Jay Hansen, California Medical Assn. lobbyist and appointed SCUSD school board member for Area 1 is running  for election to the seat he now occupies. He recently issued a press release crowing about big name endorsements and campaign donations. Through his under the dome connections he's gained the endorsements of Supt. Tom Torlakson, Senate Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assemblymember Dr. Richard Pan. He claims he's amassed ten times the money of his two opponents.

We solved a mystery today, folks. Since there had been no public discussion of the CORE waiver at board meetings and no vote to adopt it by the board, we wondered if SCUSD had really joined the waiver after all. The Coalition made a public records request to the district and learned that J. Raymond signed the MOU back in August. Thanks for letting us know.
 

There has been a dearth of democracy lately here in Sacramento. Races big and small, from water board to mayor of Sacramento go begging for candidates or virtually uncontested. In some cases there is no election at all. This hasn't gone unnoticed. In his article in the Sacramento News and Review Cosmo Garvin focused on Sac City Unified board member Patrick Kennedy.  Kennedy has been the "winner" in one uncontested race for the SCUSD board and currently faces no challenger for a county supervisor seat.

Coalition member Lori Jabloski gives us some of the details of the CORE waiver that Sacramento City Unified is a part of with a consortium of districts who applied to the US Dept. of Ed for relief from the requirements of NoChildLeftBehind.  This is an unprecented set of policies that would end the local control of our school district. The waiver would  take SCUSD out of  the state of California accountability system and put it in control of an unelected board that would meet only twice a year. This has happened  virtually without public discussion.

From Washington D.C. to Sacramento school districts, California politicians are influencing education policy. California is such a blue state, that many a person espousing views once formerly held only by Republicans, claims membership in the  Democratic party. Some of these so-called Democrats are pushing the corporate "ed reform" agenda. From billionaire benefactor to local politician, they are working to end public education as we know it.
 

The Sacramento Bee editorial regarding Supt. Jonathon Raymond's resignation is full of praises for Raymond's work while it chastises "the community" for not supporting Raymond's accomplishments. He certainly has done a great job of pursuing Broad Academy and Gates Foundation initiatives. But everything that the Bee praises Raymond for came at the expensive of the Sacramento City Unified community.