The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • 11

Local NEWS ONLINE wwwfresnobeecom SECTION OBITUARIES 5 OPINION 6 WEATHER 8 THE FRESNO BEE THURSDAY AUGUST 5 1999 1 0 Edison Schools Inc has yet to show a profit expect a cash Van Meter said Bee how that can be done without taking it out of the pocket of kids There enough money to do the job and pay dividends at the same Edison Schools Inc also received resistance from Fresno Unified's governing board Trustees opposed the takeover of Bethune but Bethune staff and Edison appealed successfully to the county Board of Education Bethune is the first Valley school that will be operated by a for-profit company In the 1998-99 school year Edison managed 51 public schools and nearly 24000 students For the upcoming school year Edison expects to operate 77 schools with 37000 students Founded in 1991 Edison has capitalized on the growing dissatisfaction with public schools Edison generally takes over schools whose students do poorly on standardized tests Edison promises low-performing schools innovative curriculum computers and money for new materials staff training parental involvement and longer school days According to the prospectus Edison Schools Inc had an accumulated loss of about $112 million as of March 1 1999 have incurred substantial net losses in every fiscdl period since we began the prospectus says have not yet demonstrated that public schools can be profitably man aged by private companies and we are not certain when we will become profitable if at Though Edison has yet to make a profit officials say the company is experiencing rapid growth fueled by the success of its schools But not everyone is sold on the company Jay Van Meter executive director of the Fresno Teachers Association said for-profit companies should Btay out of the public education business The association in addition to its state and national affiliates opposes the takeover of any public school by a for-profit company some point in time investors will warns future investors to risk factors before investing in the stock Gaynor McCown vice president of corporate strategies said Bhe could not comment on the filing other than to say: are very pleased with where we In addition to going public the company changed its name which was formerly the Edison Project In July Edison Schools Inc took over management of Fresno Be-thune Elementary School a struggling school in southwest Fresno By Angela Valdivia Rush THE FRESNO BEE The nation's largest for-profit company for operating public schools plans to offer its stock publicly a move that will help raise money for an operation that includes a Fresno elementary school Edison Schools Inc filed papers Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial offering of $172 million of Edison's Class-A common stock The filing did not disclose the estimated price range A prospectus Tiled with the SEC Fresno panel OKs overhaul in zoning code project and attend a related public hearing iB adequate Currently the range of notices runs from 10 to 21 days depending on the type of hearing Commissioner Nat DiBuduo dissented after his try to extend notices to 15 days failed Commissioners Lemarr Treadwell Terry Stone Jesse Alvarez and Sherian Eckenrod prevailed Still most of the changes got rave reviews from commissioners from Johnson and from Sue Williams representing the Sunnyside Property Owners Association Largely they are seen as further improving response times in a Development Department that has grown speedier in recent years Director A1 Solis said the changes get rid of cut and Changes for example automatically grant four yean to build a project granted under a use permit instead of two yean with a two-year extension Solis automatically can approve a 7-foot-high fence between commercial and residential property owners instead of requiring a variance from the 6-foot norm which adds extra costs and another 45 days to the process He can send projects straight to public hearings without Please see Planning Page B2 Changes attack cut and By Jim Wasserman THE FRESNO BEE After two years assembling hundreds of their most outdated impractical and time-hindering zoning tools city planners appear headed toward a faster less-complicated style of shaping growth Wednesday the Planning Commission approved the most comprehensive overhaul of zoning aides in 40 years Though most are minor changes among axles that regulate everything from fence heights to uses permitted in mobile home parks the changes also standardize notices for public hearings at 10 days which proved controversial with neighborhood activists need that said Joni Johnson president of Fresno Neighborhood Alliance still have Operation Rezone continuing This allows the public adequate time to go through with their motions You're cutting the public's response time by Still four of five commissioners present Wednesday sided with city staff members saying 10 days to find out about a Taiwanese visitors