Selected recent California newspaper editorials

Nov. 3

Daily Breeze: "Speaking of those California pensions"

A delegation from Sacramento came by this week to make the case for CalPERS (California Public Employees' Retirement System), the nation's biggest pension fund. The reason, presumably, was to offset a recent spate of negative news stories and editorials.

They made several points, the most sensitive about the $100,000 Club.

That's the group of retired government employees who get six-digit or bigger pensions. It's a small group, by CalPERS standards — just 5,100 out of 500,000 retirees. And of the total number, half receive relatively modest pensions of $16,900 or less.

Moreover, 40 percent aren't entitled to Social Security, a fact often overlooked by those of us denouncing overgenerous government pensions.

Among the delegation's other points: CalPERS is committed to openness in managing its $205 billion fund, controlling unwarranted abuses such as pension-spiking and double-dipping, and minimizing big cost increases caused by the $80 billion dive the investment portfolio took in the past year. And by the way, the total cost of pensions are just 1 percent of the state budget (although this says nothing about city and county pension costs).

The delegation included union leader Rob Feckner, the president of the CalPERS board, and Brad W. Pacheco, the organization's public information director. Their timing was perfect, considering the Los Angeles Times that very morning reported further on the self-enrichment of political operative Alfred J. R. Villalobos.

Villalobos, a former member of the CalPERS board, has made an art of persuading CalPERS to invest billions of dollars in private investment funds for which he works. According to the Times report, the size of these payoffs has surprised even the most hardened of politicians; another former CalPERS board member, former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown Jr., said he was blown away by the amount of money Villalobos' clients paid him.

The fat fees came to light because CalPERS, inspired by state and federal investigations into pension-fund bribery and kickbacks in New York, ordered investment funds to disclose the fees they paid to intermediaries like Villalobos, and started its own investigation.

What Villalobos has been doing may be legal, but it smells rotten. And the presentation by the folks from Sacramento has gaping holes in it.

The pension system is so far removed from reality that its own chief actuary has said it is unsustainable. Even if it weren't destined to collapse of its own weight, why should government employees retire 10 years earlier than private-sector employees, with pensions that are unheard of outside of government?

Granted, 40 percent of public employees have modest pensions and aren't entitled to Social Security. But what about the other 60 percent, some of whom cruise away at age 55 with pensions bigger than their salaries?

Pensions and retiree health benefits are grossly underfunded, and taxpayers are going to get stuck with the bills. Here are some credible remedies from the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility:

Start charging employees at least half of the cost of pension contributions;

Stop giving higher public safety pensions for nonhazardous work;

Create a less expensive two-tiered system like that of the federal government;

Stop paying workers eligible for Social Security the same pension rates as those not eligible;

And stop counting sick pay or vacation pay toward pension benefits.

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Nov. 3

The Riverside Press-Enterprise: "Teaching blur"

California's fledgling student data system could be invaluable for setting sound education policy and improving schools — if the state can actually make use of the information. So the Legislature needs to change state law to ensure that the public reaps the full benefits of the new system.

SBx5 2, by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, would amend state law to give researchers easier access to new data on student achievement. Otherwise, the state will continue to craft education policy without any clear insight into what works.

The 2009-10 school year marks the debut of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, which will track individual student performance from year to year.

Until now, the state only tabulated test scores by school or district. That consolidated approach offered an overall picture, but without the crucial student details necessary to judge the success or failure of teaching methods and educational programs.

But current state law impedes the use of that treasure trove of school data. The law allows only individual districts to release student-specific information. So researchers wanting to study the state's school system would have to contact every district in the state to get the student files.

That approach makes little sense when the state now has a central database collecting that information. The law aims to protect student privacy, but privacy concerns need not obstruct investigation of education programs. Simitian's bill would give the state power to release student data to researchers, easing the task of getting access to the files. Such expert studies are key to providing schools, the public and legislators with an accurate picture of the education system's strengths and weaknesses.

California has embarked on a host of educational reforms in the past decade, from reducing class sizes to holding schools accountable for improving yearly test scores. But the state has had little way to judge the effectiveness of those strategies, thanks to a lack of basic information about student performance.

The 2007 series of studies on California's school system, led by Stanford University, even noted that the state's school data was so inadequate that "even if we implemented reforms that were particularly effective, we might not realize it." Better information about students and classroom performance is vital to improving the state's education system, the studies said.

California will spend nearly $67 billion in local, state and federal funds on K-12 education this fiscal year. But the state should ensure that it spends that sizable taxpayer investment on effective programs.

Legislators should clear the legal roadblocks, so California will finally have some hard facts to inform education decisions. Basing school policy on knowledge is a far better strategy than making choices with blind hope.

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Nov. 3

Fresno Bee: "Flawed law forces court to OK text threats"

How should a school react when a high school student sends a text message like this: "im gonna come to school with one of phillips gun and kill half the school ill load everyone with bullets and then shoot myself in the head right in front of u."

Is this simply a melodramatic display, a Pleasant Valley High School student in the Chico Unified district reacting all out of proportion to a girlfriend breaking off a relationship -- or a credible threat to others and himself?

