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Monday, September 12, 2011

Baker’s dozen ed bills before Brown | Thoughts on Public Education

Baker’s dozen ed bills before Brown | Thoughts on Public Education:

Baker’s dozen ed bills before Brown

Dream Act among measures on Gov's desk.
By Kathryn Baron

(Kathy and John combined efforts on this post.)

It all comes down to one person. Dozens of education bills passed in the final days of the legislative session are now in Gov. Brown’s hands. He has until October 9th to sign or veto. Here are highlights of some of the most controversial and comprehensive measures.

SB 611 (Darrell Steinberg, D- Sacramento): The University of California has approved thousands of Career Technical Education courses as qualifying for admission to UC and CSU campuses under the A-G requirements. But nearly all of them have been approved only as electives, not as core subjects. This bill would authorize a new UC institute to work directly with high school teachers to develop dozens of CTE courses that would qualify as math, English, and science courses for UC and CSU admission – a big shift in UC’s approach to CTE and potentially a boost for partnership academies and programs that stress career and college readiness.

SB 547 (Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento): This bill would replace California’s long-standing school rating system, known as the Academic Performance Index, or API, with an Education