State Schools Superintendent Urges More Spending

With the state budget for next year expected to be flush with new cash--60% of which by law must go for education--state schools Supt. Delaine Eastin on Friday issued her own wish list for how much of it should be spent.

A day after Gov. Pete Wilson said he wants to expand California’s just-begun class-size reduction effort with another half-billion dollars, Eastin called for raising that amount to $800 million--meaning that school districts would be reimbursed for the full cost of the smaller classes.

“This is so important for kids’ education that you ought to make it a mandated thing,” Eastin said. “If we continue to limp along with half of the kids getting a good education and half getting a very poor education or a mediocre education at best, then the California economy becomes mediocre.”

She also called for adding eight instructional days to the school calendar and requiring high school students to take more difficult courses in math and science, along with an additional year of English, in order to graduate.

The second most expensive item on Eastin’s wish list for the upcoming budget is a $670-million down payment on her $7-billion plan to bring all of the state’s classrooms into the computer age. Not only will computerizing schools produce graduates with 21st century skills, the equipment largely will be purchased from California companies, she said.

“This is not only good for the kids, it’s good for education and good for the economy,” Eastin said.

This is the first time since taking office in 1995 that Eastin has raised the profile of her legislative agenda by presenting it before Wilson reveals his own budget plans. It shows that under Proposition 98, the constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1988, the public schools represent the biggest political, as well as financial, game in the Capitol.

The Wilson administration estimates that roughly $1.5 billion in new money will be available for public schools and community colleges next year, about $1 billion of which will go to cover inflation and accommodate new students, leaving about $500 million for new programs.

Eastin said Friday that she thinks the administration actually has more money to spend, but that Wilson is holding some out to pay for a tax cut.

“The economy continues to expand . . . construction is picking up and that’s our biggest employer,” said Eastin. “We have every reason to expect there will be something more available for children and education, absent a big tax cut.”

Eastin also will ask the 1997 session of the Legislature to approve several programs that would require higher spending in subsequent years.

Her proposal to add eight days of instruction to the school calendar carries the hefty price tag of $440 million. California schools now are required to operate for 180 days, but eight of those are days during which teachers attend training sessions.

Eastin’s requirements for high school graduation would go into effect as early as 2001. If enacted, they would mandate that students pass a demanding array of courses now typically taken only by those headed for college--algebra and geometry, four years of English and two years of lab sciences such as chemistry or biology.

Now, it is possible to graduate with three years of English and two each of science and math. Lab courses are not required and a student need only master eighth-grade math and can satisfy the science requirement with non-lab courses such as astronomy.

Eastin and Wilson on Friday each proposed ways to tune up the skills of teachers, especially those new to the classroom and those who teach reading.

Recognizing that nearly 5,000 California teachers quit the profession during their first year in the classroom, Eastin wants the state to spend $95 million over three years to provide them with assistance from veteran teachers.

Wilson, meanwhile, announced that he will earmark $56 million of his budget proposal for teacher training, an expense that has typically been borne by local districts. The bulk of the money would come from federal Goals 2000 funding and would be spent to help teachers in grades four through eight instruct children who lack basic reading skills.

“Too many students will be entering high school not ready to work at that level,” Wilson said. “So many of tomorrow’s opportunities begin with what happens in the classroom today.”

The teacher training program, like the investment in class-size reduction that will be a centerpiece of Wilson’s State of the State address next week, is part of the governor’s ongoing effort to improve the abysmal reading skills of California students. The 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress found that 60% of California fourth-graders read at below basic levels.

Wilson reiterated Friday his position that children will learn better if they get more systematic instruction in phonics and other basic skills. He put in last year’s budget $152 million for phonics-based textbooks and $41 million, from federal sources, to train teachers how to use phonics.