In this case, the student who received the message told a friend and word spread to other students, one of whom told the Chico police. The sender was arrested and prosecuted for a misdemeanor offense. The juvenile court placed the 16-year-old on informal probation and ordered him to write a 500-word essay on the Columbine High School shootings.

But the message on electronic threats now is mixed, because a state appeals court ruled last week that the sender did not threaten any physical harm to the person who received the message: "That text states C. C. will shoot 'half the school' and then shoot himself in front of S. It does not threaten harm to her."

The law narrowly limits the definition of threat to the person receiving the message. Unfortunately, the ruling sends the perverse message to adults that it is OK to make threats, so long as you don't threaten the person to whom you are sending an electronic communication. The law itself is flawed and needs fixing.

That said, criminal prosecution should not be a first resort in dealing with teenagers. Immature students, no doubt, will continue to make threats, and most will never carry them out. We ought to be wary of criminalizing emotional turmoil in minors.

Schools cannot ignore violent threats. In most cases, students need a swift message from their parents and school that they must take responsibility for their actions. A 500-word essay and supervision was an appropriate punishment — and the school itself could have imposed it without resorting to the courts.

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Oct. 29

Santa Cruz Sentinel: "Fire and rain: Controlled burns can benefit forest and fire management"

Burn piles.

That's the "Jeopardy" answer to the question: What is the leading cause of wildfires?

By now, many fire officials at least suspect that a smoldering pile of brush and other vegetation was the cause of the latest blase to hit Santa Cruz County — Sunday's nearly 500-acre Loma Fire.

What was different about this fire from others that have scorched significant sections of the Santa Cruz Mountains over the past couple of years was that it started after a storm dumped nearly 10 inches of rain in the Summit area.

Also: The burn pile may have been part of a controlled burn by the state fire agency, Cal Fire.

While a Cal Fire controlled burn has not yet officially been identified as sparking the Loma Fire, officials have said they know where the fire started. The location is where Cal Fire crews were doing a controlled burn last week.

Most wildfire problems come from brush pile burns instigated by private landowners. These burns either are not tended properly or get out of control — and the result is a wildfire.

Last year's much more devastating Summit Fire, for instance, has been blamed on an unattended burn pile on private property less than two miles from this week's fire.

If the controlled burn did start this fire, does this mean the procedure should be stopped?

No. Fire officials have long known that such burns reduce the threat of fire danger in forested areas by removing dead limbs and trees and dry brush — essentially the combustible vegetation that can fuel raging wildfires. The last time a local prescribed fire turned into a wildfire was in the 1980s at Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

If attributable to a burn pile, the Loma Fire clearly was an accident, though it's a legitimate question to ask if last week's controlled burns were too early in the rainy season. While the big storm did bring a lot of rain, we've had several years of dry conditions verging on drought and it will take time to add moisture to the forests and hills.

Still, the benefits of clearing the forest floor of dead vegetation are numerous, from spurring growth of trees and seedlings, to providing safe passage for firefighters the next time a wildfire comes calling.

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Nov. 3

MediaNews: "Horrific rape places Richmond at another crossroad"

In 2005, hardly a day went by that a boy or young man wasn't wounded or killed in a street shooting in Richmond. After months of bloodletting, Richmond residents had had enough.

Spiritual leaders, city officials, police and community organizations got together to craft a strategy for reducing Richmond's homicide rate. The city finally began to make a dent in violent crime.

When the violence spiked again, concerned residents pitched a tent near a park where some of the worst violence had occurred. More tent cities sprung up. The protesters lived in the tents for 37 days. Their dramatic action forced Richmondites to seek solutions to the violence.

Once again, Richmond finds itself at a crossroads that demands the community to rise up and say, enough!

Nine days ago, residents awoke to discover that a 15-year-old girl had been gang raped after her homecoming dance at Richmond High School. Because of the sheer depravity of the incident — gawkers actually cheered and snapped photos on their cell phones while the young girl was being violated by as many as seven boys and young men — it made international news.

A city that has been struggling for years to lift itself up and repair its reputation now finds its name linked to this heinous attack in the national conscience.

Richmond, unfairly, is being characterized as a violent, urban wasteland. Upstanding residents find themselves tarred with the same brush as those who committed the vicious attacks. Hardworking students at Richmond High feel they've been demonized in the national media because of the twisted acts of a few — some of whom didn't even attend their school.

There is nothing Richmond can do to turn back the clock. But what Richmondites can do is send a loud and clear message that they will not tolerate this kind of sickness in their community. That there is absolutely no reasonable justification for the grotesque dehumanization of this young girl.

Spiritual leaders from across the Bay Area held a vigil at Richmond High School on Monday. It was a good start.

They talked about the outrage, and the idea that the community needs to become more involved to prevent such crimes in the future.

"I pray this will be a teachable moment," says Rev. Andre Shumake, president of the Richmond Improvement Association, which helped organize the Black-on-Black Crime Summit and is sponsoring the vigil. "I pray this will be a teachable moment."

We hope so, too.