State Proposition 58 aims to undo almost two decades of voter-approved state policy that has actively discouraged bilingual language education. But just as demand for bilingualism is growing, California lacks teachers, standards, curricula and reading materials.
Category: Education
Posted in2016 Non-partisan Voter Guide, Education, Elections, Immigration
Proposition N: Enabling Non-Citizen Parents to Vote in School Board Elections
This Charter amendment would allow non-citizen parents, legal guardians and caregivers of children 18 years old or younger who reside in San Francisco to vote for school board candidates. These new voters, who would register with the city’s Department of Elections, would need to be at least 18 years old and not be otherwise disqualified from voting under the California Constitution or state statute.
Posted in2016 Non-partisan Voter Guide, Education, Elections
Proposition B: Raise and Extend Parcel Tax to Help City College
This measure would increase and extend a parcel tax for the City College of San Francisco that will otherwise expire in 2021.
The community college board voted 7-0 to place this initiative on the ballot.
Posted in2016 Non-partisan Voter Guide, Education, Elections, Housing
Proposition A: $744 Million Bond for S.F. Schools
This bond measure would provide up to $744.25 million to build new schools and an arts center; rehabilitate and modernize other school facilities; upgrade information technology; create “green” school yards, and construct affordable housing for teachers and other school workers.
Posted inBay Area, Community, Education, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Labor, Media, Public Safety, Social Justice, Social Services
How Media Coverage on Homelessness Falls Short (And What Reporters Can Do About It)
In many newsrooms, “the homeless” is a well-worn catchphrase for the often-anonymous people on the street or in shelters. But many professionals who work with these populations on a daily basis find the term offensive and misleading.
Posted inEducation, San Francisco 2015 Nonpartisan Election Guide
Candidates: Community College Board
Three candidates are challenging incumbent Trustee Alex Randolph for a seat on the Community College Board: Wendy Aragon, Tom Temprano and Jason Zeng.
Posted inEducation, Social Justice
School Board Stalls on Effort to Address Racial Isolation
All the members of San Francisco’s Board of Education agree that the city’s public schools should be more racially, ethnically and economically diverse, but they have not been able to settle on the first steps to take.
Posted inChoice Is Resegregating Public Schools, Education, News, Social Justice
As Courts Flip-Flopped on School Integration, Diversity Has Remained Elusive
By 2005, when a federal judge lifted the most recent desegregation orders, San Francisco Unified School District had been trying for more than three decades to make its schools more racially and socioeconomically diverse, starting in 1971 with forced busing. San Francisco schools no longer exhibit the level of racial isolation they once did, but they are now resegregating, as are many others across the country. In 2013–2014, in more than one-quarter of city schools, 60 percent of the students were of one race. That is a far cry from 1966, when more than one-third of the schools had student populations with 80 percent or more belonging to a single racial group. (In 2014, just three schools were segregated to that degree.)
Posted inChoice Is Resegregating Public Schools, Education, News, Social Justice
San Francisco Schools’ Changing Demographics
Over five decades, San Francisco saw a demographic transformation in its public school system. In 1969, white and black students together were the majority, as in most of the rest of the United States. Since then, San Francisco public school enrollment has fallen by 39 percent, and almost all the missing faces are white or black. But the two groups have not disappeared in the same way.
Posted inChoice Is Resegregating Public Schools, Education, News, Social Justice
Isolated Schools Clustered by Test Scores, Family Income
If one looks at the San Francisco Unified School District as a whole, a clear pattern emerges: Schools with the highest level of achievement tend to have the lowest levels of family poverty. And schools that are identified as “racially isolated” are visibly clustered by both income and achievement. This plot shows the base Academic Performance Index for each school in the district for which data are available, as well as the percentage of students poor enough to qualify for free and reduced-price lunches, which are used as a proxy for measuring poverty.