California school districts

Tag: California school districts

The Case Against Books

Textbooks, that is. I’d like to make the case that textbooks and memorization of content are at the heart of much of what is wrong with primary and secondary education in the US. I came to the United States at the age of 21. Of course my elementary and secondary schooling is now decades old and things have surely

March 4, 2014 Short URLbest practice, California school districts, education, government spending, primary and secondary education, public schools, school, school finance, schooling, student success, textbooksPublic Schools, Uncategorized

Parental Involvement: Cause or Correlation?

I was in a meeting about student success. We had broken into groups, and the question of parental involvement came up. “Were your parents involved in your school?” I half-whispered to a fellow director, born and raised in Hong Kong. “Not at all” she said. “Not mine either” said I (born and raised in another

March 3, 2014 Short URLachievement, achievement gap, best practice, California, California school districts, education, parental involvement, parental participation, public education, Public Policy, school, school district, school districts, school meeting, student engagement, student success, successPublic Schools, Uncategorized

Annotated Timeline for School Funding (California)

When I first started out in California school business, I was a bit confused by the state’s revenue certifications and re-certifications. I wished I had an overview of the entire process. So – here’s one I put together: Annotated Principal Apportionment Timeline This does not contain enough detail to be used instead of your complete annual calendar,

February 8, 2014 Short URLaccounting, California, California school districts, Education Code, principal apportionment, public education, public school finance, school financeAccounting, Finance, Laws and Regulations, Local Control Funding Formula, Procedures and Practices

Billion with a “B” for iPads

I highly recommend the following commentary in the LA School Report: If iPads are the answer, what’s the question? The author interviewed tech savvy LA Unified students, who also happen to be in the target demographic for the iPad purchase (students of color in south LA and Watts). One of the student responds: “What I’m struggling to

January 21, 2014 Short URLanalysis, best practice, budget, business, California, California school districts, community engagement, decision process, government, government spending, instructional technology, iPad, iPads, laptop, lcff, local control funding formula, Management, notebook, parents parental participation, public education, public school finance, public schools, school district, school district business, school districts, school finance, technologyFinance, Government, Public Schools, Technology

Resources for Aspiring School Business Leaders

Continuing my series for future school business leaders, I offer short commentaries on some of the most useful technical and policy resources for California school business aspirants. In no particular order, here they are: 1. School Services of California. This is a subscription service. If you are in California it is likely that your school district is a

January 20, 2014 Short URLaspiring leader, auditor, business, California, California Department of Education, California school districts, career development, CASBO, CCR, Code of Regulations, Edjoin, Edsource, Education Code, fcmat, Google alerts, government, government spending, leadership, legislative analyst, Management, policy issues, PPIC, public education, Public Policy, public school finance, public schools, Sacramento Bee, school district business, school finance, School Services, technical expertiseCareer Development, Finance, Government, Laws and Regulations, Local Control Funding Formula, Management, Procedures and Practices, Public Schools, School District Jobs

Proposition 98 Forecasting and Finagling

Dear aspiring school business leader, My recent post on California’s Proposition 13 was for you. This post is about Proposition 98. Together, these represent the two voter initiatives that you MUST understand. Start with the Wikipedia entries for both. This gives you a general overview. Then read the Legislative Analyst’s Prop 98 Analysis. If you find this intolerably dull,

January 19, 2014 Short URLCalifornia school districts, Education funding, government, government spending, lcff, local control funding formula, Management, Proposition 13, Proposition 98, public school finance, public schools, school district, school district business, school finance, voter initiativeFinance, Government, Laws and Regulations, Local Control Funding Formula, Public Schools

How Bad is too Bad? How Much is Enough?

Click on this map for some interesting data, courtesy of BestEducationDegrees.com. The statistics for my state, California, are particularly bleak. Given the current hoopla about the new funding formula, I thought it might be useful to step back and ask a more fundamental question. Does the state collect enough revenue to support education to the extent that

January 18, 2014 Short URLanti-tax, Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, California school districts, deck chairs on the Titanic, education, Education funding, government, government spending, Jerry Brown, lcff, Local Control Funding Formual, Proposition 13, Proposition 30, public education, public school finance, public schools, role of government, school district business, school districts, school finance, tax, taxes, too much taxFinance, Government, Laws and Regulations, Public Schools

Not Usual

He is a senior silicon valley executive. She is an analyst in a governmental agency. Their third grade daughter cannot read. He is an abusive deadbeat dad who hides his assets and pays no child support. She is a low wage earner barely scraping by. Their eighth grade daughter is one of the top students in

January 17, 2014 Short URLbest practice, business, California school districts, education, Education Code, Emanuel Derman, Financial modeling, John Deasy, LCAP, lcff, LCFF regulations, Local Conrtol Funding Formula, Local Control Accountability Plan, Management, Nassim Taleb, public education, public school finance, public schools, school district business, school financeFinance, Government, Laws and Regulations, Local Control Funding Formula, Public Schools

Size Matters

In the course of my career I have occasionally heard some unsavory “us versus them” talk. Teachers versus non teachers Certificated versus classified Management versus non-management School versus district Parents versus school administration Some discussions of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) resort to this rhetoric, most notably the “school versus district” polarity. I have previously mentioned the

January 15, 2014 Short URLaccounting, best practice, business, California, California school districts, data, fairshare4kids, icr, indirect cost, indirect cost rate, lcff, local control funding formula, Management, return on investment, school administration, school district, school district business, school districts, school finance, us versus them, us vs themData, Finance, Government, Local Control Funding Formula, Management, Productivity, Public Schools

The Money Grab

A recent video accuses “special interests” and “school district insiders” of trying to get their hands on money intended for high needs students. Sigh. Let’s stop using charged words when important decisions about the future of education are at stake. The terms “insiders” and “special interests” are derogatory. They imply that teachers and district officials are trying to hoodwink parents. Seemingly, if you

December 28, 2013 Short URLbest practice, budget, business, California school districts, district officials, education, government, government spending, lcff, local control funding formula, money grab, School corruption, school district, school district business, school district officials, school finance, special interests, unionsLocal Control Funding Formula, Public Schools, School District Jobs

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