Bright and Early

You thought your morning newsblitz would disappear early for Thanksgiving? Think again:

• How bad could it get for San Diego Unified? We report that if California makes the worst possible cuts in the worst possible way, the school district doesn’t even have enough ideas on how to slash the money. But skeptics caution that it’s too early to panic, especially since budget numbers have a way of shifting.
• School board member John de Beck opines in SDNN that shortening the school year is the best option for surviving those cuts.
• Cafeteria workers, bus drivers and other workers agreed to do just that in Los Angeles, taking two furlough days to help balance the Los Angeles Unified budget, the Times reports. The Daily Breeze adds that the school district also froze hiring.
• A San Jose community college leader racked up some outsized expenses despite the budget crunch on the community colleges, the Mercury News writes. The costs include meals and trips to El Salvadro and Scotland.
• In the San Francisco Chronicle, a guest writer opines that the testing system in California fails to truly inform parents how schools are doing and masks poor performance with a single number.
• The University of California system argues that lost in the furor over tuition hikes at colleges is one key fact: There are also new tax breaks for families with kids in college, the Sacramento Bee writes.
• The Orange County Register reports that teachers union negotiations are getting ugly in Capistrano Unified.
• The Oakland Tribune blogs that a school board member who was going to step down because of conflict-of-interest concerns is sticking with the board.
• USA Today writes that a California-based group that focuses on civic education misspent $5.9 million from Congress to settle lawsuits and cover costs for unnecessary meals and travel, a U.S. Department of Education audit discovered.
• Educated Guess asks workers in technology: Ready to hang up your hat? How about teaching?
• The feds are changing their definition of a school turnaround — a shift that could allow schools to make fixes without replacing all their staff or shutting down, Education Week reports.
• Rhode Island schools are moving towards pay-for-performance — aka merit pay. The teachers union says not so fast, the Providence Journal blogs.
• A Montessori educator blogs in Education Week that the best way to get kids to read is to let them choose what they like.
• And finally, The New York Times reports on how families are paying to prep kindergarteners for a gifted-and-talented test.

— EMILY ALPERT