Magnolia Public Schools
CEO of Magnolia Public Schools; founding CEO and former president of the California Charter School Association, she served on the Los Angeles Charter School Board; parent of three special education students who attended LAUSD traditional and charter public schools and private schools over the years; former interim CEO of the Inner City Education Foundation Public Schools; former president of the Los Angeles Board of Education (2001-2003)
Parental Apathy at the LAUSD The elected board of the Los Angeles Unified School District is looking for a new superintendent to oversee the nation's second largest school district. In the past two weeks, consultants held a hundred meeting to ask for public input, but the average attendance was just 12 people.
Charter Schools on the Chopping Block Two charter schools run by a company called Aspire serve more than 770 students in southeast Los Angeles. More than 90% of the kids are poor enough to qualify for lunch programs; about half are not fluent in English, often a formula for low performance. But the Academic Index Performance scores of these schools is above 800, the statewide target for proficiency. Despite that, the elected LA Unified School Board voted four to two to close them down.
From LA to Sacramento, New Uncertainty in Public Education The LA Unified School District has a new Superintendent. He's John Deasy , who's been assistant to retiring Ramon Cortines for the past few months. The vote of the elected school board was six to zero, with one abstention. In Sacramento, there's new uncertainty about the State Board of Education , completely revamped by Governor Brown. Out went reformers, including Ted Michell and Ben Austin. Newcomers include the well-regarded former Long Beach Superintendent Carl Cohn, Michael Kirst who served during Brown's previous administration and Patricia Rucker, lobbyist for the California Teachers' Association.
Benefactors Bail Out ICEF Charter Schools Fifteen charters schools that were about to go out of business got a $10.5 million bailout today. After Mike Piscal founded the Inner City Education Foundation in 1994, it earned a good reputation but, despite that, it’s been on the verge of bankruptcy. Now ICEF schools will stay open, thanks to $2 million each from Eli Broad and Palmer Murray of the Otis Booth Foundation, with additional contributions from several others. Former LA Mayor Richard Riordan has come up with $2.2 million. He’s chair of the ICEF Board.
The New $7 Billion School Bond Early last week, the LA Unified School District's elected board of trustees was planning a $3.2 billion bond measure for the November ballot. But Mayor Villaraigosa had conducted a poll showing that voters would be willing to go for more. On Thursday, the board almost doubled its request from $3.2 billion to $7 billion, with $2 billion of that not earmarked for any specific projects. In 1997, voters approved Proposition BB, a bond issue worth $2.4 billion, with the proviso that a citizens' advisory board would be set up to watch how the money was spent. Since then, $13 billion in bonds have been approved by the voters.
Charter Schools Chart a Course onto LAUSD Campuses Eight years ago, California voters approved Proposition 39 which lowered the majority needed to pass bonds for school construction. It also required that public school districts accommodate charter schools—and treat them equally with traditional schools. Since then, the charter movement has exploded and thousands of students need more space. In April, LA Unified agreed that 39 charter schools could share space on existing campuses. But that created a backlash—from South Los Angeles to Echo Park to the San Fernando Valley. The District then withdrew its offer to 7 of those 39 charter schools.
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.