Friday, July 11, 2008

Ed Budget Fiasco: MISSED OPPORTUNITIES IN PROPOSED BUDGET + SCHOOL DISTRICT MAKES SUMMER SCHOOL CUTS

Missed opportunities in proposed budget

By: Michael Watenpaugh | Marin Independent Journal

What do you do with a student who continually misses assignments,

due dates or deadlines? Teachers realize that this is a problem. It

can lead to bad habits that can greatly impact studies and other

important areas in the life of the student.

A good teacher will react accordingly: Requiring the student to

complete the late assignment; providing consequences for the missed

deadline; and taking steps to ensure that it will not happen in the

future.

Students need to be held accountable and to learn what it means to

be reliable and to follow through on meeting expectations and

requirements. Our state legislators and the governor need to learn

this lesson, as well.

On June 15, the constitutional deadline came and went for the state

Legislature to enact a budget. As of today, the state has no

spending plan in place for 2008-09.

A deadline and an opportunity for leadership have been missed.

California's schools have closed for the summer without any idea of

what challenges and realities the new state budget will bring.

Districts have planned for whatever may come. For some, it has meant

the delivery of layoff notices or the canceling of summer school and

other critical student programs.

Read the full story

 

School District Makes Summer School Cuts

By: Lynn Stuart | Fox 6 News (San Diego)

Thousands of kids around the county are going to have some

unexpected time on their hands while getting a lesson in economics

due to cuts in summer school programs.

A spokesperson for the San Diego Unified School District says these

are tough cuts to make, but with it's budget slashed by about $56

million, they had to cut somewhere.

San Diego Unified is the biggest district in the county to eliminate

summer school for kids in first through fifth grade. Last year, more

than 3,200 kids were able to hone their reading, writing, and

arithmetic skills.

Read Full Article

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