Cleveland Plain Dealer - GOP offers version of budget; Proposal emphasizes higher ed, school choice 

As was widely expected, Republicans countered Strickland’s move to end a voucher program outside of Cleveland - which provides fewer than 3,000 students in low-performing districts with vouchers to attend private schools - by fully restoring money for the program.

The Republicans also plan to allow charter school expansion in some cases rather than the moratorium sought by Strickland….

Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey said the overall reaction to the GOP plan was "very positive."

Contra Costa Times - Teachers leaving profession in droves

Teachers stifled by bureaucracy and blocked from making decisions in their own classrooms are leaving teaching in droves, according to a new study by Cal State University’s Teacher Quality Institute.

Nearly 22 percent of California teachers leave teaching after four years, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. With this type of exodus, the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning projects a 33,000-teacher shortage in California by 2015….

The 1,900 teachers surveyed by the institute said they left mainly because of the endless amounts of paperwork, constant interruptions and fruitless meetings that take time away from actual instruction, said Ken Futernick, principal author of the study and director of K-12 Studies at the institute….

According to the study, teachers who left tough schools said poor working conditions trumped pay among reasons they left.

"They’re almost saying ‘you couldn’t pay me enough to stay at this school,’" Futernick said. Interestingly enough, teachers surveyed who stayed in the field and felt supported at their campus cited their compensation as adequate, the study says.

Los Angeles Daily News - Antonio’s schools (AVUSD): Mayor needs authority to set up his own charters

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa struggles to get some control over the Los Angeles Unified School District — the courts have struck down his takeover legislation, and next month’s school board races promise to be close. So City Councilman Richard Alarcón … is proposing that City Hall open an Office of Education, which would be empowered to create and run charter schools.

Assuming the office could run its schools better than the district does, which shouldn’t be hard, students would start streaming in, and what we could then call the Antonio Villaraigosa Unified School District — or AVUSD — would thrive.

Although this proposal is no substitute for reform at the LAUSD — or for electing reformers in next month’s school board election — it could help. Given the district’s hostility to charters, it would be useful to have another local entity empowered to create them.