L.A. Schools Still Awaiting Disaster Aid From ’94 Quake
Los Angeles schools are still waiting for almost half of the $130 million in federal aid promised the district for the repair of schools damaged in the 1994 earthquake.
The district’s school board announced last month that $60 million in federal money is still needed to repair 1,000 of the 6,400 buildings damaged in the Jan. 17, 1994, quake. (See Education Week, 1/26/94.)
School officials said the money has been delayed in part by federal relief efforts that have followed other natural disasters in the state. Board members, noting that freeways have been repaired before schools, are asking the state’s U.S. senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, for help in speeding up delivery of the repair money.
Standards Review Sought: The Virginia school board voted last week to create a task force to revise the state’s proposed academic standards for social studies.
The move came after months of debate in which critics charged the new rules advanced a conservative political agenda. (See Education Week, 4/19/95.)
After the board’s vote, William C. Boscher, the state superintendent, announced that the board would assign the task force of teachers, parents, and business leaders to rewrite the standards outlining what K-12 students should know and be able to do in social studies.
Many teachers and parents’ groups had said, for example, that the proposed social-studies guidelines misrepresented African-American history and promoted religious doctrine. The task force is expected to hold its first meeting next month.
