Word: californiaisms
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...Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed shorting schools $2.1 billion during the rest of this academic year and $3.1 billion the next. He wants to save an additional $1.1 billion by reducing the number of school days, from 180 to 175. Though the extra time off might cheer students, California school superintendent Jack O'Connell strenuously opposes the move. Best sound bite: "To close the achievement gap and prepare all students for success in the competitive global economy, we should be offering more time in class, not less...
Despite Congress's holding emergency weekend sessions to push through a stimulus plan, educators in many states lament the fact that schools won't see a penny of the extra money until at least July. According to O'Connell, some of California's poorest districts are running out of cash for subsidized meal programs. The Hayward district is planning layoffs that would increase class size in primary grades from 20 students to 32. In Lake Elsinore, schools have turned off the lights in many rooms - and placed duct tape over the switches - to save money on electricity bills...
...California isn't the only state grappling with steep K-12 budget cuts. In Florida, officials in overcrowded school districts are bracing themselves for likely staff cuts. Connecticut's board of education adopted a budget resolution in December that included an overall 10% reduction - a move that some fear means that pink slips for teachers are inevitable. "The biggest line items in most school budgets are staff and benefits," says Bob Brewer, an education consultant in East Hartford, Conn. "No district can absorb those kinds of hits without trimming some of those big-ticket items." (See pictures of politically engaged...
Where will those families go? And whose school districts can afford to absorb their children? In California, school officials are expecting to receive upwards of $8 billion over two years from the federal stimulus. While this money would enable districts to address some of their most pressing needs, John Mockler, an education-funding specialist in Sacramento, says, "It's not a panacea." In the long term, Mockler says, states need to come up with new funding sources to support classroom instruction and let teachers do what they were hired to do - teach...
...Nest,” Purcell’s latest exhibition, opened yesterday. It will be on display through March 15. The exhibition features images of the eggs and nests of various bird species. Photographed from a collection of the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology in California, the pictures attempt to enhance the visual beauty of natural history collections. For example, they emphasize the aesthetic attributes of the eggs and nests, from their color to their architectural design.Though Werby believes that these photographs can be “windows into natural history,” she also admits that artists...