to their sister city of Madera say people and climate remind them of home Wendy Lin of the Formosa Melody Youth Chinese Orchestra plays the liuching and Vincent Li accompanies her on the cello during a performance Tuesday at Madera's Berenda Elementary School cians is its American sister city: Madera This week the 14-member Formosa Melody Youth Chinese Orchestra is playing traditional Chinese flutes organs trumpets and Btringed instruments at Madera schools and hospitals At 7 pm today the orchestra will give a free public concert at Madera High south campus auditorium The group strummed blew and plucked traditional Chinese tunes Tuesday morning for students on stage in Berenda Elementary School cafeteria The members demonstrated their instruments such as the erhu liuching zonghu and gqjan between songs After the concert the Taiwanese students ages 11-18 visited elementary Bchool classrooms where Please see Madera Page B2 By Terence Chea THE FRESNO BEE MADERA Although thousands of miles from her native Taiwanese city of I-Lan 18-year-old percussionist Tseng Yi-Ling feels right at home among citrus groves and tomato fields here are very kind and the scenery is very Tseng said remarking that agricultural landscape reminds her of the northern Taiwanese farming city where she lives the reason I like Tseng and 20 other Taiwanese music students and teachers are on a 19-day tour of the United States including Btops in large cities like New York Houston Orlando and San Francisco But the city that feels most like home to the young Taiwanese musi Fall outlook bright at Sunnyside High HUNTINGTON Despite concerns the southeast Fresno school should be ready to open Aug 23 KINGS CANYON LANE Clovis trustees OK revised budget of $358 million BUTLER I '-v 1 THE FRESNO BEE By Anheia Valdivia Rrsii nit: I RISNO HI Anyone who doubts Sunnyside High School will be ready to accept its first group of students fur the 1999-2000 school year needs to walk the sprawling campus Desks computers and textbooks are being moved into freshly painted classrooms Pots utensils and cookie sheets are finding their way to the kitchen Restrooms are being stocked with toilet paper the snack bar with goodies Construction workers are fine-tuning the 330000-square-foot mission-style campus Those scenes say school principal John Marinovich and contractor Dwight- Nelson nues this year comes from money being spent on building new schools That money comes from state construction funds and local bond money approved in past elections by voters in the Clovis Unified School District The district with an enrollment projected at 31900 for the year is in the midst of an ambitious construction program that includes the Ronald Reagan Educational Center at DeWolfe and Gettysburg avenues At the same time the district is carrying out state-mandated programs such as reduced class sizes in grades kindergarten through three The district also is committed to its own initia- tives sucH as Any and $146391 in one-time money Bill McGuire associate superintendent of business services said possible uses could be money for counselors social workers and psychologists trained in conflict resolution Other options could include programs that identify students Trustees also pitched several ideas A few members such as Trustee Susan Walker want to increase salaries for Clovis Unified police officers the district is one of only 15 statewide with its own police force Police ranks have a high turnover rate District officials are likely to bring safety options and estimated costs back to the board next month By Felicia Cousart Matlosz THE FRESNO BEE Clovis school trustees Wednesday adopted a $3577 million revised spending plan for the upcoming year that includes money for an ongoing construction program and more money for textbooks While the I Clovis trustees 1999-2000 seek to settle a budget counts for ex-lawsuit Page B4 penses of $3577 million revenues will come in at $3087 million Much of the $49 million difference between expenses and reve where that revolves around the use of personal laptop computers in grades seven through 10 Trustees adopted a budget in June but changes were needed this month after the state Legislature made final determinations on education spending for the year The revised plan includes about $45 million more in state money for textbooks supplies and other instructional materials to support public schools carrying out new reforms Safety issues make up another part of the revised plan The district is getting $514798 from the state for that purpose $368407 for ongoing programs should assure any disbelievers is a lot of activity here getting everything in the right Marinovich said Some Fresno trustees and administrators expressed concern last month that Sunnyside might not be ready in time for the start of school Aug 23 Marinovich said about 30 future Sunnyside High Wildcats have volunteered to help with the enormous task of getting Please see Sun nysktaj Page B2.