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
Oct. 5: Why state schools chief is important
- 10-06-2010
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A recent Associated Press article looking at the two candidates for the state's Superintendent of Public Instruction discussed what the new schools chief will face.
Next month, California voters will chose a replacement for Jack O'Connell. The choices are between Tom Torlakson, a high school teacher and coach-turned-politician, and Larry Aceves, a former superintendent.
Whoever is chosen, the new superintendent will have the unenviable job of leading the state's Department of Education amid deep budget cuts. These have come in various incarnations--as campus closures, increased class sizes, more crowded classrooms, lack of programs and laid off teachers.
The budget crisis has not helped the state.
California, which once had one of the country's best public school systems, now ranks at or near the bottom on numerous measures of academic achievement and school funding, according to a recent report by the Institute for Democracy, Education and Access at the University of California, Los Angeles.
-From AP story
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