Batten down the hatches

During these dark, stormy, wintery times there's been plenty of ominous rumblings on the school budget front. I've been lax about reporting the news, partly because we're so early in the game—much of what we hear now is posturing ahead of the real battles in Sacramento. And partly because I'm starting a new job and have other fish to fry. But here are a few links worth noting:

Kim Knox has been providing her usually comprehensive coverage of SFUSD meetings and developments:

• Superintendent: Freezing All New Programs Under Prop H’s Third Third
• 1/22/08 BOE Meeting Minutes
• BOE To Cut Classroom Funding, But Keeps Extra $6.5 Million for Themselves

I often disagree with Kim and find fault with her reporting, but I have to give her credit for her consistent effort and diligence.

Here is a link to the webcast of the January 22nd BOE meeting.

School Beat also weighed in on the budget battle with Education is a Budget Target, Again

If we haven't depressed you enough yet, here are some SfGate articles that report the bad news in technicolor:

• Governor's Budget Proposal - K-12 Education
• State schools chief coping with cuts

Me? I suggest taking a walk in the cold and the wind and the rain. All this squalling about the budget will blow over eventually. Yes, hard times are ahead. But the real dimensions of the bad news, and the real remedies and impacts won't be visible for a long while yet. Mother Nature's storms are so much more real. And quite beautiful in their own way.

Update: giving credit where it is due, the photo above was found on Flickr and taken by Flickr member say.fromage