School Beat: What’s up in 2008 for San Francisco’s SchoolsLisa Schiffbyline‚ Jan. 03‚ 2008The arrival of the New Year marks the approximate half-way point in the school year, which so far has passed by relatively quietly. But the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), like all districts around the country, faces difficult challenges requiring difficult decisions, so that relative calm will surely be coming to an end soon. Familiar issues will drive those decisions, though 2008 will bring some unique aspects. The budget keeps its historic place at the top of the list of things to watch out for. School finance is always a complicated headache given that California spends so little per pupil and what it does spend must travel through a sticky bureaucratic maze of legislated requirements and associated paperwork (ironically resulting in less money going directly to classrooms). The new twist this year is the fallout from the housing market blow-out. Poor lending practices have begun to manifest themselves in record numbers of foreclosures, which reduces revenue for the state, which in turn means less money for all state-funded programs like public education. |