8/24/04 -- A commission appointed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls for sweeping changes in the state's public education system.
Among the most controversial recommendations announced by the California Performance Review Commission Aug. 3 are proposals to greatly increase the power of the secretary of education, a position appointed by the governor, and to eliminate county education offices.
The commission's 2,500-page report contains 1,000 recommendations in a variety of areas. The commission estimates that if its recommendations are adopted, the state would save $31.6 billion over the next five years.
Those savings include $4.1 billion in education, training, and volunteerism. More than half of these projected savings, $2.7 billion over five years, would result from a single recommendation: changing the enrollment date for the start of kindergarten from Dec. 2 to Sept. 1. That means the vast majority of children will be 5 years old when they enter school and would thus be more ready to learn and less likely to be held back.
The California School Boards Association (CSBA) supports that recommendation, but believes any change in kindergarten enrollment should be coupled with the provision of universal preschool.
CSBA, however, is concerned with the proposal to "tremendously increase the power of the secretary of education," says Holly Jacobson, assistant executive director for policy analysis and continuing education.
The report calls for the secretary to report directly to the governor and manage a new department of education and work force preparation. It says the secretary would be responsible for higher education, as well as K-12 education and synchronizing education and work force preparation.
The superintendent of public instruction, the head of the state's education department, would continue to be an elected position. The report says "the department's focus will continue to be administration of preK-12 programs."
An official statement on the report by CSBA says, "Policymaking authority should reside with an elected superintendent of public instruction, not an appointed secretary."
CSBA also is concerned about the overemphasis on work force preparation in the report. "From reading the report, one could conclude that the only purpose of public education is work force preparation," Jacobson says.
For example, the report states, "California's public education system needs to be aligned with the needs of the state's economy and its labor market." And it calls for the governor to establish an "Education and Workforce Council" to develop goals and strategies to ensure that the state's schools produce "the skilled work force needed for the state's economic development."
CSBA believes that while the role of education in work force development should be strengthened, it should not be done to the exclusion of other educational goals, such as academic preparation, civic education, and life skills education.
Jacobson also says CSBA has concerns about the proposal to eliminate county education offices, which have responsibility for special education, alternative instructional programs, and other services "for the state's most vulnerable students."
Replacing these offices with regional agencies means parents would have to travel farther to access the administrators in charge of the services their children receive, she says.
The plan calls for a constitutional amendment to eliminate the state's 58 county boards of education and county superintendents and replace them with regional agencies aligned with California's 11 service regions.
If the measure passes, the commission estimates the savings at $45 million over five years. Jacobson, however, says it's impossible to project savings, because a whole new level of bureaucracy would be created.
Other education recommendations in the report call for:
• a five-year pilot program for performance-based contracts with school districts to replace most categorical funding with block grants;
• allowing districts to contract with private providers, form public-private partnerships, and use other innovative strategies to reduce the costs of non-instructional services, such as transportation, building maintenance, and food service;
• improvements to California's concurrent enrollment programs to make it easier for students to earn college-level credits while still in high school; and
• efforts to get publishers to cut the cost of K-12 textbooks and to encourage students to use e-books.
The commission plans to hold public hearings on the report over the next couple of months, then will submit a final report to the governor.
If the legislature fails to act, Jacobson says, Schwarzenegger is expected to present the commission's proposals to the public as ballot initiatives.