Election Issues 2005

What are the Issues in this Election for LACCD Board Trustee?

Access to Higher Education.

California has a tradition of subsidizing qualified (but indigent) Community College students with generous grants, scholarships, stipends, and loans. This booklet, published by the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees, offers some strategies to this end.

Community Colleges and Business Partnerships

The Community College League of California has some suggestions for their members creating business enterprises through property deals. The first suggestion is "golf driving range". (Very familiar to LA City College devotees). The number-three suggestion is "sports stadium", which is, ironically, what they are tearing down at LA City College. Note this prescient line from the document: "Meeting with local neighborhood groups prior to making final arrangements can sometimes prevent political problems that could sidetrack even the best plans." Too bad the trustees did not heed the advice.

Trustee Community College Handbook

This is the handbook trustees are obligated to read and follow. Emphasis is placed on communicating with the community to ensure that proposed policies are understood and accepted but not undermined.

Does California's "Centralized" K-16 Master Plan for Education Threaten the Autonomy of CC Trustees?

Arnold Appoints New Members to Community College Board

Excerpt From the California Master Plan ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION

"While California’s commitment to educating its people encompasses all levels of education, a crucial distinction exists between the State’s obligations regarding elementary and secondary, as distinct from preschool, adult, and postsecondary education. The California State Supreme Court has ruled, in its decisions on Serrano (1976) and Butt(1990), that the California State Constitution provides a fundamental right to an elementary and secondary education. This fundamental right (also referred to as a fundamental interest of citizens of the state) derives from several provisions of California’s constitution and statutes, taken together: Article IX of the Constitution, Sections 1 and 5, which obligate the State to provide a system of free common schools; the Constitution’s equal protection provisions, Article I, Section 7, and Article IV, Section 16; and Education Code Section 48200, imposing compulsory attendance. As a corollary of Californians’ fundamental right, the State incurs a fundamental obligation to sustain that right, which receives the highest order of legal protections.

"The State and its schools are required to equitably provide appropriate educational opportunities to all students. Postsecondary education, though not constitutionally guaranteed to Californians, is nevertheless provided universally to our people. Californians clearly regard postsecondary education as a vital interest, essential to sustaining economic vitality, and throughout our history have demonstrated this deep commitment by supporting a set of affordable public colleges and universities as ultimately defined in the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education.

"Participation in postsecondary education is voluntary, however, and not constitutionally guaranteed to be free of charge. As a result of these differences, postsecondary education does not incur the same order of legal obligations for the State as does K-12 education. Correspondingly, postsecondary education also is not subject to many of the strictures that apply to the K-12 system. These distinctions will require that, even in a cohesive Master Plan for Education, certain components be treated differently among the sectors of California’s education system.

"Although no constitutional guarantee or statutory commitment has previously existed for California’s preschool-age children, our state has a profound interest in making available to all families who desire them the early education opportunities that support a child’s emotional, social, physical, linguistic, and cognitive development. A critical element of the learning process is a child’s readiness to learn. Just as experiences at each earlier grade have an impact on a child’s preparedness for success at the next level of education, there are factors that promote children’s readiness to succeed in their first experiences in school. Early childhood education and development in pre-kindergarten settings can provide the socialization and coping skills, and the developing literacy and numeracy skills, that lead to these successes."

Read About California's Master Plan for Education (2002)

Resources

This is a relevant Handbook for High School Students who are thinking about going to college

http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Palisades_Charter_HS/pdfs/college_handbook_0902.pdf.