It’s good to be back from vacation. Something just doesn’t seem right when I don’t start my days combing through educational news. It’s what makes your newsblitz:
- Vista schools and their teachers union are stalled after three years of bargaining, the Union-Tribune reports. Class sizes in middle and high school and how teachers are transferred are sticking points.
- More from Vista: The North County Times writes about the debate over when to transfer students into a brand-new campus, which will be ready in a few months.
- I forgot to include this yesterday: OBRag argues that a recent Union-Tribune editorial on the idea of San Diego Unified eliminating the superintendent job got its facts wrong.
- The Los Angeles Times opines that it would be wrong for Beverly Hills schools to kick out kids from other areas because of financial changes.
- Yet more reports from other school districts that, like San Diego Unified, are sitting out on Race to the Top, a competition for more federal money for schools: The Sacramento Bee highlights school systems that say they just don’t have enough information to sign up. The Press-Enterprise talks about why Riverside isn’t joining up — and how its name accidentally landed on the backers’ list.
- Educated Guess blogs that the statewide teachers union is now urging school districts not to take part in Race to the Top, instead of saying it should just be up to each district. The Wall Street Journal argues that states shouldn’t be dinged if unions don’t want to join them on the Race, either.
- In that vein, Education Week blogs about what happens to states’ chances of getting money if school districts sign up for the race — and then later back out.
- It’s official: Gov. Schwarzenegger signed bills that aim to help California in Race to the Top. The Union-Tribune digs it. The San Francisco Chronicle gives it an A. But the blogosphere begs to differ: A Michigan retiree calls the whole deal a “race to the till.”
- Parents in a San Jose suburb camped outside of a coveted school to try to get spots there, the Mercury News reports. Wouldn’t it be great if every school was so good that no one had to do this?
- The Star Tribune writes about worries about fire safety at charter schools in Minnesota due to “a largely unregulated charter school building boom.”
- The Atlantic writes all about Teach for America, which takes college graduates and puts them in tough schools. The piece has been controversial with bloggers like Alexander Russo and Claus von Zastrow, who argue that it was a “big sloppy wet kiss” with too little analysis.
- And the Education Trust releases a new report on looking closer at the achievement gap between children of different races and different economic means. (Hat tip to Eduwonk for posting the link.)
— EMILY ALPERT