Results tagged “education”

Today, for the most part, is much more peaceful than yesterday's protest about the move to increase tuition at University of California by 32%. Yesterday, when 14 were arrested (up from the 8 we reported) and one reportedly tasered, was a bit more out of control (see some photos)--here is one video showing that at the front lines (man, that one bicycle cop is sure angry).

This week both voting bodies in charge of the University of California and the California State University systems are voting on budget plans for the 2010-11 school year, and both include ambitious requests to the state of California for hundreds of millions of dollars apiece to restore crippling budget cuts and, in fact, increase funding.

Students seeking admission to any of the California State University's 23 campuses may find they'll have to make other plans in the coming academic years, since the system intends to go ahead with their plan to reduce enrollment "by 40,000 students over the next two years to contend with a $564-million budget cut for the 2009-10 fiscal year," reports the LA Times.

Legendary Bay Area restaurateur, chef, cookbook author, and educational garden advocate Alice Waters is in town today to take part in the launch of the first Los Angeles branch of her Chez Panisse Foundation's Edible Schoolyard.

Here in Los Angeles there is a valued relationship between the food on our plates and the ground from which it comes. From weekly stops at favorite farmers' markets to digging in at a local community garden, the bounty of the land and its role in our eating lives has a profound meaning for many Angelenos, and Americans. Local Chefs are eager to share how they use the market to influence their menu, like Grace and BLD's Neal Fraser and Ford Filling Station's Ben Ford, while some, like Border Grill and Ciudad's Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger have partnered with the LAUSD to help reinforce the importance of garden-based learning and to be conscious of what we eat. The politics of eating has become a local focal point, thanks to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's championing a Food Policy Task Force this summer as we celebrated 30 years of farmers' markets in L.A.

A press release from the University of California today announced a new revolutionary program wherein tuition will be free. Pretty cool, right? Too bad it's a fake press release from a fake website mocking University President Mark G. Yudof and the Regents. Here's a fun little sample:

In 1993, after reading a book about homelessness, LA-resident Agnes Stevenson started teaching kids in a park in Santa Monica. From this book she learned that hundreds of thousands of children in the US do not attend school due to homelessness. And School on Wheels was born.

The school year is well underway now, and campuses in the vast LAUSD system are coping with the consequences of this year's massive budget cuts. But in the state as a whole, "the impact of California's budget cuts has varied from school to school. Because of the patchwork of federal and state funding for education, some campuses have felt the pinch far less than others," explains Mitchell Landsberg in yesterday's LA Times.

Looking ahead already to the 2010-11, the University of California Board of Regents are preparing to face another fiscal year of budget shortfalls, according to a UC Newsroom release. The current budget gap of $535 million for the 2009-10 year "could grow to more than $600 million in the next fiscal year," and that has the UC looking for any and all ways to curb the shortfall.

There's been a national controversy bubbling around President Obama's planned speech to school-age students tomorrow, and specifically the initial course materials provided to accompany the talk, which features the country's leader talking about the importance of education and staying in school. Today the White House released the speech so that everyone can preview its content.

The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education voted 6-1 yesterday to approve a controversial plan put forth by Board VP Yolie Flores Aguilar called the "School Choice" plan which will allow private organizations and companies to submit bids for operational control of several schools in the district, including as-yet unopened campuses as well as troubled schools.

Many teachers, union leaders, students, and parents are crying foul as the LAUSD Board of Education is slated to vote tomorrow on the controversial School Choice proposal, which will allow non-profits, companies, and other interested parties to apply for control of troubled schools in the troubled district. The plan was authored and spearheaded by Board VP Yolie Flores Aguilar, and is being touted as a vital component of "reform" by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

State test score results released this morning showed 10 schools monitored by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's education reform panel, along with the charter-converted Locke Senior High School, earned an average grade when compared to the rest of the LAUSD.

Not all higher education news from the state is grim, thankfully. As a response to the new state budget's inclusion of hundreds of millions in cuts in our two university systems, the Cal Grant program announced late last week that they would adjust award monies to cover the student fee increases implemented at the California State University schools for the upcoming academic year. "The total State University Fee increase of $978 will be offset dollar-for-dollar for all 62,600 Cal Grant A and B recipients attending the CSU," a press release details.

The state budget has finally been passed, and as a result billions of dollars have been cut from the coffers that help support education at all levels. Included are cuts to the large University of California and California State University systems, necessitating the respective campus network leaders to push through their own budgets cuts that include layoffs, furloughs, pay cuts, fee hikes, enrollment caps, and decreased resources. Despite student and faculty protests, the UC and CSU passed the proposals on the table that aim to stave off the shortfall.

