[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is telling the ICE to back off the local economy, reports the LA Daily News. In a letter to the ICE,the mayor said that responsible businesses which depend on undocumentedworkers for labor should be left alone, and that the agency shouldconcentrate on raiding companies that are suspected of mistreatingworkers instead.

Assemblyman Alberto Torrico  (D-Newark) has withdrawn his bill that would have prevented state pension funds from investing in private firms partly operated by foreign governments with human rights abuses, reports the Sac Bee. The bill was opposed by both CalPERS and CalSTRS, as well as Governor Schwarzenegger.

Meanwhile, the Assembly  Education Committee has passed a bill that would require school textbooks to discuss the history of Hmongs, reports the Sac Bee. The bill, introduced Assemblyman Juan Arambula (D-Fresno) was opposed by three Republicans on the panel.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Jackie Goldberg
Teacher
Former Member of the California Assembly

NO 2nd Grade Testing!

A couple of years back, while I was Chair of the Assembly Education Committee, we made a deal with the Governor. And now, he wants to back out of it! I guess that should come as no surprise, since he seems to only make deals for a short term gain, and chooses not to follow through with the parts he doesn't like.

The deal was that the budget would pass and with it would be a commitment that California would end testing seven year olds with high stakes, standardized tests.

Why did the legislative majority require California to get out of the business of "testing" seven year olds? Was it because we don't want them to learn? Is it because we don't think they can learn? Or is it that we just don't want to hold teachers and schools "accountable"?
Well, actually, it is not for any of those alleged reasons. We, as a legislative body, decided that labeling very young children as "failures" was probably not going to help them love learning, and was indeed cruel and unusual punishment.