We would argue that it's more unfair to hand them a diploma that doesn't mean anything and doesn't arm them with the skills and knowledge they'll need.

There is some good news in that the financial impacts on the district won't be as severe as if the protest would have taken place earlier in the year.

The superintendent believes strongly that those students need to continue with their education because those are baseline skills that they need once they enter the workforce.

Jack is not prepared to reverse his position on this bill. We need some more time to review options that would be appropriate and applicable to all students.

He was very much looking forward to attending the brunch. But we just couldn't iron out the transportation issues. And there wasn't a way we could clone him.

This is one of those things both sides of the aisle probably agree on. Jack has been talking about this for some time. Jack's view is that we need to invest in voc-ed in ways that help students prepare for the careers of tomorrow rather than the careers of yesterday.

Under the law . . . these students are not required to present such records in order to be enrolled. We in California want to be accommodating as possible for these students. We don't want any bureaucratic paperwork to prevent them from being in school.

Districts [face] more pressure on them to perform, [but] they have less resources to do the same job. It's putting a lot of pressure on schools to look for every available dollar, to look for creative ways to squeeze every cent they're entitled to out of the system.