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Thursday, November 8, 2012

Will California Election Results Bring Sanity To Education Funding Decisions? | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

Will California Election Results Bring Sanity To Education Funding Decisions? | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…:


Will California Election Results Bring Sanity To Education Funding Decisions

Will California Election Results Bring Sanity To Education Funding Decisions 
or Will It Be More Strangelove?
Happily, the elections here in California brought victory to Proposition 30, Governor Brown’s tax proposal that saved our schools from closing several weeks early — this year and in future years — among other likely negative results. It was close, but I wouldn’t call that a total surprise.
The real surprise, however, is the likelihood that Democrats have won a two/thirds majority in both houses of the state legislature (three races are still too close to call, but the results look good for Dems). In California, tax increases and some other major moves require a two-thirds vote.
Governor Brown is rightly calling for caution in future tax increases.
School officials are pushing for something else. Local property tax increases for school facility improvement


I Like “GeoSpeak” — Especially For Geography Classes (I Just Don’t Know For How Long I’ll Like It)

GeoSpeak is a neat site that lets you — without having to register — find any location on Google Maps and write something about it. You’re given a virtual “pin” on the map that leads directly to your comment.
It would be great for students in geography classes to write for an authentic audience.
My concern, however, is that GeoSpeak could get filled up pretty quick with not-very-useful comments,