California state officials propose big education agendas, little money
Even though California schools could lose millions in funding next year, the state's education system can be improved through streamlined preschool and other low-cost efforts to close the achievement gap, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell says. In his State of Education Address, O'Connell also vowed to fight for minimum school funding levels that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking the Legislature to suspend next year. O'Connell asked districts to reach out to community colleges, universities and the business community to form partnerships, to provide students with tools to meet higher-education and workforce challenges. He also announced that California will join 30 other states in a national reform effort—called the American Diploma Project—designed to align academic expectations with those of universities and real-world job markets. To help reach the goal, O'Connell proposed consolidating the state's preschool system, and tying higher levels of funding to higher quality, to close the "readiness gap" before kindergarten. He also called for new "intervention" benchmarks designed to help schools meet all students' learning and performance needs.
Vallejo local and elected officials expressed skepticism as to how O'Connell's well-intentioned proposals could help when districts across the state face major budget cuts in 2008-09. "We're working hard to close the achievement gap, and we're making some progress," state trustee Richard Damelio said, adding he thought O'Connell would say more to address the state's fiscal crisis. "We're not afraid of accountability. But it's one thing to have more benchmarks, and it's another thing to have more money, people and resources." "It's hard to believe (O'Connell's) new proposals are going to do much more than nibble around the edges of the problem," said Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, who represents Vallejo. "The governor is pulling the rug out from under us just as we're getting back to where we need to be. I feel like we're holding on with our fingernails."
Source: Vallejo Times Herald, 1/23/2008, By Tony Burchyns
[Editor’s Note: Mr. O’Connell’s press release and the address are below, as is information on the American Diploma Project. His other proposals include granting Long Beach and Fresno unified school districts, the third and fourth largest in the state, “significant new flexibility” in how they allocate their resources to allow for greater innovation, in exchange for their forming “a partnership to learn together, model, and replicate effective practices.” Mr. Damelio was placed in charge of the Vallejo district as state trustee as part of a $60 million state bailout of the district. The 2004 San Francisco Chronicle article details the circumstances of that takeover, which some attributed to “school boards that lack the courage to make tough spending decisions.”
A few weeks ago Governor Schwarzenegger said in his State of the State address that he wants to use the powers of the federal No Child Left Behind Act to intervene in struggling school districts. Details on his education proposals are at the next link. According to the report at the fourth link, “the plan may focus on five or six districts with the lowest performance among the 98 districts on the list, said Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Association. ‘Based on what I am hearing it may be something we feel pretty good about.’” That same report indicates that the governor had “planned to use a report from his bipartisan Committee on Education Excellence, which has worked for two years, to launch his ‘Year of Education’” but in his address said, “In light of the current budget situation, this is not the year to talk about money." Among other things, the committee report, also below, proposes putting the state education bureaucracy under the governor’s control and making the superintendent of public instruction an “accountability czar.” At the last link, Education Week details power struggles between governors and state schools chiefs.]
O’Connell press release
American Diploma Project
San Francisco Chronicle, 6/28/04, By Carrie Sturrock
Schwarzenegger address education information
San Diego Union-Tribune Newsblog, 1/8/08
Committee on Education Excellence report
San Jose Mercury News summary of committee report
Education Week, 1/23/08, By Michele McNeil