Issue: School Districts and the State

The state Department of Education scrutinized the finances of the Montebello Unified School District and the educational standards of Compton Unified School District andthreatened to take over if the districts did not take steps to improve. Should the state step in to assist a financially or academically ailing school district?

* Willard H. Murray Jr.

Assemblyman (D-Paramount) The state is already authorized to take over a school district with financial problems. But there is no provision in state law that authorizes the state to take over a district that is educationally bankrupt. I’ve introduced several bills in that area that would authorize the state to take over, in effect, by appointing a trustee. You’d have to give the district an opportunity to improve. You’d designate them as a lower-performing district and make recommendations for improvement. If the district resisted, then it’s time to step in. A case in point is Compton. They have been the absolute lowest-performing school district in the state since 1984. When the trustees came in, they would have almost dictatorial authority. They could overrule any action the school board might take, and they could overrule prior dictates by the superintendent. Of course, school boards would object to it. But if the schools would educate the children, this would not be necessary. It is not important to me if the administration or trustees are embarrassed.

* Margie Garrett

Compton Education Assn. president I believe a district needs to have the opportunity to make all efforts to improve itself first. When someone comes in from the outside, you risk losing the people who are inside and who are willing to make decisions as a team. Change cannot occur overnight. There are a lot of wounds to heal. I can’t envision a district just not trying to do anything. You may need technical assistance and you should utilize those services that are available to you at all levels, from the county and state. But you can best know what your needs are. You can best determine how to make a change because you are in it. You are here. You are a part of it. It won’t happen with a dictatorial kind of management. They should not indicate to a district that this is the ultimatum: “You must do this.” It should be inclusive of everybody who’s affected. I resent the dictatorial kind of thing.

* Eleanor Kim Chow

Board president Montebello Unified School District I think the only thing the state could do to help us is to give us the opportunity to help ourselves. Right now we have to get a two-thirds vote of the people to pass a bond measure or a tax at the local level. They should give us an opportunity to pass that with a simple majority vote. The state is so far behind. They can’t even take care of themselves. Who’s calling the kettle black? I’ve been on the school board 22 years. I’ve seen our ups and downs. We’ve now come to a point where local school districts and the people living in their communities need to help themselves. I’m saying to the community, “Are you willing to help yourself? Are you willing to put out a few dollars to spend on yourself?” How can the state set high standards unless they have the people to serve the students, unless they have money? It all boils down to the dollar.

* Rick Sowers

Whittier Union High School District Santa Fe High School biology teacher

There should be someone watching over us in case there is a district that is continually doing something wrong. Everybody needs somebody to watch over them, but I’m not sure the state can do it because they can’t manage their own money. How can they manage ours? They ought to find some corporation that’s doing really well, with excellent financial records. There are a lot of businesses that say they’d like to come in and help education. Most of those companies have financial people. Cut loose some of those guys for a couple of hours and let them go into the schools. I don’t see too many businesses running $6 billion in the hole like the state. We need more business people even at the board level. The board’s supposed to be our watchdog too, but most of them don’t know a whole lot about education. Most of them are very conscientious people, but they can’t see why we need this or why we need that. I think the problem now is we’ve got too many people watching and not enough people teaching.

* Bill Honig

State Superintendent of Public Instruction I think in general it’s a good idea. When things get so bad, it’s important that there is some recourse for action. The tricky part to work out is developing a fair standard. A percentage of kids would need to reach certain academic levels. The school would have a certain amount of time to implement programs, and if it still doesn’t implement them, then the state comes in. Sometimes it would be sending one person in there. Sometimes you’d hire a team. It depends on the situation. We don’t want to do this too often. This would only be for extreme circumstances. Sure, no one wants the state to come in. It’s embarrassing. But it would be a spur for the schools to do it right. Then they’ll watch themselves more. Otherwise the kids get left out. It doesn’t take too many times to do it before everyone gets the idea.