DFER California
From Our Blog
Stifling Your Voice
May 4, 2012
Statement from Sen. Gloria Romero, California director of Democrats for Education Reform, on the "cease and desist" request from the Los Angeles County Democrats:
"This dubious request has no merit whatsoever and is clearly an attempt to obscure the fact that Democrats who are passionate about public education - both in Los Angeles and around the nation - are stepping up to support Brian Johnson in his race to win the 46th Assembly District seat. We encourage Democratic education reformers to support Brian's campaign today here."
Democrats for Education Reform, based in Washington, DC, is a political action committee recognized by the Federal Election Commission. It has chapters in a dozen states, and state-based political action committees in many of those states. For more information, go to www.dfer.org.
UPDATE: Brian Johnson's campaign responds here.
REPUBLICAN FY 2013 BUDGET PROPOSAL
March 29, 2012
REPUBLICAN FY 2013 BUDGET PROPOSAL
DRAMATIC AND RECKLESS CUTS TO EDUCATION SPENDING
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives began debate on its budget proposal for FY 2013, the upcoming fiscal year that begins October 1st. The debate resumes on the House floor today.
In California:
• Almost 30,000 children will be eliminated from the Head Start program;
• Nearly 170,000 students with disabilities' costs will shift to states and districts as part of cuts to IDEA; and,
• Approximately 850,000 students from historically disadvantaged groups will have reduced or eliminated services due to Title I cuts.
Read more here.
News from the Golden State: CA ranks dead last in digital learning
November 2, 2011
By Gloria Romero, DFER California State Director
The 6.3 million students that attend California's public schools, the second largest in the nation, have grown up with a digital divide. The age of the internet is ever-present in their life but once they step into school the technological clock rolls backward.
Children in California, like those across the nation, have increasingly become proficient in understanding the latest technological advances. Parents and educators recognize that a major factor in impacting the achievement gap that has historically existed between poor, overwhelmingly students of color, and their affluent, overwhelmingly white, counterparts is addressing what is called the "digital divide." This divide is the gap between the haves and have-nots in terms of access and fluency in communication and information technology in schools.
The national campaign Digital Learning Now! released its "
Digital Learning Report Cards" at the Education in Action conference in San Francisco earlier this month and the results do not bode well for the golden state. They found that California achieved only 14 of the 72 recommended metrics, the lowest of any state.*
One area where California could improve, without having to spend major resources in budget cutting times, is to change laws that limit enrollment in virtual schools and online courses to district boundaries. Under current state law, students may enroll in virtual charter schools available in counties that are geographically adjacent to their own school district. These policies particularly impact small rural school districts, which may not have access to a plethora of Advanced Placement or world language courses.
Read more...
Legislators let their consciences guide their vote in CA
September 14, 2011
It's a rare event when the CA Democratic-controlled Legislature rejects the Democratic Party Chair, its Democratic Party Executive Board, and powerful education unions to stand behind legislation that puts the interests of kids first, rather than subjugating those interests to never-ending adult struggles over power, money, and influence. It's a far too infrequent event, unfortunately, even in cases where decisions made by policymakers can be a matter of life and death.
So it's all the more notable that legislators let their consciences guide their votes as happened in California recently with SB 161, a bill which addresses the issue of whether non-medical employees are permitted to give potentially life-saving anti-seizure medication to epileptic students in California's schools.
It had been common for years in California for trained non-medical personnel - such as teachers' aides or office staff - to have the authority to administer doctor-prescribed Diastat to a student when suffering a severe and possibly life threatening seizure. However, unions representing nurses and other employee unions, who believed these non-medical staff were taking away their jobs, began to challenge this issue in 2009. SB 161 was originally drafted to codify what schools had already been doing for 10 years without legal challenge to avoid further opposition and disruption from these unions.
The proponents of SB-161, including parents of some 90,000 children affected by epilepsy in CA, medical associations, humanitarian groups, and DFER CA, stressed the need for volunteers that are trained in providing this type of medication in schools that lack support of medical staff such as nurses. During times of budget deficiencies, many schools no longer have nurses on every campus and those that do may not have the funds to pay them to work during after-school activities. Unfortunately, seizures can happen at any time, whether during the school day, at an after school sporting event, or a tutoring session. Without trained volunteers or staff on-hand to administer anti-seizure medication an uncontrolled seizure can damage a child's developing brain, thus impacting academic performance, memory, learning and result in social or emotional challenges.
Read more...
Can Johnny Read? CA bill would eliminate standardized tests for 2nd grade students
August 3, 2011
By Gloria Romero, DFER CA State Director
Remember a long time ago when educators were asking why Johnny couldn't read? Well now in California, it appears that there is a major push to delay learning how well Johnny can read in the first place.
Early assessments are essential to get kids like Johnny on track to succeed in school. These assessments provide critical data that help schools identify which kids need extra help and use best practices to help them get to grade level proficiency.
SB 740, a bill pushed by the California Teachers Association, is quickly moving through the California Legislature, which would eliminate standardized second grade testing. SB 740 eliminates a valuable early assessment mechanism for teachers and parents. Without the data from the second grade assessment, we will be less likely to know exactly which students need extra help. And we will likely have more schools that fail to close achievement gaps and allow students--especially low income and minority students--to fall further behind.
Legislators and supporters of the bill argue that it makes sense to do away with second grade testing because young children face the possibility of being labeled a "failure." Does it serve California's children any better to find out in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade that they are not acquiring the reading skills they need to be academically successful? Need I remind you that the reading proficiency rates for most African American and Latino students already hovers far below basic levels of proficiency, and that the proportion of students from these groups who achieve at proficient or above is less than one in five? Our state may pride itself on what it considers high academic standards, but the truth is that the achievement gap between white and minority students in California is one of the widest and most persistent in the entire nation.
Read more...
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