With over a half billion in cuts, the California State University Board of Trustees voted to increase student fees by 20%, implement employee furloughs and workforce reductions, cut enrollment and other measures that were met with protest at today's meeting in Long Beach.

A budget deal was agreed on last night between top legislators and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Part of that deal was cutting $8 million from the state parks system, saving the majority of parks from the original proposal to cut around $70 million forcing the closure of 80% of them.

Tomorrow the California State University Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote on proposed cuts within their operating budget that will have staff and faculty accepting twice-monthly furlough days, student services and class offerings reduced, enrollment caps and freezes implemented, and tuition raised 20 per cent--on top of the already approved 10 per cent increase voted on just two months ago.

Unionized employees of the University of California will rally today at UCLA in Westwood in protest against proposed cost-cutting measures that will see the, losing work hours and funds for operating costs, according to the Daily News.

The upcoming school year at California's two major public University systems continues to look bleak for students, faculty, and staff alike, as budget shortfalls are forcing school officials to recommend fee increases, furlough days, and enrollment stoppages in order to save costs.

During yesterday's California State University system's special Board of Trustees meeting, Chancellor Charles B. Reed said he will seek approval for "an additional student fee hike of 15% to 20% for this fall, and enrollment reductions of 32,000 students in the year to follow," reports the LA Times.

NPR's Ben Bergman did a ride along with one of the fifteen Department of Water and Power's Water Cops, who patrol and respond to complaints about water wasting. It's not like riding along with a police officer, he rode with a city employee in a Toyota Prius, whose job is about trying to educate before writing citations as high as $600.

Occidental College, the private liberal arts school with its campus on the hills above Eagle Rock, is experiencing a marvelous surge in enrollment for the upcoming school year, reports the LA Times. They are "expected to enroll a freshman class of about 560 this fall -- up 100 students, or 21% -- from last year," and this has many wondering if the campus' popularity is because President Barack Obama began his post-secondary journey there in 1979.

Los Angeles' "photo-op" Mayor has spent the past few weeks with the word 'FAILURE' hanging over him, so to speak, thanks to Los Angeles Magazine's recent cover story on Villaraigosa's approaching second term in office. Now it seems that the bulk of his Partnership schools within the LAUSD have also given the Mayor an 'F' in the form of a "thumbs down from teachers," according to the LA Times, adding:

Eight out of 10 schools delivered a "no confidence" vote, and we're talking landslides (84 to 17 at Santee Education Complex, 96 to 13 at Stevenson Middle School, 70 to 13 at Gompers Middle School, 61 to 8 at Markham Middle School and 184 to 15 at Roosevelt High, which the mayor himself once attended).

Students at Liechty Middle School engaged in a silent protest during their graduation ceremony last week and it wound up costing them their diplomas. "The students turned their backs on graduation speaker Monica Garcia, LAUSD Board President, to express their displeasure to teacher layoffs and cutbacks," press materials explain.

In a pretty shocking move last month, the Los Angeles Unified School District cut summer school for elementary and middle students along with some high school level classes in a move to save $34 million from its dwindling budget. Overall, this affects 225,000 students. So what are the kids to do, asks the Daily News? Are they at risk? Will they run amok throughout the city? How about getting a job? The latter is particularly a problem in this economy because unemployed adults are accepting work usually held by teens.

There's going to be 6.8% fewer freshmen figuring out post-secondary life on the nine University of California campuses come fall, and that's precisely what the schools were hoping for, according to the LA Times.

Fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at Rolling Ridge Elementary in Chino Hills and Dickson Elementary in Chino would probably issue their school district admins a great big ol' F for FAIL if they could. Those hundreds of students don't get to sing "no more pencils, no more books" for 34 more days, thanks to "a clerical error on a spreadsheet" at the Chino Unified School District that led to the miscalculation of mandatory time spent in the classroom, according to the LA Times.

Just last week, the LAUSD's Homeless Education Program was at risk of becoming a victim of the many budget cuts. The program aims to "ensure that homeless youth have access to a free public education, equal to that of any other youth". General Jeff, Skid Row activist and founder of Issues and Solutions, sent an email to the director of these programs explaining the importance of these services and asked them to reconsider. In an email from LAUSD's Melissa Schoonmaker, he received word that his efforts paid off:

Cuts to education are affecting, and will continue to affect, students at all levels here in California. From increased class sizes, teacher layoffs, program cuts, eliminating most summer school offerings at public K-12 schools, and enrollment caps or freezes, program cuts, and fewer courses offered at colleges and universities, the problems begin in Kindergartens and carry through each and every public school, college, and university classroom, and last beyond graduation, as students lucky enough to get in and get out face enormous debt.