The rest of the article.
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A spokesman for Schwarzenegger's finance director didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
Another way to get more money for schools would be to lower the threshold needed to pass local parcel taxes from the current two-thirds to 55 percent of voters, O'Connell said. Parcel taxes are flat fees charged to landowners, levied by local governments.
Proposition 39, which voters approved in 2000, lowered the threshold for some school construction bonds to 55 percent of the vote, has led to voter approval of $10 billion in new bonds, O'Connell said. The threshold had originally been two-thirds.
Other issues the superintendent highlighted during his address included working toward universal preschool for all 4-year-olds, better nutrition and physical education for students, and creating standards for students who are going into the trades, instead of heading to college.
The career technical education standards will largely include the same skills as college-bound students, O'Connell said, since so many trades require training in advanced math skills and technical reading and writing.
O'Connell said he expected to present those standards to the Board of Education in March.
On the Net:
The state Department of Education: www.cde.ca.gov
Just for once, I'd like to see a reporter ask this clown exactly how much money he needs to "improve the schools".
50% of the state budget? No, more than that, since that's what they get now. 75%? 110%?
I'd love to see the response.
Arnold's proposed education budget is 7.1% higher than last year and the largest increased line item in the budget (Info from Roger Hedgecocks radio show), yet the CTA is running ads decrying the "massive cuts" that will "harm children". Nice that people responsible for educating children are blatant liars. The CTA and the other public unions are absolutely shameless in playing on people's emotions to keep their gravy train going.
What happened to the lottery money that was supposed to solve the schools' problems so many years ago? At least that's why we voted for it, when I lived there.