California ranked 33rd in low-income-student participation in the School Breakfast Program for 2008-09, the same ranking it received a year earlier. In terms of the number of schools that offer breakfast, California’s ranking fell from 35th to 40th, the Washington-based group said.

In 2008-09, 8.8 million children took part in the breakfast program on an average day; the lunch program served 18.9 million children.

"The program is seriously underutilized," center president James Weill said Monday.

Children have consistently increased their participation since the early 1990s, but "it's not across the board, and it's not fast enough," Weill said.

"We really think of the School Breakfast Program as a modest miracle of good public policy," he said.

The program, which began as a pilot project in 1966 and became permanent in 1975, helps alleviate hunger, improves student achievement and reduces levels of absenteeism, the group said.

One way to improve participation is to "fit the program to the actual lives of children in schools," Weill said.

"When you serve breakfast only in the cafeteria, 30 to 40 to 50 minutes before school starts, too many kids don’t get there on their school bus or public transportation or they understandably want” to be with their friends rather than in the cafeteria, he said.

In addition to nutrition and hunger issues, the lack of participation in the breakfast program represented a lost opportunity to bring in more federal dollars - because the federal government reimburses the state for meals eaten under the programs, advocates said.

I Feel for these kids being a parent of two kids, but the parents of these children should be the one feeding their own children, not the tax payers.

Seriously? Good, I'm glad. They're probably all overweight anyway.

I totally agree that we should expand the program. The government should raise the kids for the low income family so that the welfare money the parents receive can be dedicated on drugs and drinks for the parent.

Are people milking the system by under reporting their income? That's an awful lot of children in that category but you just don't see the wide spread poverty anywhere.

Did it occur to any of these people that perhaps the children were getting breakfast at home, even if they do qualify for the program? Perhaps we should add dinner, that way the parents can abdicate more responsibility for their children.

I remember a brief period of time when I was a child, (many, many moons ago). Right after my father passed, and it was just my mother raising my little sister and I, we "qualified" for free lunches. I remember quite clearly that I would rather have gone hungry than to live with the embarrassment and the social stigma of being a "welfare" case...When my mother found out that the method by which my sister and I were getting "free lunches" was through the use of little green "coupons" we were to hand over to the cashier in the cafeteria, she was absolutely mortified. She went out and got a second job that week, so that "her kids" wouldn't ever have to use those disgusting little green "I'm a poor kid" coupons again.

Our State is flat busted, broke. Is it so surprising that we don't have enough money in the Public School system to pay for breakfast and lunch? Not to sound cold-hearted, but we DO have welfare programs, along with Food Stamps and WIC vouchers, to cover this very real, and very serious, problem. Our schools are for educating our children, not for feeding them.

Have you seen these kids and their mom's? They're so obese they have trouble walking! Maybe a little less free chow is in order. These are the same "poor kids" who have plenty of cash to stuff themselves at Micky D's after school. Has this state gone absolutely insane?

I worked at an LAUSD school for many years. Even though these families look poor on paper, many aren't poor at all. Anyone care to look into how many of them own their own homes? It's true, they collect Welfare...as well as food stamps, Healthy families "free" medical insurance, and many other "free" goodies, including breakfast and lunch (when they feel like partaking of it)...they drive pretty nice cars (uninsured), and their spouses make low wages (nothing the rest of us could live on without assistance), under the table, or with stolen SS #'s (hence, they look poor on paper - no wages, or very little...Those illegal wages, combined with all the freebies make for a pretty good life, and you'd be surprised at how much money gets sent back to their home countries, rather then cycled back into our dwindling economy.

The cruelty and selfishness expressed by these comments is incredible. My tax dollars are wasted on wars, prisons, over-paid law enforcement, etc. So let's just call it a push.

Chester Johnson told WBZ-TV that his son made the drawing on Dec. 2 after his second-grade teacher asked children to sketch something that reminded them of the holiday.

Johnson said the teacher became upset when his son said he drew himself on the cross.

Johnson, who is black, told WBZ he suspects racism is involved.

He said he thinks the school overreacted and wants an apology.

An educational consultant working with the Johnson family said the teacher was also alarmed when the boy drew Xs for Jesus' eyes.

The boy was cleared to return to school on Dec. 7 after the evaluation found nothing to indicate that he posed a threat to himself or others.

In June 2008, a Taunton fifth-grade student was suspended for a day for a stick figure drawing that appeared to depict him shooting his teacher and a classmate.

Fees are being raised because the state is in debt. And why is it in debt? Because it spends more than it takes in. And why does it spend more than it takes in? Because it refuses to cut spending. And why does it refuse to cut spending? Because of entitlements -- i.e., the belief that people have a right to the wealth of others in the form of education, healthcare, etc.

And what's the source of the altruist morality of entitlements? The university classrooms.

