Hackles up, Jerry Brown warns anybody who will listen not to mess with his education reform package, which includes billions of dollars for poor kids and non-English speakers.
From Kimberly Beltran in the Cabinet Report: "A strident Gov. Jerry Brown vigorously defended his sweeping school finance restructuring plan at a Capitol news conference, warning the Legislature’s Democratic leaders they will face “the battle of their lives” if they try to rewrite the plan."
"The outburst came just one day after Senate leaders proposed some modest changes to Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula but also as a growing number of statewide school groups have expressed skepticism about the proposal – largely driven by concerns that the governor’s base per-pupil grant to be given all districts is too small."
"Looming over the coming negotiations – but overlooked at Wednesday’s event – is news that the state is likely to have an unanticipated $4 billion in revenue before the fiscal year is over. “You’ve seen the scores. Why is California so much in the bottom? It’s because we have so many poor kids and so many kids who don’t speak English,” the governor, flanked by a contingent of superintendents from north to south, told a room full of reporters. “I will fight any effort to dilute this bill, which is to restore equity and build on the future of California.”
Fallout from that illegal recording of a meeting by a PUC staffer continues, with a push to make the ratepayers' advocacy office an independent entity.
From the Bee's Melody Gutierrez: "A covert and illegal recording earlier this month by a California Public Utilities Commission director was an effort to intimidate the Division of Ratepayer Advocates, according to a staff report for an Assembly Budget Subcommittee on resources and transportation hearing today."
"PUC Energy Division Director Edward Randolph was caught earlier this month recording a briefing for a Senate budget subcommittee hearing at the state Capitol when his smartphone interrupted with an announcement that the recording space on his device was full."
"Many of the attendees were surprised and angered that Randolph was recording the off-the-record, private meeting that included representatives of the office of Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, the Department of Finance and the DRA, which has clashed with PUC leadership."
As if San Francisco State hasn't mhad enough problems lately, now there are allegations of bribe-taking by a former school official.
From the Chronicle's Vivian Ho: "A former San Francisco State University official has been charged with 128 felonies for allegedly taking bribes for a waste-disposal contract that ultimately cost the university millions of additional dollars, prosecutors said Wednesday."
"Robert Shearer, 68, of Fremont appeared in court but did not enter a plea to charges accusing him of taking more than $183,000, a Volvo and international plane tickets in payoffs over seven years while he was the campus' director of environmental health and occupational safety."
"Shearer allegedly accepted the bribes to give waste-disposal contracts to Chemical Hazardous Material Technology. The company's owner, Stephen Cheung, 47, of San Francisco also was charged."
From the Bee's Cynthia Hubert and Phillip Reese: "Effective immediately, a chaperone will accompany any mentally ill patient discharged from state facilities "for whom the state is payingtransportation costs" to points outside of Nevada, said Mary Woods, spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services."
"Family members, legal guardians or state employees could serve as chaperones, Woods said."
"The policy change was announced as the state and its primary inpatient facility for the mentally ill, Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas, face allegations of "patient dumping" stemming from a Bee report published earlier this month."
Brown, amid spirited rheotric, is facing pressure up and down the state -- and from the courts -- over his realignment policies and the effort to reduce the state prison inmate population.
From Capitol Public Radio's Kate Orr: "Brown's fiery tone may stem from a new battle he finds himself in with a federal three-judge panel. It says the Governor is not doing enough to reduce prison overcrowding in California. Brown argued the state has made great strides in reducing overcrowding. But the panel is threatening to charge Brown with contempt if the state doesn't release thousands more prisoners by mid-May. The ruling called Brown contumacious.
"I'm not contemptuous and I'm not contumacious. In fact I had to look in the dictionary to figure out what the hell that word meant," Brown says. For the record, it means stubbornly or willfully disobedient to authority."
"Though the crowd chuckled at his line, many at the rally can't stand Brown's prison realignment policy. The controversial program transfers responsibility for some low level offenders to county jails in an attempt to reduce state prison overcrowding. Some local law enforcement officials say realignment puts too much pressure on the counties and puts their communities at risk. Nina Salarno Ashford, with Crime Victims United, says Brown deserves credit for speaking at the rally."
