The new year is ushering in some big changes in public education, from a revamp of school funding to unchartered territory in student testing and new educational standards. Here’s a glance at issues to watch this year that will define California education in 2014.

The new year is ushering in some big changes in public education, from a revamp of school funding to uncharted territory in student testing and new educational standards. Here’s a glance at issues to watch this year that will define California education in 2014.

Budget battles

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Gov. Jerry Brown will present next year’s state budget on Friday, with a first glimpse at how he’ll be looking to divvy up revenues from the state’s continuing economic recovery. If his numbers mesh with the Legislative Analyst’s projections, K-12 schools can expect a whopper of a funding increase: upward of 14 percent, depending on how Brown’s budgeters do the math on Proposition 98, the main source of education funding.

After a half-decade of budget cuts, education groups and legislators will be hungry to lay claim to an additional $8 billion to $12 billion. Brown’s biggest dilemma will be how to divvy up the increase for school districts between one-time appropriations and ongoing operating budgets committing future spending. Since 2014-15 will be the first year in which districts must comply with new regulations under the Local Control Funding Formula, Brown might be inclined to give a big boost in per pupil spending. That might ease some of the tensions between districts and advocates for high-needs students who have different priorities for the new money.

But there are also legitimate demands for one-time spending:

  • Brown’s preference: Paying off past debts, including deferrals, the billions in late payments to districts;
  • Teacher pensions: The state and districts must contribute more to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System to keep the defined benefit program for teachers and administrators solvent;
  • Common Core: Districts need more technology, textbooks and teacher training to prepare for the new standards.

Complicating the picture, Assembly Democrats are calling for creating a second year of universal kindergarten, a big expense.

More money sure beats less, but finding agreement won’t get any easier.

– John Fensterwald

Funding change in action

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The on-the-ground implementation of Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature education finance law will accelerate in the next six months as school districts formulate their first Local Control and Accountability Plans.

Due July 1, the plans will demonstrate how districts are complying with the spirit and letter of the new law, known as the Local Control Funding Formula. The law, signed by Brown in July 2013, provides additional money to districts that serve high-needs students, gives districts greater control over how they spend state funds and calls for greater collaboration in the budget process between districts and parents.

Later this month, the State Board of Education will adopt an accountability plan template to guide districts in setting annual goals, outlining specific plans to improve student achievement, implementing the Common Core State Standards, and improving school climate and other areas that are among eight priorities in the funding law.

At the same time, the State Board of Education is expected to approve crucial regulations governing how much latitude districts will have in spending extra dollars that the funding formula allocates for low-income students, children learning English and foster youth.

In the coming months, districts will continue – or in some cases, begin – holding public meetings to inform parents and the community about the new funding formula and accountability plans.

The local school board must adopt a district’s accountability plan at a public meeting by July 1 and then submit the plan for review to the county office of education. The district budget cannot be authorized until the county office of education approves the local plan.

– Jane Meredith Adams

Common Core

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California school districts have been implementing the Common Core State Standards at differing speeds, depth and quality since the State Board of Education adopted the new voluntary national standards for math and English language arts in 2010.

The state hasn’t imposed any specific timeline for making sure Common Core in every California class, but there is a de facto deadline – in spring 2015 students will begin taking the new assessment that is aligned to the standards. But this year marks a key milestone: students will begin taking practice tests aligned to the new standards in math and English. The computerized test will provide a gauge of how prepared districts are to handle the assessment.

California is moving more quickly this year to help districts. The state budget includes $1.25 billion for teacher professional development and to upgrade technology. In November, the State Board of Education approved the math frameworks, which districts need to guide them in rewriting curriculum and lesson plans. The English language arts frameworks just went out for review and could be adopted by May.

Half the state’s districts reported having a formal implementation plan, according to a survey released in November, while another 45 percent said they’re only in the planning stages – or less.

For California and the 44 other states that have adopted them, the Common Core standards require significant changes in what students learn and how they learn it. There will be less memorization and more efforts at deeper learning, more hands-on activities and less lecturing.

– Kathryn Baron

The changing face of testing

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It might be less confusing to figure out a Rubik’s Cube than to make sense of what’s happening with student testing in California this year.

Assembly Bill 484, by Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, replaces most California Standards Tests with new exams aligned to the Common Core State Standards. For this year, however, those tests, developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, will only be pilot exams for students in grades 3-8 and 11. Students won’t be graded and they’ll only be tested in math and English language arts.

Some policy makers warn that the state isn’t ready even for a pilot test, because the pilot test isn’t a No. 2 pencil and paper fill in the bubble exam – it’s computer-based only. Although a state survey found that a majority of school districts and charter schools say they are tech-ready for the tests, up to 40 percent are worried about their ability to make it work.

