Public Schools

Blog

Newsom’s May Revise Places Big Spending Bet That the Good Times Will Continue to Roll

On Friday, Gov. Newsom unveiled the “May Revise” to his 2021-22 state budget plan, proposing a record $196.8 billion in General Fund spending and $267.8 billion in total spending. Saying that the budget doesn’t “play small ball,” Newsom presented what he called a “generational budget” and “a historic, transformational budget.” ...
Blog

Corrupting Infrastructure in Order to Expand the Federal Government’s Size and Scope

Allusions to George Orwell’s 1984 are often overdone, but the applicability is simply too great to ignore. After all, how else do you refer to a proposed $2.7 trillion infrastructure package that spends only 16-cents on the dollar for infrastructure? Having reviewed the President’s proposed package based on the White ...
Charter Schools

NorCal Record Interviews Lance Izumi on Slow School Re-openings

Many California schools slow to reopen despite financial incentives, medical data supporting return to classrooms By Sarah Downey | Apr 12, 2021 With the end of the school year roughly two months away, questions persist about how many schools will be returning to in-person instruction absent a specific mandate to ...
Blog

Winners and Losers – April 9

Tim Anaya – Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winners:  Stanford University’s Women’s Basketball Team – They had to withstand two one point, nail biter victories in the Final Four, but Stanford University’s women’s basketball team emerged victorious this week in the NCAA Women’s Basketball championship and delivered ...
Blog

Public Schools Slowly Move to Reopen While Charter and Private Schools Have Stayed Open

As California public schools drag their feet toward five-day-a-week in-person instruction for all children, I point out in my new Pacific Research Institute report “Road to Reopening” that schools in other parts of the country have remained open and have done so without spikes of COVID-19. A January 2021 CDC ...
California

The Threats to Charter Schools – PRI Sacramento Policy Conference

Despite the success of charter schools, they have come under attack on multiple fronts.  State lawmakers have enacted state laws that handicap the establishment of charter schools and their operation.  Additionally, charter school opponents have used the Covid-19 pandemic to exacerbate funding disparities between charter schools and traditional public schools.  ...
California

CAPITAL IDEAS – The Road to Reopening: Where we are and where we need to go to open up our schools and meet the needs of children

DOWNLOAD THE PDF Recent studies by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the American Academy of Pediatrics, and Brown University have all found extremely low rates of COVID-19 transmission in schools that have stayed open during the pandemic, even in areas of high community transmission.  The studies conclude that schools ...
Blackouts

Teacher’s Unions Don’t Speak for Minority Parents on Reopening Schools

In the wake of the deal between Governor Gavin Newsom and legislators to incentivize reopening public schools, teachers unions argue that reopening will hurt minority communities.  However, many parents in those communities have strongly called for schools to reopen. The agreement between Newsom and the legislators does not require public ...
Charter Schools

Why African-American Parents Are Seeking Greater School Choice

With the close of Black History Month, it is the perfect time to examine how the public school system has often poorly served African-American children and why a large proportion of African-American parents support school choice. Data shows that the regular public schools are failing to meet the education needs ...
Blog

House Covid Bill More About Politics Than Immediate Covid Relief

Late Friday, the House took its first vote to pass President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, the first step toward their goal of enacting the plan into law before a March 14 deadline when some unemployment benefits will expire. Much of last week’s media coverage of the plan centered around ...
Blog

Newsom’s May Revise Places Big Spending Bet That the Good Times Will Continue to Roll

On Friday, Gov. Newsom unveiled the “May Revise” to his 2021-22 state budget plan, proposing a record $196.8 billion in General Fund spending and $267.8 billion in total spending. Saying that the budget doesn’t “play small ball,” Newsom presented what he called a “generational budget” and “a historic, transformational budget.” ...
Blog

Corrupting Infrastructure in Order to Expand the Federal Government’s Size and Scope

Allusions to George Orwell’s 1984 are often overdone, but the applicability is simply too great to ignore. After all, how else do you refer to a proposed $2.7 trillion infrastructure package that spends only 16-cents on the dollar for infrastructure? Having reviewed the President’s proposed package based on the White ...
Charter Schools

NorCal Record Interviews Lance Izumi on Slow School Re-openings

Many California schools slow to reopen despite financial incentives, medical data supporting return to classrooms By Sarah Downey | Apr 12, 2021 With the end of the school year roughly two months away, questions persist about how many schools will be returning to in-person instruction absent a specific mandate to ...
Blog

Winners and Losers – April 9

Tim Anaya – Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winners:  Stanford University’s Women’s Basketball Team – They had to withstand two one point, nail biter victories in the Final Four, but Stanford University’s women’s basketball team emerged victorious this week in the NCAA Women’s Basketball championship and delivered ...
Blog

Public Schools Slowly Move to Reopen While Charter and Private Schools Have Stayed Open

As California public schools drag their feet toward five-day-a-week in-person instruction for all children, I point out in my new Pacific Research Institute report “Road to Reopening” that schools in other parts of the country have remained open and have done so without spikes of COVID-19. A January 2021 CDC ...
California

The Threats to Charter Schools – PRI Sacramento Policy Conference

Despite the success of charter schools, they have come under attack on multiple fronts.  State lawmakers have enacted state laws that handicap the establishment of charter schools and their operation.  Additionally, charter school opponents have used the Covid-19 pandemic to exacerbate funding disparities between charter schools and traditional public schools.  ...
California

CAPITAL IDEAS – The Road to Reopening: Where we are and where we need to go to open up our schools and meet the needs of children

DOWNLOAD THE PDF Recent studies by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the American Academy of Pediatrics, and Brown University have all found extremely low rates of COVID-19 transmission in schools that have stayed open during the pandemic, even in areas of high community transmission.  The studies conclude that schools ...
Blackouts

Teacher’s Unions Don’t Speak for Minority Parents on Reopening Schools

In the wake of the deal between Governor Gavin Newsom and legislators to incentivize reopening public schools, teachers unions argue that reopening will hurt minority communities.  However, many parents in those communities have strongly called for schools to reopen. The agreement between Newsom and the legislators does not require public ...
Charter Schools

Why African-American Parents Are Seeking Greater School Choice

With the close of Black History Month, it is the perfect time to examine how the public school system has often poorly served African-American children and why a large proportion of African-American parents support school choice. Data shows that the regular public schools are failing to meet the education needs ...
Blog

House Covid Bill More About Politics Than Immediate Covid Relief

Late Friday, the House took its first vote to pass President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, the first step toward their goal of enacting the plan into law before a March 14 deadline when some unemployment benefits will expire. Much of last week’s media coverage of the plan centered around ...
Scroll to Top