Real ID $$ under the microscope + Democrat wants to do the math on Teach for America
Top of the Tuesday morning to you, California. Take care of yourselves, ok? Keep calm and carry on, as they say, but carry some hand sanitizer, too.
COVID-19 UPDATE - The Grand Princess cruise ship has entered the San Francisco Bay and is set to dock in Oakland, where the roughly 2,500 passengers will disembark after spending days at sea under a coronavirus quarantine.
But their journey is not over yet.
The passengers are expected remain under quarantine. There have been 46 people tested for COVID-19, with 21 testing positive for the virus.
Outside of the Grand Princess, California has recorded an additional 133 cases of coronavirus, according to the Department of Public Health.
REAL ID MONEY
California lawmakers this week will be taking a hard look at the state Department of Motor Vehicles’ implementation of REAL ID.
That begins on Tuesday morning, when the Senate Subcommittee on Resources, Environmental Protection, Energy and Transportation, gets a briefing from state DMV Director Steve Gordon.
On Wednesday, watch for the discussion to kick up at a morning update before the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Resources and Transportation.
Remember, REAL ID is part of a federal mandate intended to make airline travel safer by introducing more stringent security requirements in order to obtain the ID. Beginning in October, you will have to have a REAL ID to board an airplane.
California has issued 7.2 million REAL IDs so far, as of Dec. 31, 2019, according to the DMV, with a goal of issuing 16 million by October 2020. To hit that goal, the DMV will need to issue more than 800,000 REAL IDs every month; the state is currently issuing between 350,000 and 470,000 a month.
“The Department has indicated that this under-performance is a result of both longer processing times and lower customer volume than expected,” according to a report submitted to the Senate subcommittee. “To address this, the Department has indicated that it is working to implement the recommendations of a number of process improvement pilot efforts statewide.”
However, more DMV customers are having to wait longer than 2.5 hours before getting a REAL ID and the DMV “has not been truly tested by having the large volumes of customers wanting REAL IDs that is anticipated,” according to an Assembly subcommittee staff report.
In case you haven’t gotten one yet, here’s how you can get your hands on a California REAL ID.
IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED...
Try, try again...and again and again and again.
Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, once again launched an effort to rein in Teach for America, a national nonprofit that helps staff public schools with entry-level educators on short-term contracts.
Garcia said an eventual crack down bill will result from the data collected in her latest legislation. Her former two attempts to ban TFA from low-income schools failed to garner enough support for a 2019 bill to pass her house. Garcia said her colleagues asked for more quantitative evidence of TFA’s failures before they made a legislative decision to limit the organization’s reach in California schools.
Assembly Bill 2906 would require districts to detail how many hours of training and coaching intern-credentialed teachers receive, along with student metrics and educator demographics. The data will also capture whether these teachers are on a path to full credentials.
TFA is an alternative teacher recruitment organization that places aspiring educators in districts throughout the country. The “corps members” pledge two years to the program, but often enter the classroom without full credentials. They’re instead trained through a weeks-long summer boot camp called “institute” to prepare them for grade level and subject matter assignments.
Garcia, who taught math for 13 years in low-income schools, said TFA and third-party groups operate under a “false illusion” of service that harms black and brown students in poorer districts.
“It’s ending what I think are poverty tours coming into schools for a couple of years with altruistic goals. And I acknowledge that. But altruism is not enough,” Garcia said.
TFA spokeswoman Lindsay Kelly said in a statement that the organizations believes “California should have a robust data collection system,” and that the group is reviewing the bill and has met with Garcia on the issue.
You can read my full report here.
Bonus — Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Monday that First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom was tapped as honorary chair of the California Volunteers Commission.
“California Volunteers is at the forefront of driving civic engagement and service opportunities to create a culture of WE,” Siebel Newsom said in a statement. “I’m excited to serve as Honorary Chair of this important effort.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Running for office is not for the faint of heart. You’re going to be a target. Trust me, I know. If you get into the arena, you have to be ready to take a punch and throw a punch — for the children. It’s tough, but it’s necessary and worth it.”
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, via Twitter.
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