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\u2022 The Sac Bee has a good video<\/a> and story<\/a> about the fight for clean water, especially in the Central Valley. Runoff from farms and other agricultural uses puts pesticides and other contaminants into the water, and nobody has yet been able to tackle the issue. We keep hearing that there will be movement on the water issues, but we’ve been kicking this one down the can for decades. At this point, it is difficult to see what will be different this year. Especially if the Governor demands a multi-billion dollar bond for dams<\/a> as part of any bill.<\/p>\n \u2022 Teach to the test<\/a>! What we’ve learned in the years since No Child Left Behind is that the test scores are a fairly obtuse method of testing student achievement, and a relatively inefficient means of spending our money. But test away, the government loves them some data. Even the fact that California improved test scores<\/a> over the past couple years doesn’t do anything to bridge the achievement gap, nor does is bring back the billions in per-pupil spending that will probably serve to erode these improvements over the next few years.<\/p>\n \u2022 Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the results of test scores represent something of a failure for Antonio Villaraigosa<\/a> to live up to his rhetoric about “saving the schools.” Also, the Locke charter school in South Los Angeles showed the same inconsistent results as the rest of the city – charter schools are not a magic bullet.<\/p>\n