The Sacramento City Unified School District board unanimously voted to balance the district's projected “worst-case” budget shortfall of $22.35 million by eliminating financial support for sports, drama, yearbook, newspaper, marching band, cheerleading and speech and debate. The proposal is to eliminate “extra pay for extra-duty stipends,” uniform replacements funds, athletic trainer funds and co-curricular transportation funds for a savings of $1.26 million, according to the district. Board members also voted to reduce the district’s counseling staff by 37 percent, eliminating one assistant principal position at each high school and raising K-3 class sizes at two grade levels. The boa

A high-profile panel that included Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Washington, D.C., Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee met in Sacramento on Tuesday evening and discussed pitfalls in the nation’s education system. Most of the members of the panel, which also included Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and an official with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said state and national teachers’ unions have made efforts to halt education reforms. The panel held its discussion after a screening of “Waiting for Superman,” filmmaker Davis Guggenheim’s new documentary about education reform. About 200 people gathered for the screening, including special gu

It may be the best kept secret in politics: there's a statewide special election on May 19th that could have a greater impact on Sacramento's schools, fire stations, and budget than anything they're doing down at City Hall. This special election is all about the state budget: the gaping $58 billion hole, and how the Governor and Legislature will go about fixing it. It includes new taxes, shifting of funds, the payback of funds to schools, and "modernizing" the state lottery so that it brings in more cash. Led by Sacramento's own State Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, the California Teachers Association (CTA), and the California Professional Firefighters Association, the pro-re