I’m officially ticked off about the weather. San Diego, this was definitely not in the orientation video. Try not to let the newsblitz get wet:
- We blog about a bid for budget autonomy for Point Loma schools. It’s a lesser degree of independence than splitting into a separate district or going charter, which the coastal schools have also mulled. But it’s already inspiring parents across the district to try and start up their own local groups.
- After a whole lot of hullaballoo, Del Mar schools may not close any of their sites at all, the Union-Tribune reports. The board seems to be leaning away from the idea.
- I accidentally overlooked these two opinion pieces yesterday in the UT: School board member John Lee Evans argues against the idea that the school board was “installed” by the teachers union and other “mythology.” State Sen. Gloria Romero touts her Race to the Top bill.
- Also in the UT: University of California medical executives got $3.1 million in bonuses. I’m sure nobody will mind that right now.
- KPBS looks at how the state superintendent and a local senator feel about Race to the Top, a competition for more school stimulus money.
- Marsha Sutton at SDNN argues: Education matters. Sports don’t.
- Educated Guess blogs that few disadvantaged school districts have been able to pass parcel taxes. Check back here later today for news about what San Diego Unified is doing on that front.
- A UCLA report found that statewide, teacher layoffs, cutbacks in summer schools and other reductions have hit high-poverty schools hardest, the Los Angeles Times reports. Educated Guess links to the actual report.
- San Juan teachers are suing their school district for allegedly upping the hours of part-timers instead of rehiring employees who had been laid off, the Sacramento Bee writes.
- Talk of layoffs is in the air in San Francisco schools, which face a $113 million shortfall over the next two years, the Chronicle reports.
- The Californian writes that Temecula schools decided that they still don’t need to give Ds on their report cards. Students can only earn an A, B, C or F. Anything short of 70 percent is failing.
- The Chicago News Cooperative looks at a nagging question about those Race to the Top dollars: What happens when the money goes away?
- Just like in San Diego Unified, testing experts are on a quest nationwide to ways to measure critical thinking. Obama has promoted the idea. But some are dubious of the extra costs and questionable reliability of testing kids with open-ended questions, Education Week reports.
- On a similar note, Deborah Meier blogs in Education Week about the limitations of tests.
- Philadelphia schools got in hot water for failing to follow the rules when spending nearly $140 million in federal aid, the Inquirer reports. It will have to repay about $17.7 million. Similar problems have cropped up before in San Diego Unified, but with a lesser price tag.
- And Eduwonk blogs that a recent Supreme Court decision could give teachers unions much more latitude to spend and influence political races.
— EMILY ALPERT