Education Headlines

• ACEL charter school in downtown Fresno to close

  Trustees at ACEL, a charter high school in downtown Fresno, voted Thursday to close the school, citing financial pressures. Rumblings of financial trouble surfaced earlier this week after word spread that the board had cut the school’s lunch program and slashed several staff positions to keep a $300,000 debt from ballooning.

  March 6, 2015

• School to partially open

  Double Peak School, the first K-8th grade school in the San Marcos Unified School District, will partially open with grades kindergarten though sixth grade in January, the district superintendent announced this week.

  March 6, 2015

• Some Bay Area school districts still in financial trouble

  With increased tax revenues, the number of California school districts in financial distress has dropped, according to their midyear budget reports. However, five districts in the state will not be able to pay their bills this year or next year.

  March 6, 2015

• Acalanes school district approves layoffs as it grapples with budget deficit

  In a bid to slash a projected $5.4 million deficit this year, Acalanes Union High School District leaders have agreed to layoffs that spell the end of a 70-year-old adult education program.

  March 6, 2015

• Fensterwald: Republicans’ bills would change teacher tenure, layoff laws

  Assembly Republicans announced bills Wednesday that would change state laws that establish teacher tenure and a layoff system based on seniority – two employment protections for teachers that a California Superior Court judge threw out in his sweeping Vergara v. the State of California ruling last year.

  March 6, 2015

• Lincoln Unified, teachers have a contract

  The Lincoln Unified School District and its 450-plus teachers have reached a tentative agreement on a contract for the current school year, union and district officials say. In Stockton Unified, however, things are not looking as collegial.

  March 5, 2015