Cheats, freaks, leaders and laggards (more bad news)

• Horse Sense (New York Times)

This morning, I came across this fun comment about the delusion that we can predict the future--or at least the future of horse races. According to former jockey Sean Clancy,

Horses are just like people; there are smart ones, dumb ones, miserable ones, honest ones, simple ones, cheats, freaks, leaders and laggards. They have good days, bad days and plenty of average days. They can be brilliant one minute, horrible the next. They can remember something that happened a year ago and forget what they learned yesterday. They’ll walk placidly into a metal starting gate that clangs and rings when the doors open, and then be scared of a bucket that wasn’t there yesterday.

And we think we know what’s going to happen this afternoon [at the horse race].

• Black Friday: OC Register loses second star reporter in one day

The OC Weekly’s R. Scott Moxley notes that ace reporter Norberto Santana Jr. is leaving the OC Register. Earlier in the day, the Weekly’s Nick Schou had reported that John Gittelsohn is also leaving the Reg—for a job with Bloomberg News.

Santana's departure … means that Orange County's largest daily newspaper has lost two of its best talents. Translation to the public: the ability of our local journalism community to deliver key news stories about corruption just suffered a serious blow.

Moxley offers the two his “best wishes.”

• UCI’s endowment fund plunges by $45 million (OC Reg)

Busy bee Gary Robbins informs us that the recession has caused a steep drop in UCI’s endowment fund:

Newly-released figures show that UCI’s endowment declined by about $45 million during the one year period ending on March 31. The drop comes as UCI is struggling to figure out how it is going to cut an estimated $55 million to help the state erase a projected $24.3 billion deficit. The campus has frozen faculty hiring and some university staff are expected to be furloughed or laid off.

How does this drop compare with that of other UC campuses? According to Thomas Mitchell, VC of university advancement, other universities are “‘reporting losses of 20 or 30 percent….’” Apparently, UCI is nothing special in this regard.


• As community colleges trim, PE's on the line

Noting that Gov. Schwarzenegger is proposing $825 million in cuts from the community college budget, Laurel Rosenhall of the Sacramento Bee reports that the Governor “suggested cuts from support programs for disabled and disadvantaged students, and a reduction in funding for physical education classes.”

Critics say that this approach means laying off 6,000 part-time teachers and turning away a quarter million students. Ouch!

Well, something’s gotta give. Naturally, some object to targeting PE, and this brings up the local vs. state control issue, among others:

Educators say it's a case of legislators micromanaging their curriculum, while legislative analysts say limiting PE is the most practical way to trim during historic budget stress.

Jack Scott, chancellor of the state's community colleges, says course cutbacks should be determined locally. ¶ "Each local community college has a better feel for what its priorities are and what are the things they could more easily do without," he said.

But the legislative analysts who suggested the PE cut say state law makes clear that when times are tight, California must prioritize what the colleges teach. Vocational and academic courses are most important, the law says, and recreational courses are at the bottom of the heap.
…
[According to the Schwarzenegger/Legislative Analyst's Office proposal, state] funding would be cut from a rate that would total $4,600 if students were taking a full courseload to $2,700 per full-time student. The $2,700 is the amount the state now pays the colleges for non-credit courses, such as fitness for older adults. Students would still get credit for PE courses, even if they're funded at the non-credit rate.


[Paul Steenhausen of the Legislative Analyst's Office] says many community college PE classes are more about fun than credit. ¶ "It's like a community center," Steenhausen said. "Yoga, Pilates, pingpong, badminton, skiing."
…
Scott said he's already urging the colleges to start that process. He wants them to put top priority on classes that teach remedial academic skills, prepare students for the job market or get them ready to transfer to four-year schools….

IRONY FOR A SATURDAY:

The great Richard Thompson doing the not-so-great Britney Spears’ “Oops...I did it again!”