History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
Another setback for California schools
- 03-09-2010
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Editorial/Los Angeles Times
California's public schools, which are laying off thousands of teachers and planning for shortened academic years, received the painful news Thursday that they will not get a federal Race to the Top grant in the first round of funding. The decision isn't surprising, though. The legislation that formed the backbone of the state's application lacked coherence and a real commitment to improving conditions at the lowest-performing schools. We don't yet know why U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan turned down California's application. But from our perspective, what the schools needed were rules allowing district administrators, not union contracts, to determine which teachers should work at specific campuses, so that urban schools with mostly poor, minority students would be staffed by excellent educators. (more...)
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