California Board Of Education

The president of the state Board of Education on Wednesday sharply criticized President Clinton's proposal for national standardized tests, telling a congressional committee that states and school districts are best suited to assess academic achievement. Echoing the concerns raised by an array of critics, Yvonne Larsen called the testing proposal a federal intrusion into a local issue.

Turnout was low but emotions ran high Saturday at a State Board of Education hearing on proposed regulations for breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District. The proposed regulations would require those trying to secede to analyze issues of race and class segregation as well as labor agreements in their breakup petitions. About 40 people attended the session at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, the last of two hearings held by the board in Los Angeles.

Bowing to pressure from groups seeking to divide the Los Angeles Unified School District, the State Board of Education postponed action Friday on regulations governing the proposed breakup and promised to hold hearings in Los Angeles before making a final decision. The board action came on a split vote after breakup proponents from the San Fernando Valley and South-Central Los Angeles castigated the draft regulations as a disguised attempt to block, rather than facilitate, their plans.

The president of the State Board of Education on Friday issued a sternly worded rebuke of California's top elected school official, accusing her of exceeding her authority in an appearance this week at the White House. The criticism of state Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin had to do with her endorsement of a Clinton administration plan for national tests of fourth-graders' reading skills and eighth-graders' math skills.

Politicians, parents and civic leaders lambasted the State Board of Education on Friday over proposed regulations for breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District, contending that the rules would destroy efforts to dismantle the sprawling school system.

Fueling the debate over bilingual education, a State Board of Education panel took steps Thursday to let Orange County's multiethnic Westminster School District teach all students in English, but compensate by increasing the use of bilingual teaching aides.

Gov. Pete Wilson has appointed a prominent San Gabriel Valley activist to the State Board of Education. Marina Tse, 47, a special education teacher in Duarte, has served on several education organizations in her 20-year teaching career, including the state's Special Education Advisory Commission from which she will have to resign when she begins her four-term on the board next week. Tse is a member of the Los Angeles County Children's Planning Council and the Chinese American Education Assn.

The state Board of Education on Thursday postponed making a decision on whether to hold local public hearings on proposed regulations governing bids to break up school districts. The school board pushed back discussion of the controversial regulations to its November meeting, citing the need to review materials and hold further discussions.

An expected key step in the yearlong effort to improve the state's weak performance in teaching children to read blew up Thursday in a series of angry exchanges between state schools chief Delaine Eastin and members of the State Board of Education. Board members, who had been set to vote on a new state reading policy, complained that they were not given time to study the 20-page document, which was being revised as late as Wednesday night.