Mayor Kevin Johnson will have the attention of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on a regular basis. Johnson told reporters at a Monday press conference that Duncan selected him to co-chair a mayoral advisory council that will focus on federal education issues. The Duncan panel is one of two education panels to which Johnson was recently appointed: He will also lead a U.S. Conference of Mayors task force on K-12 public schools. Johnson described education as a key “civil rights issue” and said the majority of Sacramento schools are not keeping up with state standards. “The simplest thing I can do is make sure we do a better job of aligning our city programs and services with the s

Upon Mayor Kevin Johnson's invitation, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan came to Sacramento Thursday to discuss his views on charter schools and education reform. He also met with Sacramento legislators, students and teachers, before answering questions in a town hall forum. A little after 5 p.m., Johnson introduced Duncan to a public audience who gathered inside Sacramento's Central Library. In a five-minute speech, he outlined Duncan's resume as a Harvard graduate and superintendent of Chicago's Public Schools. "I'm more excited about the state and the potential of what we can do in this country with the leadership of President Obama and U.S. Secretary Arne Duncan," Johnson said.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is holding a town hall meeting Thursday with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. The public is invited to the town hall meeting, but the city is taking RSVPs ahead of time. You can RSVP here. Members of the public can find a seat at the meeting on a first-come basis. The city notes that space at the event will be limited. The town hall meeting will be held from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Tsakopoulos Library at 828 I Street. The Tsakopoulos Library is located at the Central Library downtown. The city will open the doors to the event at 4:30 p.m. Source: City of Sacramento Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.    

Mayor Kevin Johnson issued numerous draft recommendations Monday for improvements to Sacramento’s education system. They included evaluating schools with letter grades and setting up new educational programs and schools. The recommendations come out of the Mayor’s Education Summit, which was held in Sacramento in March and featured education figures such as New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee, chancellor of public schools in Washington, D.C. The ideas expressed in the draft white paper also include input from local educators, parents and citizens. “What we wanted to do with the white paper is to create a dialogue,” Johnson told reporters at a press conference wi