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April 2008
 | Lodi Unified School District President Ken Davis addresses a press conference organized by the San Joaquin County Office of Education last month to highlight impacts on the public schools from the state budget crisis. |
Web Only Articles
In California School News
Instead of helping the 96 school districts that face corrective action under the federal No Child Left Behind Act’s Program Improvement requirements, the state Board of Education may have imposed yet another level of unfunded mandates on them, CSBA Assistant Executive Director Holly Jacobson said after the board’s March 13 vote on the issue.
A multibillion-dollar state deficit and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to cut K–12 public education by 10 percent in fiscal 2008–09 are driving the agenda for CSBA’s 2008 Legislative Action Conference May 18–19 and underscoring how important it is that school board members and administrators make the trip to Sacramento.
CSBA’s summer 2008 Curriculum Institute, July 11–12 in Monterey, is California’s most comprehensive annual conference on student learning and achievement. The event is considered an outstanding professional development opportunity for school trustees, superintendents and curriculum directors.
Below are some outreach tips to help you better engage your legislators and their staff in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., on behalf of California’s schoolchildren.
With the recent passage of new Brown Act requirements for distributing and posting documents related to items on open meeting agendas, school district and county office of education trustees have a new reason to consider subscribing to CSBA’s Agenda Online service.
CSBA has teamed with School Innovations & Advocacy to begin offering Special Education Review services to school districts, focusing on developing methods to reallocate existing resources while maintaining special education program integrity.
A series of Playground Safety Workshops this month will explain how CSBA’s California Playground Compliance Program can help members implement Assembly Bill 1144, which requires California schools to meet current U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission guidelines for playground equipment and surface safety.
CSBA’s Legislative Committee, an advisory group that reviews and takes positions consistent with the CSBA Policy Platform on bills in the Legislature, has adopted positions on a number of new bills.
Despite objections from CSBA and other members of the education community, the state Office of Administrative Law has approved new Proposition 39 rules that significantly diminish school districts’ discretion over how facilities are allocated.
CSBA’s Board of Directors last month approved the establishment of a 15-member School Health Advisory Committee to research, study and inform members about school-related health policies.
CSBA Executive Director Scott P. Plotkin hopes that the release of recommendations by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Advisory Committee on Education Excellence last month will push state lawmakers to finally initiate “the right conversation” about giving schools the resources they need to do their jobs.