When President Barack Obama announced last month that he is taking executive action to ban the solitary confinement of juveniles in federal prisons, it was a rare case of Washington setting policy more liberal than what comes out of Sacramento. In California’s Democratic-controlled Legislature, bills to restrict the use of solitary confinement on youth have […]
Posted inHealth
The other ‘high-cost’ drugs: What specialty drugs mean for California
NOTE: Somebody redirected this to medium.com version. Doing the same here. What’s behind the jaw-dropping cost of new “specialty drugs” like Orkambi, which has a sticker price of $259,000 per year for cystic fibrosis patients? Orkambi, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last July, is expected to take almost $36 million […]
Posted inEducation, K-12 Education
How much are teachers in your district paid?
The searchable database below shows how teacher and staff salaries have grown since the Great Recession in more than 650 of California’s 1,022 school districts. As it illustrates, California education funding is finally booming. The $71.6 billion budget that Gov. Jerry Brown proposed in January would be the fifth consecutive year of growth since the […]
Posted inEducation, K-12 Education
Champion of California schools advises conservative approach on state funds
When former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell was termed out five years ago, the popular politician could only watch as a state budget deficit eroded his signature priorities to reduce class size and improve the performance of Latino and African-American students. These days, O’Connell, 64, spends his time hopscotching the state advising school […]
Posted inEducation, K-12 Education
The price of education
VALLEJO, Calif. — Vallejo High School teacher Lewis Brown starts his morning government class with a question of the day that takes advantage of newly assigned iPads. Teacher Salary Database “Today is the one year anniversary of the French magazine terrorist assassination,” Brown says. “What was the name of the magazine?” The seniors type on […]
Posted inHealth
California doles out hefty payments for hepatitis C drugs
Private health plans invoiced the state of California $387.5 million to cover high-cost hepatitis C treatments in Medi-Cal between July 2014 and November 2015, when just 3,624 patients received the treatments, according to the California Department of Health Care Services. The state’s supplemental payments started after managed care plans that cover health services for almost […]
Posted inPolitics
Jerry Brown’s complicated relationship with environmentalists
In 1976, a year into his first term as governor, Jerry Brown signed a bill that came to be seen as one of the strongest environmental protection laws in the country. The California Coastal Act limited development along the 1,100-mile shoreline and guaranteed public access to the beach. Yet just two years later, Brown had […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers reject bills aimed at artificial turf
Is it safe for children to play on fields made of ground up old tires? Recycled tires on California parks The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery gives grants to communities that use products made of recycled tires in their construction projects. Here are a few that won grants for using the substance known […]
Posted inHealth
The obscurity of drug spending in Medi-Cal
California will be a flashpoint in the policy debate this year around reining in the cost of high-priced prescription drugs. A measure expected to be before voters this November would restrict the state’s payments for drugs to no more than the lowest prices paid for the same drug by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. […]