This afternoon, the Assembly’s education committee will vote on AB45, authored by Assemblyman Swanson (D-Alameda). It would short-circuit the usual state bailout process and give all but financial control back to the school board without requiring them to demonstrate their abilities. This comes, of course, right after the school board successfully fought an effort to pay off their loan.
UPDATE: The bill passed committee after it was amended so that control is dependent on the judgment of FCMT. It now goes before the Appropriations Committee, chaired by Mark leno (D-SF). From the Trib.
Keep following this story. Swanson is the newest
incarnation of the socialist Democratic Dellums
machine to be installed. Of course, the idea is
to re-install the teachers and janitors unions
powerbase, while keeping the children of Oakland
in dysfunctional schools.
Interesting that there is never any arguement as
to *how* establishing local control has anything
to do with increasing student performance.
The only hope is that the State Superintendent of
Schools holds firm to keep the school board from
any real power, while the Governor insists that
the state loan be paid off before school board
power is restored.
Don’t worry, I will keep following it. Isn’t the OUSD schools legislation ironic? To gain the benefits of democratic accountability (though of course school board elections aren’t competitive), Swanson’s legislation transfers oversight from an elected official, State Superindent Jack O’Connell, to the unelected Fiscal Crisis and Management Team.