Piecemeal Fixes or Revamp the System? How I’d Make Schools Work : Offer a healthy start, coordinated services, accountability and the resources to fund them.

By investing in human capital through child development and education we will, more than in any other way, shape California’s future.

It was an article of faith for generations of American parents and children that education was the prized vehicle of opportunity that promised to transport worthy sons and daughters of charwomen and Pullman porters past the bounds of artificial social-class lines to achieve their ambitions and full participation in the rewards of our society.

For too many of our kids, education today falls far short of offering that bright promise or even the hope that they will be adequately prepared to compete and win in the global marketplace of the 21st Century.

The good news is that in California we can still make the changes necessary to restore credibility to education as the key to full opportunity.

To overcome resistence from defenders of the status quo to the needed reforms will demand leadership and sustained effort of a strong, activist governor, one resolved to make the changes that will take California education from mediocrity to excellence.

To achieve my vision of restoring excellence to education in California will require money, stimulating teaching by skilled and dedicated professionals and the active involvement of concerned parents and community leaders.

* Healthy start --I cannot urge too strongly the importance of child development, even before birth, rather than later treating a problem that could have been prevented. We must make prenatal care available to all pregnant California women. We should fund this wise and cost-effective expenditure by making it the highest-priority claim on the tobacco tax passed by the voters in 1988. The money we spend up front will be more than recouped by avoiding the tremendous tax and even more important human costs of premature or developmentally impaired children.

* Coordinated services --We must provide early mental health counseling to ensure that every child comes to school in good mental health to be able to learn.

As governor, I will establish in every county a children’s service council to integrate the operation of local agencies and the schools to ensure that social and health services reach the kids. These are existing services, such as mental health counseling, health assessment and nutrition, for which we now pay taxes.

* Safe schools --Teachers and students are entitled to safe classrooms. Students who bring weapons or drugs must be removed to permit learning by others.

I have proposed much stronger penalties for selling illegal drugs to a minor. State laws fail to protect our kids from drug dealers near schools and parks. The sentence for such sales should be increased by 15 years.

* Preschool --We waste valuable educational time by waiting until a child is 5 before starting school. I have proposed offering preschool education for every 4-year-old who wants it. This would be expensive, but if phased in, the cost could be absorbed within the overall constitutional funding guarantee for education.

* School accountability --My agenda to improve the schools calls for fundamental reforms to make schools more accountable to parents and taxpayers:

--Re-establish the connection between parents and schools; that is why I support parental choice alternatives.

--Apply performance standards to teaching, as we do other professions; that is why I support merit pay.

--Increase the linkages between schools and the community. That is why I will establish a volunteer mentor program to provide a caring adult in the life of every California child without one.

* Secretary of child development and services --To help coordinate and implement this ambitious agenda, I have proposed the creation of a cabinet-level secretary of child development and services.

* School construction --We cannot hope to improve our learning environment unless we have both adequate new construction of school facilities and more efficient use of our existing resources.

I will implement the state program to encourage greater use of year-round facilities. It is only common sense to fully utilize existing buildings before investing in new construction. But new construction is inevitable. I am pleased to have signed the ballot argument in support of Proposition 146, the state school bond measure.

However, we cannot expect the burden to be shouldered fully by state government or by increasing fees on developers. We must allow local decision-making by school districts, who must be given the authority to pass new school construction bond issues with a simple majority vote.

* School finance --This year’s budget process pointed out the need for broad-based budget reform. The governor must be the leader in setting budget priorities, and must have the tools to do this. Children and public safety are my top priorities.

Out of the process of budget reform, I want to maintain healthy spending for education, perhaps even greater than the constitutional guarantee.

My great-grandfather risked prison to teach young Irish peasants to read and write English in defiance of the king. We must be no less resolved to restore excellence to education, and to bring about a California of much longer graduation lines and much shorter unemployment lines.