Galt parents want to start own charter high school Parents for Children, a group frustrated with overcrowding at Galt High School, are exploring starting a charter high school as an alternative to waiting until Galt Joint Union High School secures funds to build a new high school. "No one can look to Galt High School and say that's a reason to move to Galt," said Art Oelsner, a Galt High parent. ¶ 5:54 AM

Parents in San Jose and Mountain View "Pull a Bullis" "In San Jose and Mountain View, parents are reacting to budget cuts and school closings by threatening to move out -- into charter schools or into new school districts they'd create ... [a move that is locally] called 'pulling a Bullis'." ¶ 5:49 AM

Performance pay works in local school One of the factors that helped Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, a district charter school in Pacoima, to turn around one of the worst schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District is a teacher-compensation plan that offers higher pay for school performance awards.
Studies relating to to Vaughn's performance pay system can be found at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education's website. ¶ 5:28 AM

Albert Einstein Academy Struggles with Facilities Despite its academic success, the Albert Einstein Academy in San Diego continues to struggle to find adequate facilities. The San Diego Unified School District believes that Proposition 39, which requires the districts make facilities available to charter schools, does not obligate them to terminate leases of school property to non-charter schools (the district earns $4.2 million in revenues from such leases) or share existing school facilities. ¶ 5:31 AM

Educator leads charge to make charter school Faced with budget reductions in the "cash-strapped East Side Union High School District," Educators at Andrew Hill High School figure that they better protect the school's special programs as a charter school. They key to their strategy is their experience "designing innovative programs, finding donors to help fund them and tracking their progress." (San Jose Mercury News - registration required)
¶ 4:36 AM

Parents and Teachers Walk Door-to-Door Parents and teachers in southeastern San Diego are walking door-to-door circulating petitions to transform two chronically underperforming schools -- Gompers High School and Keiller Middle School -- into charter schools. ¶ 4:52 AM