Message Is Clear: Governor Wants Year-Round Schools

When it comes to year-round schools, Gov. George Deukmejian’s proposed state budget contains few specifics and very little new money, but it sends a clear political message that the state’s fiscally conservative chief executive wants California schools off the traditional summer-break calendar.

“We’re not exactly sure of the specifics of this, but I think the message is clear: he wants us to move in that direction,” Bill Honig, state superintendent of public instruction, said Wednesday.

“The governor has never taken such a strong position in use of facilities year-round. It’s his boldest, strongest statement to date,” said Charles Ballinger, executive director of the National Assn. for Year-Round Education.

Referring to a continuing explosion in school enrollment, Deukmejian in his State of the State address Monday proposed three steps pushing the state toward year-round schools.

Saying California schools cannot afford to “depend simply on building our way out of the shortage of classrooms,” Deukmejian proposed increasing incentives to districts that switch to multitrack, year-round calendars that ensure that classrooms do not sit idle for weeks at a time.

His package also includes allocating slightly more money to reward districts that have multitrack, year-round schools and loosening requirements for voter approval of local bond measures to build year-round schools. He also proposed giving districts with year-round schools priority in tapping the state’s pool of school construction funds, a plan similar to an existing law.

It is unclear what effect the governor’s proposals will have on the Los Angeles Unified School District, where year-round schools are being hotly debated as the district struggles to cope with massive overcrowding. About 23% of the district’s 610,000 students already attend year-round schools, contrasted with only 9% of students statewide.

The district last year received a whopping $21 million of the $30 million bestowed on California schools as part of the incentive program to switch to year-round. This year, the governor proposed raising the pool to $43 million--but he also wants to change the allocation formula in a way that could hurt Los Angeles.

The current formula is tipped in favor of big, crowded districts, but both the state legislative analyst’s office and some members of the Legislature have criticized the program, which pays up to $150 per student.

In Los Angeles, most of the money is eaten up by increased costs of operating schools year-round, but approximately $50 per student is available to individual schools to use for whatever educational programs they choose.

Gary Jerome, an aide to state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), who plans to introduce legislation to change the formula, said Los Angeles has the most to lose.

“It’s going to be hard to get a change because of the size of the Los Angeles delegation (in the Legislature), but if the governor is behind it, it improves the chances,” Bergeson said.

The governor’s support for year-round schools may also give the concept credibility beyond those education leaders that have been pushing for it.

“If year-round is going to be a viable program, people have to view it differently,” said Ron Prescott, a lobbyist for the Los Angeles district. “The governor talking about it will change the perceptions of it over time.