A Lesson in Economics at Local Education Summit

The consensus was clear: If Beverly Hills and other cities are to keep their struggling school systems from spiraling downward, residents and businesses will have to reach into their pocketbooks.

The Education Summit and Technology Fair last Friday and Saturday at Beverly Hills High School was a rally for increased local support from parents, businesses and the community. The gathering, which drew more than 400 people Saturday, was co-sponsored by the city of Beverly Hills and the Beverly Hills Unified School District.

“Don’t expect any relief from the state,” said guest speaker Michael W. Kirst, a professor of education at Stanford University. “If the state economy continues as is, we will be lucky to hold the line . . . unless you do something locally.”

The forum attracted leaders in education reform and educators, as well as members from neighboring school districts.

City Councilman Allan L. Alexander, who proposed the summit two years ago, said the event fostered “a new spirit of cooperation.”

Topics covered included the role of technology in the classroom, public school finance, building coalitions with the community, skills students need to work in a global economy and multiculturalism.

Working parent Lisa Gould sacrificed a Saturday usually spent with her daughter, who attends El Rodeo Elementary School, to attend the summit.

“This is fabulous,” she said, clutching a pad on which she had been taking notes. “I was shocked at how public education has deteriorated. (The summit) really hit home how you have to get (up) and do something about it. It’s very motivating.”

Much of the summit discussion focused on the need to find alternative resources for public schools because the state is reducing its contribution.

“We can talk all we want about education reform, but we need money,” Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) said. “You cannot gear up technologically for the 21st Century unless you have the money to make that investment. You can’t attract quality teachers without money.”

Hart, who serves as chairman of the Senate Education Committee, introduced legislation that could pave the way for communities to give more money to their schools.

If passed, Hart’s bill would allow school districts to impose parcel taxes on residential and commercial properties by a simple majority vote rather than the two-thirds vote required by state law under Proposition 13. Last year, Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed a similar bill.

The Beverly Hills Unified School District has tried three times in the past six years to pass a parcel tax but failed each time by a small margin.

Michael Karlin asked Hart whether Beverly Hills could be opening itself up to a lawsuit by raising money locally. The landmark 1976 California Supreme Court case known as the Serrano decision evened out the amount school districts throughout the state may spend per student to within $100 of one another.

Hart believes that equal funding laws have grown more flexible, and that parcel taxes should be exempted from the laws.

“Serrano should be revisited,” he said. “My bias increasingly is that we ought to give people the benefit of the doubt in terms of raising money locally for themselves.

“Other states spend more per student than California,” he said, pointing out that California is in 41st place nationally. Hart quoted figures from the state Department of Education that said per-student spending in California for the 1992-93 school year will be $4,660, compared with a national average of $5,629. New Jersey, the No. 1 state, will spend more than $10,000 per student, he said.

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At the technology fair Friday, about two dozen computer hardware and software companies set up booths in the cafeteria and held demonstrations in classrooms.

Fair participants got a taste of the latest education software, including some multimedia, interactive programs that combined text, audio and film footage while allowing the user to ask questions and control the pace and direction of the session.

Children used computers to solve mysteries by interviewing experts and examining newspaper clippings of current events. They repeated sentences in a foreign language and heard their speech replayed. They explored countries, museums and animal kingdoms stored on laser disc.

Teachers clicked on grids of student photos, arranged in seating order, to bring up individual grades and personal information. Except for an elaborate multimedia IBM exhibit, fair organizers “avoided the glitzy stuff,” Beverly Hills school board member A. J. Willmer said. “What we need is software that has sound educational value and can be moved into a classroom with the teacher feeling very comfortable with it.”

The school district has adopted a long-term plan, which would cost about $7 million, designed to make students adept at manipulating and using large amounts of information to enable them to compete in the global work force.

As money becomes available, the district will experiment with various technologies to determine the best investments in hardware and software, Willmer said.

The $20,000 cost of the two-day forum was underwritten by companies and individuals.

Alexander said he hopes the fair will have long-lasting effects. This spring, the City Council will renegotiate the amount it will give to the school district. Last year, the city contributed $5.2 million in exchange for use of school facilities and occasional programs such as civil disaster training.

“(The summit) will hopefully form a new base of support for the schools which includes city funding and possibly another try at the parcel tax,” he said.