In a replay of earlier battles, state Sen. Noreen Evans is going after Big Oil in California in an attempt to raise money for higher education and state parks.

Five of six school funding measures in Sonoma County were in commanding leads Tuesday night with early returns and mail-in ballots tallied.

California Superintendent of Schools Tom Torlakson will be in Santa Rosa Saturday campaigning for a school funding ballot initiative and speaking to a conference of local school board members. Torlakson will be the keynote speaker at the North Bay School Trustees Fall Symposium sponsored by the Sonoma County Office of Education. Torlakson’s talk on the November ballot initiatives on school funding, scheduled for noon, is open to the public and will include a question-and-answer session.

A compromise has been reached in the dispute over $30 million in taxpayer dollars for the new 49ers stadium. But still, it’s a better deal for the NFL. Schools get $7 million. The Niners get the rest.

The Cotati-Rohnert Park School District is moving forward with plans to put a parcel tax on the June ballot. The five-member board on Wednesday unanimously agreed to ask voters to support a $89-per-parcel tax for five years, a move that officials believe could bring in $5.3 million over that span.

‘As educators, we ask for your support to help ensure that Sonoma County is a place where families want to raise and educate their children. Join us in the effort to strengthen school funding by supporting the state tax initiative to restore California schools.’

The problem of high school dropouts may not be that complicated and might easily be solved — or maybe the numbers can be cut in half — by looking at a few intangibles, says David Sortino, a Graton psychologist and retired teacher. He suggests that schools should increase vocational training opportunities.

The governor’s May revision proposes that funding for education remain at 2009 levels for the next two years, but it also includes revenue from the extension of the temporary tax rates. This tax revenue is essential to settling the state’s legal debt obligation to schools.

Tom Torlakson, state superintendent of public instruction, said Wednesday that without tax and fee extensions, school districts could expect to lose another 10 percent of their budgets.

Sonoma County on Monday became the sixth county government to sue the state of California to block its plan to use voter-approved local early childhood funds for state deficit reduction. “The state’s actions are illegal and go against the will of voters,” Supervisor Efren Carrillo says.