Other state tests for English learners and students with disabilities will still be administered this year, but their futures are unclear. High school students will have to take the California High School Exit Exam, however, there is talk of replacing it at a later date, possibly with a modified version of the Smarter Balanced exam.

– Kathryn Baron

New voter initiatives on the horizon

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If they get the Attorney General’s clearance and enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, education reformers are betting they can persuade voters in November to pass major initiatives affecting teachers and taxes. Expect the campaigns to be contentious and expensive.

The proposals would:

  • Make it easier and less costly to fire teachers accused of egregious misconduct, including sexual crimes against children while removing the statute of limitations on some evidence that has hampered dismissals. The Legislature has failed for two straight years to change state laws on this issue (Brown vetoed the bill last year). Ballot measure sponsor: EdVoice.
  • Rewrite the state law on teacher and administrator evaluations, the Stull Act, to require annual evaluations using multiple measures, with test scores accounting for at least 30 percent of a teacher’s evaluation. It would also eliminate tenure as a protection from layoffs. The proposal will likely be No. 1 on the California Teachers Association’s enemies list. Ballot measure sponsor: Matt David, consultant associated with advocacy group StudentsFirst.
  • Ensure schools get their fair share of property taxes. A decade ago, when the state ran into a financial mess, complicated by the big cut in the car tax, the Legislature seized $6 billion in property taxes due to schools. Schools have not been reimbursed annually for as much as $2 billion per year. This initiative would right that wrong. Ballot measure sponsor: Educate Our State.

Other possible ballot measures could get heated, including one to repeal a law that allows transgender students to use bathroom facilities and participate in sports teams consistent with their gender identity; and another to impose additional disclosure requirements on charter schools and ban for-profit charter schools.

– John Fensterwald

CORE district reforms

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Last August, eight California districts that formed the California Office to Reform Education received what the state didn’t get: flexibility in Title I spending and a waiver from penalties from the No Child Left Behind law in exchange for commitments for a “holistic” approach to school improvement that Secretary Arne Duncan found intriguing.

The waiver received national attention and opened Duncan to criticism from state superintendents who said the waiver set a dangerous precedent and could undermine state authority.

Over the next 12 months, the CORE districts will begin following through on its promises, said CORE Executive Director Rick Miller. The eight unified districts include Los Angeles, Long Beach and Fresno – three of the state’s largest – Oakland, Sanger, Santa Ana, San Francisco and Sacramento City.

Pieces of the CORE rollout to watch include:

  • Launching a new student information system, administered by the John W. Gardner Center at Stanford, that will give researchers and CORE districts insights from data that will include test results, expulsion and absenteeism rates, school culture surveys, college and career indicators, preschool attendance and college persistence data;
  • Starting “Communities of practice” in which CORE district schools share successful strategies for teaching English learners and other challenges;
  • Paring low-performing and high-achieving schools across districts;
  • Piloting a new teacher evaluation system based on common multiple measures of classroom effectiveness but giving districts latitude over key aspects, such as how much weight to give standardized test results.

Despite continued opposition by most CORE districts’ teachers unions’ to an evaluation system they didn’t create, Miller said he fully expects that this summer Duncan will approve extending the waiver for another year.

– John Fensterwald

Early education

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Spurred on by federal legislation, some California lawmakers are beginning to push for an expansion of programs, possibly including universal preschool, for the state’s youngest children.

It’s been nearly a year since President Barack Obama announced his plan to create a federally funded program to help states provide universal preschool. California’s current program would have a long way to go to meet the proposed standards for participation in the federal program, but that hasn’t stopped education advocates and policymakers at the local and state level from laying the groundwork for a potentially vast expansion of the state’s early childhood programs.

School districts like Fresno Unified have significantly expanded their public preschool programs in the past year, and will continue that expansion in 2014. And other districts are considering following suit: a plan is in the works to put universal preschool on the ballot in Santa Clara County, according to officials in the county’s education department.

Assembly Democrats signaled their support for such moves with a December proposal to make transitional kindergarten, an academic program offered by public schools for some 4-year-olds, available to all children in the state.

It is unclear where the money for any expansion would come from. State child care and preschool funds were reduced by $1 billion during the recession and so far only $55 million has been restored. The state’s Republicans have been far less warm to the idea of funding public preschool than Democrats and Gov. Jerry Brown has so far remained silent on the issue.

– Lillian Mongeau

Teacher salaries

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After years of larger class sizes and pay cuts, teachers are primed for pay raises, setting the stage for contract negotiations to come. Most districts agree in principle, and some are settling for modest increases of 2 to 5 percent, the vice president of the California Teachers Association told the Los Angeles Times.

