Education Headlines

• San Bernardino County educators work to help African-American students succeed

  African-American students make up only 9.1 percent of all the students in San Bernardino County, but they get double that many suspensions for defiance, according to the California Department of Education.

  March 3, 2015

• ACEL charter families, staff question school’s future

  A Fresno charter school that’s in the red by nearly $300,000 is taking desperate steps — including cutting the school’s lunch program and slashing several staff positions — to keep its debt from ballooning, moves that have alarmed families and staff and sparked worries about the school’s future.

  March 3, 2015

• Modesto City Schools to cut teacher jobs, but no layoffs expected

  Modesto City Schools went through the motions of laying off three elementary teachers and cutting a popular high school program for students hoping to be the first in their families to go to college, but most were simply funding changes, district officials said.

  March 3, 2015

• California court says state can’t ban all sex offenders from living near schools and parks

  California’s voter-approved law to keep convicted sex offenders from living near schools and parks violates parolees’ constitutional rights, the state’s highest court ruled Monday, saying the blanket ban has done more to leave offenders homeless than to protect children.

  March 3, 2015

• West Contra Costa schools: Putting the brakes on future spending

  A new era of fiscal responsibility and transparency appears to be dawning in the West Contra Costa school district, as recently hired bond program staff members are putting the brakes on spending what’s left of $1.6 billion in construction funds approved by voters.

  March 3, 2015

• Report blasts quality of virtual schools

  In the Public Interest, a Washington, D.C.,-based think-tank funded in part by labor unions, paints a grim picture of the state’s largest provider of online public education.

  March 2, 2015