Daily Business Report-May 26, 2017
Teachers unions and charter school advocates are battling for the future of California’s classrooms. (Image by Thinkstock)
California’s Next Election will be
a Tug-of-War on Education
By Laurel Rosenhall | CALmatters
Sandra Lowe reminisced about the good old days as she addressed a roomful of Democratic activists at the California party’s annual convention last week in Sacramento. It used to be, the teachers union leader told the crowd, that it didn’t take much to win a school board race: a short statement in the election handbook, a little money for some mail and the shoe-leather to knock on doors and talk to voters.
Now, Lowe said, things are different. Wealthy donors have put big money into shaking up public education by backing candidates willing to challenge union orthodoxy. And the impact they had this month on the school board race in Los Angeles – ousting a union-backed incumbent and electing a new majority that favors charter schools – is likely to reverberate across California.
“It’s not just an L.A. situation,” said Lowe, a California Teachers Association consultant. “This is going to happen everywhere.”
The future of public education in California has become a tug-of-war between different camps within the Democratic Party. Democrats aligned with organized labor – who dominated local and legislative races for many years – are now facing formidable challenges from Democrats who see overhauling some union rules as a key to improving education.
The Democrat vs. Democrat split that played out in the Los Angeles school board election also emerged in several legislative races last year. Now, as California looks toward the election of a new governor and a new school superintendent next year, the fight over public education is bound to get hotter.
California made major changes in the schools during Jerry Brown’s last two terms as governor – putting a new Common Core curriculum in place and revamping the funding formula to send more money to schools serving needy children. Yet academic achievement remains dismal. Slightly more than half the state’s students cannot read and write at their grade level, results from last year’s testing shows, and 63 percent aren’t meeting standards in math.
Each camp has its own view of the solution. Teachers unions generally argue that society should address socioeconomic problems that can make learning difficult. Groups that want to change the system say families should have more choice about which schools their kids attend. How schools hire and fire teachers is another flashpoint, with unions favoring rules that benefit senior teachers and their adversaries saying teacher assignments should be based on students’ needs.
It’s easy to boil the argument down to a conflict between traditional schools (which employ union teachers) and charters (which are publicly funded but governed independently and often employ non-union teachers). In reality, though, it is a larger, more nuanced battle over how to mold a system that educates more than 6 million children, most of whom live in poverty.
Advocates for change include Netflix founder Reed Hastings and developer Eli Broad, who have poured millions of dollars into pro-charter groups that fund political campaigns. Their recent win in Los Angeles “portends a massive investment in the superintendent’s race and the governor’s race,” said Mike Trujillo, a Democratic political consultant who worked on campaigns for Kelly Gonez and Nick Melvoin, the newly elected Los Angeles school board members.
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San Diego Rent Squeeze Tightens for the Poor
San Diego County needs 142,052 more affordable homes — those costing a household 30 percent or less of their income — according to a report by the nonprofit California Housing Partnership Corp. The nonprofit said the county’s poorest residents are increasingly burdened by housing costs as rents increase considerably faster than incomes. San Diego Union-Tribune
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Water Authority Recommends
$1.6 Billion Budget for 2018-2019
The San Diego County Water Authority’s general manager on Thursday recommended a $1.6 billion budget for fiscal years 2018 and 2019, up 2 percent from the current two-year budget due largely to increasing costs of water supplies and treatment.
The recommended budget holds expenses in check as the Water Authority continues its transition from building infrastructure to maintaining facilities, and it enables the agency to continue to make prudent investments to protect and maximize the value of the region’s water supplies and infrastructure. More than 90 percent of the recommended budget is for the purchase and treatment of water as well as building or financing infrastructure.
The biggest factors in the Water Authority’s recommended two-year budget increase are related to the purchase and treatment of water – costs that are projected to rise by $130.7 million, or 15 percent. Water purchase and treatment costs are rising because of pass-through increases in rates and charges set by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, scheduled increases to the price of water from the Water Authority’s independent and highly reliable Colorado River transfers and the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, and slightly higher projected water sales. Increases in water purchase and treatment costs are largely offset by reducing Capital Improvement Program spending and lowering planned stored water purchases to zero. No stored water purchases are necessary following the successful filling of Water Authority carryover supplies in San Vicente Reservoir last year. Spending reductions in these areas total $99.9 million.
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Two Missing World War II B-25 Bombers
Documented Off Papua New Guinea
Two B-25 bombers associated with American servicemen missing in action from World War II were recently documented in the waters off Papua New Guinea by Project Recover — a collaborative team of marine scientists, archaeologists and volunteers.
Project Recover is comprised of scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment at the University of Delaware and members of the nonprofit organization BentProp, Limited. They have combined efforts to locate aircraft and associated MIAs from World War II.