Education unions support marriage neutering. The same groups pushing for marriage neutering have long pushed the rest of their agendas in public schools, often deciding to go ahead without parental approval and leaving it up to parents to find out, object, and pull their individual students out of the situation - and even then the parents face hurdles.

Their polling - according to them, anyway - shows that a small majority of California voters are in favor of neutering marriage. Say, didn't the polls that right before the voters adopted the California Marriage Amendment? The poll also shows a stronger sentiment, though, against having the issue back on the ballot in 2010 - in other words, strongly against an attempt to repeal the Amendment.

President Barack Obama criticized the largest U.S. banks on Monday for trying to thwart legislation that would overhaul federal student loan programs.

He singled out in particular banks that have received bailout money from the federal government, saying they want to maintain the status quo on student loans because they get an "unwarranted subsidy" from it.

The U.S. House of Representatives last week approved legislation that would cut major banks and student loan giant Sallie Mae out of a large slice of the $92 billion university student loan business, shifting most lending into a program run by the U.S. Education Department.

"The large banks -- many who have benefited from taxpayer bailouts during the financial crisis -- are lobbying to keep this easy money flowing."

Many U.S. students take on crushing debt loads to pay university bills that can total $50,000 a year or more at the country's private universities.

The governor's proposed legislation, to be considered during a special session that ends by Oct. 5, was met almost immediately by criticism from the powerful state teacher unions, which called Schwarzenegger's plans rushed and unnecessary.

The district is allowed to raise taxes under little-known legal protections for bond holders. In essence, if revenues from property taxes can't cover installment payments for bond debt, L.A. Unified can raise tax rates, even if they rise above past projections.

The current rate is about $123 per $100,000 of assessed value. That's actually lower than the original projections, but the good news ends there.

Officials wouldn't reveal estimates for next year but, when pressed, said they expected rates above $200 by 2012. In an interview, L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines mentioned a rate of $207, though he didn't specify the year.

For a home worth the current Los Angeles County median assessed value of $325,300, the difference, using Cortines' figure, would be about $275. For a $700,000 home, the rise would probably exceed $550, for a total bond tax bill of about $1,450.

Under the $20.1-billion construction program, 80 new schools have been built, with 51 more on the way, and thousands of others have been repaired and modernized.

The increasing tax rates could also spell trouble for L.A. Unified's nascent effort to put a different kind of property tax before voters. A parcel tax could be used to pay for ongoing expenses, such as teacher salaries, but it must be approved by a two-thirds margin.

For future construction projects, officials have time to figure out alternative funding sources, said Guy Mehula, chief facilities executive. The options include arranging for builders or banks to front the money. The district would repay them with interest.

A year ago, officials used a rosy forecast to justify Measure Q, the school system's fifth bond issue since 1997. An analysis projected that property assessments would grow an average of 6% a year. Experts characterized that as conservative.
...
The district's analysis failed to adequately consider the possibility of a real estate downturn, even though fewer than 20 years have passed since the prior downturn and history suggests that changes in home values are cyclical.

President Barack Obama is proposing a multibillion-dollar investment in the nation's community colleges, a $12 billion effort to help the two-year institutions reach, teach and train more people for "the jobs of the future."

Dropout rates would be addressed by designing programs to help students who want to earn an associate's degree or transfer to a four-year institution do so.

"In an economy where jobs requiring at least an associate's degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience, it's never been more essential to continue education and training after high school," Obama said Sunday in a Washington Post op-ed piece.

In his speech to a joint session of Congress earlier this year, the president urged every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training.

Chino Valley Unified hoped the extra 34-day session would satisfy state officials, who could impose a penalty of $5 million based on the number of both the missed days and the affected students.

On Thursday, the state's Board of Education voted unanimously to reject the extra session as inadequate.

Chino Valley Interim Supt. Wayne Joseph said that the poorly attended supplemental classes would end Friday: “Why continue at more of a cost to the district?”

The district can still avoid the hefty fine. The district could appeal to a state audit committee. And the Legislature is considering a bill that could give Chino Valley relief in exchange for offering a smaller number of extra instructional days.

The state board, for example, retains the authority to waive the penalty if the district lengthens the school year by the number of days missed for the affected students during each of the next two years. The district also could appeal to a state audit panel.

“Frankly, the [state Board of Education] isn’t interested in seeing the district pay the financial penalty,” said board president Ted Mitchell in a statement. “We just want to ensure that students get all of the instructional time they need and deserve, and that the district was paid to provide.”

You correctly point out that the curriculum will teach second-graders that same-gender parents exist.

Children will learn that those parents are part of loving families, along with single parents, adoptive parents and biracial parents.

Given that the lessons actually do not contain descriptive sexual information and do include attention to values, I am puzzled how you could support teaching students "not to belittle others" but call it inappropriate to teach respect for LGBT students, staff and parents.

Teaching students to respect one another without exception is sufficient to prevent bullying of any kind, be it based on race, religion, physical features, language or countless other reasons.

