School Bonds 101 -- a financial lesson for the ages

Thanks to the report in the L.A. Times, I've now fully jumped into the bonds bandwagon. Suffice to say, it's not fun.

A recap: an L.A. Times report rang alarm bells on Capital Appreciation Bonds, which accrue enormous amount of interest and could sock the taxpayers with huge repayments for funds borrowed through bonds to build schools, etc. I blogged about it last week. 

The issue, as usual, is a lot more complicated than that. No wonder sometimes experts hate us journalists for being overly simplistic.

Don't take my word for it. Take a look at the documents that spell out the obligations that both buyers and sellers get into when trading bonds. Series D of Hartnell bonds, sold in 2009, can be found here. The most recent issue of MPUSD bonds can be found here. 

Naturally, I don't expect anybody to read them. That's my job. So by the end of the week, expect a full report. In the meantime, pass the aspirin. 

English learners and the Stanford project

When I wrote an article about English learners and the Common Core a couple of weeks ago, I failed to link to the Understanding Language Project at Stanford University. The team is working on developing teaching resources to share, something that could be very useful as schools work on implementing the Common Core Standards.

The project will host a webinar to discuss their unit "Persuasion across time and space," a unit for 7th graders that analyzes a series of texts in the context of the Common Core. I was lucky to attend a workshop on this unit taught by Prof. Aída Walqui, who piloted the program in Oakland to much success. So English teachers out there, I highly recommend the webinar!

#FreeToTweet: could you win a $5,000 scholarship?

Last year, Marina Abigail "Abby" Hoffman, now a freshman at UC Berkeley and a graduate of Steven, tweeted her way to a $5,000 scholarship for her message about the First Amendment.

Could the winner be you this year?

Beginning at midnight on Dec. 1 through 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 15, (yea, I'm arriving late to the party) students at a high school, community college or university ages 14 and up can tweet their support for the First Amendment with the hash tag #FreeToTweet, which will enter them in the “Free to Tweet” scholarship competition.

Last year’s campaign received more than 17,000 submissions in one day, including a tweet of support from the White House.

Students can enter the scholarship competition by tweeting a message of support – using the hashtag #FreeToTweet – for the First Amendment. A panel of educators and First Amendment experts will review the entries and award five $5,000 scholarships.

Judging criteria and complete rules can be found here. Updates on the event can be followed on Twitter at @FreeToTweet2012.