The B-25 bomber is one of the most iconic airplanes of World War II, with nearly 10,000 of the famous warbirds conducting a variety of missions —from bombing to photo reconnaissance, to submarine patrols, and the historic raid over Tokyo. Present-day Papua New Guinea was the site of military action in the Pacific from January of 1942 to the end of the war in August 1945, with significant losses of aircraft and servicemen, some of whom have never been found.
In February, a Project Recover team set out on a mission to map the seafloor in search of missing WWII aircraft, conduct an official archaeological survey of a known B-25 underwater wreck, and interview elders in villages in the immediate area.
In its search of nearly 10 square kilometers, Project Recover located the debris field of a B-25 bomber that had been missing for over 70 years, associated with a crew of six MIAs.
“People have this mental image of an airplane resting intact on the sea floor, but the reality is that most planes were often already damaged before crashing, or broke up upon impact. And, after soaking in the sea for decades, they are often unrecognizable to the untrained eye, often covered in corals and other sea-life,” said Katy O’Connell, Project Recover’s executive director, who is based at the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. “Our use of advanced technologies, which led to the discovery of the B-25, enables us to accelerate and enhance the discovery and eventual recovery of our missing servicemen.”
Project Recover blends historical and archival data from multiple sources to narrow underwater search regions, then surveys the areas with scanning sonars, high definition imagers, advanced diving, and unmanned aerial and underwater robotic technologies.
“The latest discovery is a result of the dedication and fervent efforts of everyone associated with Project Recover,” said Dan Friedkin, chairman and CEO of The Friedkin Group and a member of the Project Recover team who provides private funding for the organization. “We are encouraged at the progress that is being made as our search efforts expand and remain committed to locating the resting places of all U.S. servicemen missing since World War II.”
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General Atomics’ Skyguardian Drone
Sets New Endurance Record
General Atomics’ MQ-9B Skyguardian remotely piloted aircraft has set a company record with the longest endurance flight of any Predator-series aircraft — 48.2 hours.
The company’s previous endurance record was held by Predator XP, which flew 46.1 hours in February 2015.
“This long-endurance flight is not only a significant achievement for our MQ-9B SkyGuardian aircraft but also a very timely landmark event for our company as we celebrate 25 years of aviation innovation this year,” said Linden Blue, CEO of General Atomicss Aeronautical Systems. “GA-ASI continues to push the envelope with versatile, reliable, cost-effective, and combat-proven RPA systems and sensors, and this latest feat is a testament to our industry legacy.”
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Free Architecture and Urban Design
Exhibition to be Presented on June 6
The San Diego Architectural Foundation will host Context Volume 4: Neighborhoods 2027 on June 6 to explore how well-designed, denser neighborhoods can improve the economic and environmental prospects for all San Diegans.
CV4 kicks off with a free, two-hour event that is open to the public, beginning at 3 p.m. at Green Acre Campus Pointe, 10300 Campus Point Drive, San Diego.
The free architecture and urban design exhibition will highlight more than 60 student exhibits from leading area architecture and design schools, including the Master of Science in Architecture in Real Estate Development program at Woodberry University, NewSchool of Architecture + Design, University of San Diego, UC San Diego and others. Winners of the Urban Land Institute Healthy Places Awards and the San Diego Housing Federation Ruby Awards will be displayed.
Tickets can be purchased at http://sdarchitecture.org/program/context/.
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Manchesters Gift $1 Million to
Sharp Mary Birch Hospital
Developer Doug Manchester and his wife Geniya have given a $1 million gift to Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns. The gift was announced at the hospital’s annual Women’s Luncheon Thursday at the Hyatt Aventine La Jolla. The luncheon was designed to honor the patients and caregivers at San Diego’s only women’s hospital.
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Personnel Announcements
Tyson & Mendes Promotes 2 to Partner
Insurance defense law firm Tyson & Mendes LLP today promoted attorneys Cayce Greiner and Daniel Fallon to partners in the firm’s San Diego headquarters.
Greiner previously served as special counsel in Tyson & Mendes’ San Diego office, focusing primarily on general liability and commercial litigation, while partnering with defense litigation teams within the firm on cases involving complex issues, catastrophic injury, or potential high exposure.
Greiner leads the firm’s Client Services Department and chairs its Women’s Initiative and Young Professionals Group.
Fallon also works out of Tyson & Mendes’ San Diego office, serving as senior counsel before being named partner. He specializes in professional liability, personal injury, general commercial liability and business litigation, and has significant experience developing and executing litigation strategies to the benefit of individual and corporate clients. He leads a multi-attorney litigation team and handles civil litigation across all of California.
