Free Republic

SACRAMENTO -- The state's powerful education lobby has met privately with top aides to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and sought to make two points clear: it came out on top in the Nov. 8 special election and it wants the administration to make good on a $5.5 billion bill to schools next year. The Wednesday meeting, which lasted an hour, could prove a significant step in repairing the damaged relationship between the governor and educators. It also could hasten a resolution on education funding, a perennial sticking point in budget negotiations because it accounts for the greatest chunk of the state's...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A television station apologized to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday after discovering that several Democratic activists were in its audience for a voter forum. The forum at KNBC was intended to help voters learn more about Schwarzenegger's slate of initiatives on Tuesday's ballot. But the Republican governor was peppered with questions with a partisan slant during Thursday's broadcast, and at one point a man in the audience tried to shout him down. The audience of about 75 people was selected by a research company, which was directed to assemble a balanced group of voters from the Los...

The state's largest teachers union will ask its members to consider a $60 hike in dues in each of the next three years to help raise tens of millions of dollars to combat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's merit pay, pension and budget initiatives, union officials said Friday. If approved by the California Teachers Association's state council in June, the increase would tack on a total $180 over the next three years to the $500-a-year dues that its 335,000 members now pay the statewide organization. "We feel the need to defend public education and our students," said CTA President Barbara Kerr. "Our...