CORRECTIONS VOTE DELAYED
It was hoped—foolishly, as it turns out-–that the California state assembly, after making a stupid and spineless number of compromises on the corrections reform package, that the thing could be slammed through to a vote so that it could take affect and we could stop hemorrhaging millions of $$ unnecessarily on a daily basis. The vote has been postponed until….well, until they can agree.
The San Francisco Chronicle was withering in its assessment of the Assembly’s paralysis.
And here’s what the Ventura County Star reported on the issue:
Observers said the paralysis should have been expected, because crime-and-punishment issues have produced political gridlock for decades.
“There’s been a 40-year trend wherein Democrats have been demonized as soft on crime and Republicans have painted themselves into a corner of never being able to be anything but hyper-tough on crime,” said Tim Hodson, executive director of the Center for California Studies at CSU Sacramento.
“Of the 80 members of the Assembly, I suspect there are at least 78 who understand the necessity of cutting from the corrections budget, but I don’t know if there are 41 who are willing to vote for it.”
Yeah, that about sums things up.
(cough) Constitutional convention. (cough)
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The so-called School Choice plan introduced by LAUSD board member, Yoli Flores Aguilar,is scheduled to be voted up or down on Tuesday at the school board meeting. The plan would allow nonprofit entities, private companies and charter schools to compete with LAUSD and submit proposals to run the 50 new district schools scheduled to open in the next three years.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is strongly in favor of the plan, as is the LA Times. The teachers union, UTLA, and other related unions are dead set against it. (You can read their reasoning in great detail at the UTLA website.) Union leadership has urged their members to show up in force at the meeting tomorrow.
Those supporting the plan are also planning to arrive in droves. (I have received two messages informing me of pre-meeting rallies, one from the Charter Schools Association, and another from the Green Dot-associated, Parent Revolution that is combining with Families That Can. The pro-Flores Aguilar plan rallies begin at noon.
UTLA wants the faithful to arrive at 8 a.m. in order to pack the room before it is packed by others.
The LAUSD board meeting is set to begin at 1 p.m. It should be quite a wild ride of an afternoon.
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IN OTHER SOCIAL JUSTICE NEWS.…The LA times has an interesting editorial about the principles called up by the the Troy Anthony Davis case and the right to prove one’s innocence.