Education Study
The LWVPA is participating in the LWVUS study of the role of the federal government in public education.
Here are the consensus questions for the study.
Our consensus discussions will take place at the League Day on October 6 and the October Unit meetings.
The LWVUS Study Committee has prepared articles on the history of the federal role, funding and equity issues, common core standards, early childhood education and the education of children who are disadvantaged. All of the articles are interesting but you will find the information on the history, common core standards and early childhood education the most helpful in preparing to answer the consensus questions.
Redistricting
The Citizens Redistricting Commission set up by the passage of Proposition 11 in 2008 took input from citizens to help decide how to draw the lines for the state legislature, congress and the state Board of Equalization. They divided up the state into 9 regions and held two or more input meetings in each region. They then drew first drafts of the maps and went back out into the regions to get reactions of citizens.
Their intent was to draw a second draft of the maps and again receive public input on them. However the volume of input on the first draft was so large that the time schedule did not allow this to be done. The final maps were released July 29 and became official August 15.
See the commission's web site for much more, including video archives of previous meetings and visualizations of maps in the form of Google maps, which can be zoomed down to the street level.
Two lawsuits were filed, against the senate and congressional maps, but both were rejected by the state supreme court. Two groups gathered signatures for a referendum to overturn the senate and congressional maps. The congressional referendum failed but signatures for the senate referendum are still being counted to determine if it will qualify for the November ballot.
Our League is also interested in the redistricting process at the city and county level, and we are monitoring these events. Here is a list of community meetings on redistricting the Los Angeles County Supervisors.
Jail Study
We participated in the Los Angeles County Jail Study. Our consensus meeting was on January 6, 2011. Here is a flyer with details, and here are the panelists for the meeting.
Here is a report by the ACLU on conditions in Los Angeles County jails.
Here are reports of the LA County Civil Grand Jury for 2009 and 2007.
Here is the new position which came out of the consensus process.
Dropout Prevention Project
Our League formed an Education Advocacy Committee in January 2006 to use our education program positions to be part of the solution to the high school dropout problem in our ten communities.
The strategy we developed was to gather information, to assess the problem and develop recommendations for advocacy. We began by compiling a list of questions to ask school administrators, community leaders and dropouts and their families. Included was a list of items for the administrators and community leaders to rank for their effectiveness in preventing student dropouts.
Two subcommittees were created. One included the cities and towns in the Pasadena Unified School District (Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre). The other targeted the Monrovia Unified School District (Monrovia). Although we did not create sub-committees, work was also begun in Alhambra, San Gabriel, South Pasadena, and Monterey Park.
The committee's Findings and Recommendations were presented at an April, 2007 League Day. A joint progress report was reported in our Summer 2007 VOTER. Both subcommittees continue to work. In addition, we are partnering with LWV California to support dropout legislation currently being considered in our legislature. SB219 passed both houses of the legislature and was signed by the governor. Other bills, SB344, 405 and 406 are still in the legislature.
Affordable Housing
The League has been active in efforts to secure and preserve affordable housing in the San Gabriel Valley area; it has undertaken a number of activities, including:
- A February 2010 League Day presentation on the present state of affordable housing in the area. You can download Power Point slides from the three speakers, Joseph Carreras, Remy De La Peza and William Huang.
- Pasadena City Council Candidates' forum on affordable housing
- An every other Friday networking session designed to keep advocates current on the many housing activities in the region
- A review of the affordable housing positions for the cities in the League's service area
- Monitoring of the updates of Land Use and Housing element activities
Instant Runoff Voting
We continue to work on educating the public and elected officials about the benefits of Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), with the goal of getting IRV adopted for Pasadena local elections. See our IRV page for more details.