(From SmartMoney.com) Back-to-school sales are already in full swing, but shoppers hunting for bargains this year face the challenges of bigger bills and reduced store inventory. The average family will spend $606 on clothes, shoes, school supplies and electronics, according to the National Retail Foundation. That’s up 10.5% from last year’s average $549, and just slightly above the pre-recession spending of $594 in 2008. (more…)

(From the Signal) A state agency has ranked three Santa Clarita Valley elementary schools as low achievers, which allows parents to pull their students out of those schools and enroll them elsewhere. But a local educator says the ranking is flawed, adding that no exodus of students is expected in the new school year. “Our parents know that our schools are doing good jobs,” said Joan Lucid, Saugus Union School District assistant superintendent of instruction and curriculum. (more…)

(From the nytimes.com) Less than two months after the nation’s governors and state school chiefs released their final recommendations for national education standards, 27 states have adopted them and about a dozen more are expected to do so in the next two weeks. Their support has surprised many in education circles, given states’ long tradition of insisting on retaining local control over curriculum. (more…)

This past week the William S. Hart School Board finally made a decision by choosing the Romero Canyon property to build the proposed new Castaic High School. This puts to rest the long drawn-out political jockeying over where to site the new school and actually gives hope to all parents in the Hart School district that the Castaic High School will open its doors for the 2013-2014 school year. (more…)

The owner of the newly chosen site for the much-anticipated Castaic High School today expressed appreciation to the board, staff and consultants of the William S. Hart Union High School District, and stands ready to help the district achieve its goal of opening the new school in time for the 2013-2014 school year. The Hart District governing board voted 5-0 Wednesday night to move forward as quickly as possible to complete preliminary studies and negotiate to acquire the 114-acre Romero Canyon property offered for sale by Romero Canyon, LLC, led by 40-year Santa Clarita Valley resident Larry Rasmussen. (more…)

At the William S. Hart School Board meeting held on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 the board members voted unanimously 5-0 to build the proposed new Castaic High School on the property known as Romero Canyon. This was the obvious choice for many and the school board members recognized that this site would be the safest most viable site to yield the new school for the self imposed 2013 deadline. Romero, owned by local developer Larry Rasmussen, is the near center of the populated Castic area and elevate scholl over-crowding  as well as complete the traffic circulation plan for the area. More to come!  

(From the AP) Groups representing low-income families sued the state of California Monday in the second major legal action alleging the government is failing to adequately fund public education. The complaint was filed in Alameda County Superior Court by a coalition of parents, nonprofit advocacy groups and students representing low-income families. (more…)

Some of those just-being-fired teachers who have practically worshipped Obama and voted for him en masse in 2010 are starting to take his picture off their desks. Like many a bride has found, a husband’s good looks may get him married, but good looks won’t keep him married if he never brings home the bacon. The problem is with the over 25,000 California teachers and 300,000 public educators in the country being laid off. It is because there is the lack of revenue yield from a feeble economy that has no money for them. (more…)

(From the latimes.com) Taking action at a special board meeting Friday, the California State University trustees approved a 5% fee increase for undergraduate students for this fall to help alleviate steep cuts in state support. The board voted 10 to 2 to adopt the fee hike, which translates to a $204 increase for full-time undergraduates, bringing the total university fee to $4,230 for the 2010-2011 academic year. With additional fees charged by each campus, the overall annual cost for an undergraduate to attend the university will rise to $5,097, not including housing or books. (more…)

School may be out for thousands of Santa Clarita youth, but that doesn’t stop Santa Clarita Deputies from working hard in the summer heat to ensure the safety of the students when they do return to classes this fall. As part of an on-going effort to ensure deputies from the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station are trained and prepared to immediately respond to any emergency on or around our school campuses in the Santa Clarita Valley, deputies are utilizing school campuses during the summer months to conduct realistic rapid response and deployment training.  (more…)

(From newsweek.com) Each year, NEWSWEEK picks the best high schools in the country based on how hard school staffs work to challenge students with advanced-placement college-level courses and tests. Just over 1.600 schools—only 6 percent of all the public schools in the U.S.—made the list.  This year’s rankings have some fantastic new interactive features. We’ve teamed up with a data company called Factual to create individual profile pages for each school where students and faculty can comment and contribute. See the full list here: America’s Best High Schools

The shenanigans continue at the William S. Hart School Board and there is no real end in sight. Oh sure, the School Board claims that it will make a decision in July as to which property, either the Hasley/Sloan or the Romero Canyon, to build the new high school on in Castaic. But the truth is that it is all about politics now and nothing else; overcrowded schools or the how it is impacting our children don’t seem to matter; it’s all about the players at the school board and the SCV Facilities Foundation which owns the Hasley/Sloan property. (more…)

(From the latimes.com) For 50 years, they’ve avoided it. But California’s public universities are now inching closer to using the word they’ve long viewed as taboo: tuition. Unlike schools in every other state, California’s public campuses in effect have banned official use of the word and what it means — that students pay at least a hefty share, if not most, of their education costs. (more…)

(From hometownstation.com) Castaic High is a step or two closer to becoming a reality, after much discussion of reams of reports given to members of the Wm. S. Hart High School Governing Board Wednesday night. An update from experts hired to do preliminary research on two favored sites for a Castaic area high school focused on traffic issues, state requirements and civil engineering studies. (more…)

The City of Santa Clarita will construct a Safe Route to School Improvements Project on streets adjacent to Mitchell, Peachland and Rosedell elementary schools beginning Monday, June 14. Work on the Safe Route to School Project will include construction of bulb-outs at selected school crossings, sidewalks improvements, restriping crosswalks and upgrading existing school signage with oversized fluorescent yellow-green signage. (more…)

(From the AP) California State University is proposing another round of student fee increases this fall as the 23-campus system grapples with deep cuts in state funding, officials said Wednesday. CSU Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting in Long Beach on June 18 to vote on raising fees by 5 percent for undergraduate, graduate and teacher credential students, and 10 percent for education doctorate students. (more…)

 “The LAUSD Board of Education’s decision to teach that the Arizona illegal immigration law is unconstitutional — is an oxymoron,” said Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.  “The School Board president’s statement that, ‘America must stand for tolerance, inclusiveness and equality’ is disingenuous — because equality requires that laws be respected and enforced. (more…)

(From the Signal) The Castaic Area Town Council has endorsed the Romero Canyon site as a location for the future Castaic high school. Romero Canyon, owned by developer Larry Rasmussen, is one of two sites being considered by the William S. Hart Union High School for the long-promised school, which has been planned for some 10 years but still lacks a location. (more…)