But in other districts, an expectations gap has opened up. From Redwood City to Sweetwater to Mount Diablo, teachers and school districts either have reached an impasse in negotiations or are headed toward one.

The complexities of the new Local Control Funding Formula are contributing to confusion. District’s situation will differ, depending on whether they’ve dipped into or built up reserves the past few years and whether they’re poised to receive a lot or a little under the new funding system. It awards extra dollars for low-income students and English learners.

On Jan. 16, the State Board will adopt regulations outlining what districts can do with money targeted under the LCFF for high-needs students. Since those regs could affect future bargaining but won’t take effect until July 1, savvy union negotiators will be pressing for long-term contracts now. Advocates for high-needs students are wary. The deals that are struck bear watching.

– John Fensterwald

Teacher tenure challenge

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An upcoming court case stands to dramatically change the rules governing teacher hiring and retention in California.

Vergara v. California, filed on behalf of nine public school students, challenges the laws establishing tenure, dismissal and lay-off policies for K-12 teachers as unconstitutional. Lawyers for the case argue that tenure is too easily granted, dismissal for poor classroom performance too expensive and difficult for many districts to pursue, and lay-off-policies are much too concerned with teacher experience and too little concerned with teacher quality.

Current laws deny school leaders “the flexibility to make teacher employment decisions driven by the needs of their students,” reads the plaintiffs’ complaint, filed in May 2012.

Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu cleared the way for the case in December when he ruled against a motion to dismiss the case filed by the state’s largest unions, the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers.

Theodore B. Olson, the lawyer who brought the case against the state claiming that Proposition 8, the voter initiative banning gay marriage, was unconstitutional, is one of three lawyers for the plaintiffs on the case. The legal team’s funding comes from Students Matter, a non-profit started by David Welch, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and education activist.

The trial, expected to last four weeks, will begin Jan. 27 in Los Angeles County.

– Lillian Mongeau

Student discipline

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With new requirements under the Local Control Funding Formula asking districts to pay closer attention to issues such as “school climate” and “social emotional learning,” how campuses handle misbehaving students will be at the forefront this year.

Assembly Bill 420, introduced by Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, will keep alternative disciplinary approaches on the legislative agenda. The bill is the second attempt by Dickinson to eliminate the use of “willful defiance” of school authorities as a reason to expel students and limit its use in suspensions. “Willful defiance” and disruption of school activities is seen as a broad, subjective category that has been used disproportionately to punish African American students.

State Superintendent Tom Torlakson has called for more funds for professional training in this area. And many districts are beginning to implement Positive Behavioral and Intervention Support systems and restorative justice practices in their efforts to create a positive school culture, keep students in school, and meet requirements under their Local Control and Accountability Plans to improve school climate. Some districts, such as Los Angeles Unified and San Francisco Unified, are moving forward on their own to restrict the use of willful defiance. Other districts may follow their lead.

The new approach to discipline dovetails with growing efforts to explicitly teach students emotional and social skills, such as how to respectfully disagree with each other, how to acknowledge another person’s feelings and how to calm down. In addition, some schools are starting to train teachers in “trauma-informed” teaching methods that aim to provide teachers with the skills to better manage students suffering from repeated exposure to violence, abuse and neglect.

– Sue Frey and Jane Meredith Adams

Special education review

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Gov. Jerry Brown did not include state funding for special education in the new state finance system, the Local Control Funding Formula. One reason is that the current funding system for special education is already complex; incorporating it in the LCFF would have required mammoth work. Another reason is that Brown and the State Board of Education wanted to take a deep and separate look at special education in its own right.

That analysis is happening now through the Special Education Task Force, a 33-member group co-chaired by State Board of Education member Carl Cohn and Fred Weintraub, the court-appointed monitor of special education for Los Angeles Unified. During the next 10 months, the task force will look for model services inside and outside California, including successful early intervention programs; examine statewide performance data; review teacher preparation programs with an eye toward cross-training of special education and classroom teachers; consider how to integrate the Common Core standards with special education; and tackle funding implications.

The task force will make policy recommendations in late fall; before then, organizers have promised to seek comments from the public through forums and its web site.

– John Fensterwald

Teacher credentialing

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California’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing set an ambitious and bountiful agenda for 2014, but its budget isn’t cooperating.

In June, the Commission approved dozens of reforms to update and strengthen the requirements for becoming a teacher in a Common Core classroom. Some of those will be delayed because credential fees fund the Commission and there’s been a sharp drop in the number of new teachers in California.

A top priority, already under way, is updating what’s taught in the teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities. Next up is changing the assessments to make sure they actually test what’s in the new standards. Common Core changes not only what students learn, but also how teachers teach and the current credential exams are still aligned to the old standards.

