January 9, 2018
Growers in California will have to begin notifying schools near agricultural fields what kinds of pesticides they’re planning to apply in the surrounding areas a year in advance, as prescribed by new regulations that took effect in 2018. Growers will have to tell school officials in writing about the pesticides they are expected to use…
January 9, 2018
The new tax law’s education-related changes include allowing parents to use up to $10,000 from their tax-free 529 college savings account to help pay for private or religious schools for any grade. Alyson Klein of Education Week and Anya Kamenetz of NPR explore this and other changes during the PBS NewsHour. Click here for the…
January 9, 2018
Piedmont School Saves Taxpayers $26 Million with Refinanced Bonds Piedmont Unified School District Superintendent Randy Booker announced recently that taxpayers will save more than $26.1 million because of refinanced bonds. The district issued $27 million in bonds for sale. The refinanced bonds will pay off existing debt with funds borrowed at a lower interest rate….
January 9, 2018
The CASH School Facilities Leadership Academy, Cohort Seven, rose to the challenge as they collected toys for the Napa Valley Unified School District after the recent devastating fires. Jennifer Gibb of the Napa Valley Unified School District, a student in the seventh cohort, thanked the group profusely and said: “The generosity that all of you…
Chicago Public Schools system seems to defy how we typically think about wealth and education in America. Their students appear to be learning faster than those in almost every other school system in the country. It’s true that children in prosperous districts tend to test well, while children in poorer districts on average score lower….
The nation’s largest public pension fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), is severely underfunded. With more than $300 billion in assets, CalPERS future liability exceeds those assets by more than $100 billion. How did things get so bad? A number of factors have contributed to CalPERS’s relatively recent and precipitous decline… Click here…
January 9, 2018
A glaring flaw in the state’s new school accountability system calls on schools to count as absent only those students who miss entire days. Thus, students not counted are those in high school who skip a period here and there, as well as children in primary grades that come in late or leave early. It…
January 9, 2018
How well are America’s public school buildings and other facilities holding up? How much is the nation spending to build and maintain them? Is it enough? And just who’s bearing the costs? Here’s a link to some data to fuel that discussion gleaned from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Department of Education, and…
January 9, 2018
A man in his 70s was killed by a branch that fell from a eucalyptus tree in Carlsbad recently amid high winds, city spokeswoman Kristina Ray said. The man was getting out of his car at Holiday Park when he was struck by an 8-inch-diameter branch. Although this accident did not occur at a public…