Bright and Early: The Education Newsblitz

So much news, so little time. Thank goodness there’s the newsblitz:

• The top financial chief for San Diego Unified was put on paid leave last week, but the school district isn’t saying why. We blog that school board President Richard Barrera says it has nothing to do with his financial analysis.
• The Union-Tribune reports on the finance chief being pulled and quotes school board member John de Beck, who said the leader was under a lot of stress.
• KPBS reports on de Beck’s proposal to eliminate school staff training days to help lengthen the school year. The U-T editorial board urges the school board to do it.
• KPBS also looks at San Diego Unified’s proposed change to its controversial policy on student pregnancy. And Joanne Faryon explores how Prop. 13 impacted schools.
• The Carlsbad schools superintendent got a regional award, the North County Times writes.
• Also in the U-T: La Jolla High students are helping take a census of marine life.
• The Los Angeles Times reports that California had a middling finish in Race to the Top, a competition between states for more stimulus money for schools. Delaware and Tennessee were the only winners in this round; California was hobbled by a lack of buy-in from school districts and teachers unions. Educated Guess weighs in with more details.
• Math wars! Experts debate how kids should learn math as the U.S. tries to create common, national educational standards that set out what kids should learn and when, the San Jose Mercury News writes.
• Fuel and other costs for busing are becoming a financial problem for Bakersfield schools, the Californian reports.
• African American groups are questioning why black students weren’t included in a civil rights probe of Los Angeles Unified schools, the Daily News writes.
• Education Week explores why Delaware and Tennessee won Race to the Top. Rick Hess derides all that emphasis on “buy-in” as “the Race to Kumbaya.” Eduwonk cautions why getting unions to sign up could be especially tough.
• Tom Vander Ark blogs about the road ahead for states that want to win in the second round of Race to the Top.
• The Quick and the Ed writes that the strategies to fix persistently failing schools shouldn’t be rushed — but the timeline in states like California is pushing them to do just that.
• U.S. prep schools are recruiting students from East Asia as fewer students are able to pay their way here, the Washington Post writes.

— EMILY ALPERT