The commission, which accredits teacher preparation programs at colleges in addition to credentialing teachers, is also piloting some surveys to get a better picture of the quality of schools of education. They want to know whether recent graduates feel prepared to teach and whether the districts that hire them agree.

Also in the works are plans to update administrator credential programs and assessments as well as standards for special education teachers. The Commission will also have to revamp standards stemming from a new law that took effect Jan. 1 that allows teacher preparation programs to expand their programs from a maximum of one year to two years.

– Kathryn Baron

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  1. Wendy Suppan 10 years ago10 years ago

    I have been a special education teacher in Minnesota and retired one year ago and moved to California. I have been subbing as a certified sub in Pacifica, CA. I am current ing preparing to take the written part of the CBESTPROGRAM to complete the Cal. Requirement to be a credentialed sub in the district. To better prepare for this test, I am reading anything related to current issues in education, both on a national … Read More

    I have been a special education teacher in Minnesota and retired one year ago and moved to California. I have been subbing as a certified sub in Pacifica, CA. I am current ing preparing to take the written part of the CBESTPROGRAM to complete the Cal. Requirement to be a credentialed sub in the district. To better prepare for this test, I am reading anything related to current issues in education, both on a national and local level. Edsource had given me some great background information related to the current issues impacting education today. Check back with this site periodically. Thanks.

    Replies

    • John Fensterwald 10 years ago10 years ago

      Thanks for the compliment, Wendy. If you aren’t doing so already, consider subscribing to our daily email, linking you to what we are writing about that day. We’re glad you have brought you teaching talents to California.

  2. David B. Cohen 10 years ago10 years ago

    The ballot measure from Educate Our State deserves support. The Students First measures and the Vergara lawsuit, are examples of exactly how not to improve education policy. Specific evaluation and HR policies don't belong on the ballot (even if they happened to be policies I agreed with). They are attempting to force bad ideas on the whole state to address a misunderstanding of problems that aren't even occurring statewide. For more on the Vergara case, … Read More

    The ballot measure from Educate Our State deserves support. The Students First measures and the Vergara lawsuit, are examples of exactly how not to improve education policy. Specific evaluation and HR policies don’t belong on the ballot (even if they happened to be policies I agreed with). They are attempting to force bad ideas on the whole state to address a misunderstanding of problems that aren’t even occurring statewide. For more on the Vergara case, I invite you to read this post:

    http://accomplishedcaliforniateachers.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/education-policy-litigation/

    Replies

    • Katherine Welch 10 years ago10 years ago

      Thank you, David, for your support. Our website, www.YesForEducation details why this is important. Schools (K-12, Community Colleges, County Offices of Education) were not protected in 2004 with Prop 1A (yes, I know this is a surprise for many - ALL other county services were protected). What this has meant is the state is taking $6 Billion in local property taxes that should be going to schools to satisfy its debts. The confusing part? … Read More

      Thank you, David, for your support. Our website, http://www.YesForEducation details why this is important.

      Schools (K-12, Community Colleges, County Offices of Education) were not protected in 2004 with Prop 1A (yes, I know this is a surprise for many – ALL other county services were protected). What this has meant is the state is taking $6 Billion in local property taxes that should be going to schools to satisfy its debts. The confusing part? This measure is revenue neutral – it will not provide more money to schools (though they could use it), but it WILL protect the property taxes destined for schools. Schools are NOT getting the funds they are promised because the state is taking school property taxes before they reach schools. We are giving the $6 Billion in erratic general fund money back to the state to pay its own debts, and taking the $6 Billion back that should be going to schools. Schools (children!) should not be the (interest free!) middleman for the state, forced to spend funds to borrow what the state is late paying because their local money was taken. This hurts the poorest schools the most, and is unreported in most counties.

      When I say unreported – what does that mean? That means San Francisco County reports that 34% of its property taxes are going to fund its schools. The real number is 18%. In Alameda County it is 41% reported, 27% actual. In almost every county the results are the same. You can see what is happening in your county here: http://www.yesforeducation.org/#!how-it-affects-your-schools/c1z94. Los Angeles County is 40% reported 20% actual – so, yes, $2 Billion is taken every year of property taxes in Los Angeles County that should be going to schools.

      How and why? That is complicated. If you want to get into the details, please visit YesForEducation.org. If you want to begin to uncomplicate it, join our team. We are volunteers, and there are many interesting and fulfilling roles to play. Together we can build the political will to make public education a priority again in this state. Our future depends on it.

  3. Richard Moore 10 years ago10 years ago

    And nothing about school libraries — worst in the nation, with 90% of CA schools having NO school librarian and research galore pointing out the connection to successful schools.