Let Me School You

Published: Thursday, December 18, 2008 4:11 PM PST

E-MAIL STORY

Have burning questions or great tips about schools in San Diego County? Friday is your day to send me out to answer them as the People's Reporter.

I only have a day to chase down your questions about education, but I will do my best to track down what I can, and file away the ideas that are too big for one day on the job. You have the power my editor normally has -- and you don't even have to give me a paycheck.

I can also answer any questions you have about education reporting or any of my recent stories. Wondering about the looming budget crisis? School closures? Standardized testing? The new, labor-friendly school board installed in San Diego Unified?

Shoot me a question at emily.alpert@voiceofsandiego.org, or post your questions below.

-- EMILY ALPERT

Editor´s Choice
The reader comments you won't want to miss. (Editor's Choice selection do not represent the views of the editors. They are comments that seem to add to the discussion as opposed to less productive insults or arguments.)

How does High Tech High School, a public charter school, get to charge tuition (up to $1,600) for a voluntary summer school? Charter schools--all taxpayer funded public schools-- are required to be tuition free. Is there an exception that permits charters to fundraise through offering special summer programs?

Posted by Eddie | reply to this comment
December 19, 2008 9:30 am

The opportunity to combine a public school in a downtown office building is not as odd as it sounds. There is a school in Philadelphia (Friends Select at 17th&Parkway) that shares a building with the Pennwalt Corp. The school owns the property in that instance. It's a great way to combine library resources and move public projects forward. A separate entrace for the school is important. Are there any similar instance in So. Cal.? A question of a different sort; What is the likelyhood of SDUSD charging for busing like some districts have started to do? What would the impacts be?

Posted by MLK | reply to this comment
December 19, 2008 9:51 am

4 Comments so far on this story...

You do an excellent job. Keep up the good work.

Posted by Mr. Middleton | reply to this comment
December 18, 2008 8:36 pm

This fall, Prop. S proponents argued that a Yes vote was needed in part to finance Wi-Fi/broadband services for needy public schools, but SDUSD schools are already eligible for "E-Rate," a federal telecom access subsidy program through the Universal Service Fund that covers up to 90% of the costs to wire a school. E-Rate is a $2+ billion program which on average covers more than 80% of a school's Internet access costs, including wireless LANs. So what's going on here, double-dipping? What are the real costs of the high-tech needs of SDUSD schools? Hopefully voters did not approve a new digital slush fund - with billions of dollars in E-Rate waste, fraud and abuse over the years, I'd hate to read in the future that San Diego tech vendors abused both Prop. S funds and E-Rate funds.

Posted by UTC | reply to this comment
December 19, 2008 12:23 pm

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