s revised May options for cutting the state budget fresh in mind, CSBA’s policy-setting Delegate Assembly met in Sacramento May 16-17 to discuss, among other association business, what options could bring about sufficient fiscal reform to fix the state’s ongoing budgetary and governance dysfunction.
CSBA's president reviews 2009 Legislative Action Conference, Federal Issues Council.
Federal economic stimulus funds, and the still-unknown strings attached to them, dominated this year’s CSBA Federal Issues Council trip to Washington, D.C., April 19-22. The multibillion-dollar windfall comes with paired yet not always complementary goals—to save jobs and boost student achievement—as well as lingering questions about what happens after the money’s gone.
The No Child Left Behind Act remains the backbone of much of the federal government’s education policy, and all too often it is a punitive stick rather than a helpful resource. With no action on NCLB’s reauthorization expected this year, though, much of the related discussion at this year’s Federal Issues Council broadened to a wider overview of calls for “common” academic standards.
Arriving in Washington less than 100 days after the inauguration of President Barack Obama, CSBA’s 2009 Federal Issues Council found change pervading the nation’s capital. Funding for rural schools, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act—all targeted for elimination in previous years—was secure, and billions more in federal aid to education were on the way.
A roster of this year’s members of CSBA’s Federal Issues Council
Early conference registration opens at 8 a.m. PDT Monday, June 15, for CSBA’s 2009 Annual Education Conference and Trade Show, which will run Dec. 3-5 at the San Diego Convention Center.
The California Latino School Boards Association will host its 2009 Unity Conference Aug. 20-23 at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento, including a Lobby Day at the nearby state Capitol building.
School districts and county offices of education should begin preparing now to combat seasonal flu outbreaks that are likely to occur in the fall, according to health experts.
President Barack Obama has named Pomona Unified School District Superintendent Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana as assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Meléndez will serve as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s principal adviser on K-12 public education.
California’s public high school graduation rate edged upward in 2007-08 while official dropout rates fell by 1 percent—but to a level state Superintendent Jack O’Connell still labeled “unacceptably high” as he released the figures from an annual report last month.
CSBA Director-at-Large, Black, Emma Turner chaired a meeting in April that brought representatives from a number of school districts, community organizations and nonprofit groups to CSBA’s West Sacramento office to pinpoint the most effective ways to assist black students in their communities.
Several key bills were considered by CSBA’s Legislative Committee at its May 8 meeting.
School districts, county offices of education and directly funded charter schools should now have billions of flexible federal stimulus dollars in hand, but with severe state budget cuts still to come, many governance teams are uneasy about how and when to use the money.