About 100 students in caps in gowns – some illegal immigrant college students in Orange County – made up the more than 250 attendees who support the DREAM Act.

The act would allow undocumented students to apply for legal permanent resident status, protect them from deportation and make them eligible for student loans and federal work study programs.

Tuesday's crowd at the Teamsters Local 952 Hall in Orange cheered and others cried when a Santa Ana College student by the name of Abraham gave something of a testimonial in rap-song form.

"I still have a dream," said Abraham who only gave his first name. But right now, "We are doctors, teachers and lawyers, living in terror from ICE."

Students from Cal State Fullerton, Santa Ana College, UCI and other nearby higher-education institutions wore caps and gowns and signs – some reading "What now?" at the Orange ceremony.

Supporters of the bill have said that students find themselves without jobs after college due to their legal status.

In attempting to discourage taunting of gay students, the Alameda Unified School District turned what should be a basic lesson on treating others kindly into a primer on sexual identity. Its new anti-bullying curriculum for kindergartners through fifth-graders will begin in the fall and focus solely on gay and lesbian issues -- as if harassment based on race, religion or failure to wear cool clothes were nonexistent.

Parents who might object cannot opt their children out of it.

It's a heavy-handed approach to take with students at a tender age.

School officials defended the new curriculum as a necessity after some of the younger students used derogatory words about gay people.

As recognition and acceptance of civil rights for gays grows, schools will grapple with whether, when and how to broach the subject.

But it went too far in adopting a curriculum that introduces topics involving sexuality at an age when most children are ill-equipped to consider them.

The new curriculum familiarizes second-graders with the concept of same-sex couples and teaches fourth-graders the words "gay" and "lesbian." A year later, it calls on the teacher to write the acronym LGBT on the board and ask students the meaning of each letter (it stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, the four main forms of alternative sexual identity).

School's out for summer -- except for hundreds of children in western San Bernardino County who, because of an administrative snafu, must make up 34 days of school this summer.

The fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders at Rolling Ridge Elementary in Chino Hills and Dickson Elementary in Chino exceeded the state's requirement of minutes spent in the classroom, and the last day of school was supposed to be Thursday. But because of the complexities of state law and a clerical error on a spreadsheet, the Chino Unified School District will lose more than $7 million in state funds if classes end at the schools before July 31.

Students at each school exceeded the state's requirement of at least 54,000 minutes of annual classroom time, but the problem arose in the district's minimum days. Schools typically have one shortened day per week, allowing teachers to use the remaining time for planning and parent conferences. Under state law, these days must be at least 180 minutes, and the daily average classroom time over 10 consecutive days must be 240 minutes.

An internal audit in early May discovered that 34 minimum days had been 175 minutes at Dickson and 170 at Rolling Ridge, said district spokeswoman Julie Gobin. That adds up to a shortage of 170 and 340 minutes, respectively, which could be made up in one or two school days. But under state law, these too-short days do not count at all, meaning that all 34 must be made up to avoid a state penalty of more than $7 million.

"The penalties for not meeting the instructional time requirements are high, much higher than just making up of the time," said Hilary McLean, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education. "It was the intent of the Legislature to make the penalties so stiff [in order] to discourage districts from shaving off minutes here and there."

An associate superintendent at the district, who is retiring this year, has taken responsibility for the errors.

Legislation was introduced last month to give the district some relief and is scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday. Then it goes to the Appropriations Committee, the Assembly floor and then the Senate.

Because of the timing, and the uncertainty of the bill's prospects, the district is planning 34-day extensions at Dickson and Rolling Ridge, which will cost about $200,000. The financial stakes are too high not to do so, Gobin said.

Schools are offering independent study packets for students who can't attend the sessions. A survey by the district indicated that roughly half of the 500 students affected will attend school and the other half will study independently.

A group of teachers and community activists started a hunger strike Wednesday in protest of the Los Angeles Unified School District's plan to lay off thousands of teachers.

At least nine teachers and two activists are participating in the action, said Sean Leys, a Lincoln High School teacher.

Leys says the group is demanding a new budget that will not include layoffs or class-size increases.

It also wants the district to use federal stimulus money to avoid budget cuts.

Corbett's comments, recorded by the student, Chad Farnan, strike us as having crossed the line separating provocative statements designed to get students to think and indoctrination in the teacher's political views.

Yet the judge found that one of Corbett's statements did violate the Constitution's ban on an "establishment of religion" -- or, in this case, irreligion: That was his description of creationism as "religious, superstitious nonsense." Ironically, this is the one comment by Corbett that should deserve the protection of the 1st Amendment. Mainstream scientists, including believers, agree with him.

We worry that the judge's holding on this point will give an opening to creationists, who have been ingenious in trying to undermine science education in public schools.

That isn't the only problem with the ruling. A proliferation of lawsuits like Farnan's could discourage teachers more tactful than Corbett from engaging their students in lively discussion.