Wilson Plans Initiatives on Education, Crime

Setting the stage for one of his last major battles in office, Gov. Pete Wilson will sponsor a pair of initiatives for next November’s ballot, one aimed at juvenile crime and one that picks another fight with his longtime nemesis--the California Teachers Assn.

The education initiative that Wilson is expected to officially launch today would give parents and state legislators more power over California schools, reducing the role of administrators.

It would establish a new parent-dominated commission at every school to make decisions about curriculum and spending, and would create a governor-appointed chief school inspector to evaluate overall and individual school performance.

That post--inspired partly by a meeting Wilson had with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in October in England, where a similar post exists--would be independent of the state Department of Education and would rank schools on such measures as test scores and dropout rates.

The initiative would also require that teachers be evaluated for promotion based partly on students’ test scores, and new hires would have to take competency tests in specialized subjects such as math.

“Carrying forward on his long-standing call for fundamental reform of our entire education system, Gov. Wilson has again stepped to the fore to promote significant changes in the business of education in this state,” said a draft copy of the education initiative obtained by The Times.

Also influencing Wilson’s thinking was a tour of Texas schools that his aides took in November. Beginning in the third grade, all students there take annual academic skills tests in every subject, and the results are used to evaluate school performance.

Schools in which students score poorly are labeled “low performing,” a designation that can lead to the dismissal of teachers or administrators.

This is only the second time that Wilson has initiated a ballot measure on his own since he has been in office. The last one was Proposition 165 in 1992, a welfare reform measure that was unsuccessful.

On Wednesday, Wilson also joined a group of state prosecutors and a sheriffs’ organization to publicly launch another proposed ballot measure aimed at juvenile crime.

Both measures are intended for the November ballot and are subject to a lengthy qualification process that includes the gathering of at least 433,000 valid voter signatures. First, the measures will be submitted this week to the attorney general’s office for a legal review.

The gang and juvenile justice initiative would make gang-related killers eligible for the death penalty and would impose life sentences on gang members who engage in home invasion robbery, carjacking, witness intimidation, drive-by shootings and extortion.

The measure would also make it easier for juveniles to be prosecuted as adults and would make public the records and identities of some violent juvenile offenders.

Many of the anti-crime provisions have been considered and rejected by the state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature. Initiative sponsors said they will attempt to circumvent Sacramento by going to the voters. “Initiatives come into being when the Legislature fails to act,” said Sacramento County Sheriff Glen Craig. “That’s what we have in this case.”

Democratic leaders in the Legislature said they have not seen the ballot proposals, and they declined to comment Wednesday. Privately, they bristled at the suggestion that they have not acted on juvenile crime.

One staff member said the Legislature passed 23 juvenile crime bills last year, 17 of which were signed by the governor and six of which were vetoed. “There was a lot of attention on this issue and a lot got done,” the staff member said.

Democrats in the Legislature suggested that Wilson’s initiatives are motivated more by politics than policy--that they portray a lame-duck governor clearly hoping to remain a player in the last California election on his watch.

Although the 63-year-old governor has not confirmed his plans after leaving office, he has maintained an interest in a second bid for the White House in 2000. Wilson is prohibited by law from seeking a third term as governor.

Aides said Wilson will play a major role in raising money and promoting support for both ballot measures. Officially, he is a co-sponsor of the juvenile crime measure along with the California District Attorneys Assn. and the California Sheriff’s Assn.

He is doing the education measure, however, on his own. And that is the topic that observers expect to produce the most political dynamite in the upcoming election.

Wilson, who has won high marks for reducing class size in the early grades and for helping refocus attention on basic skills, has fought many costly and high-stakes battles with the California Teachers Assn., one of the state’s 10 largest lobbying organizations with nearly $2 million in political contributions reported during the past two years. The association resisted previous attempts to make its teachers more accountable for student performance.

CTA spokeswoman Tommye Hutto on Wednesday criticized some of the proposals as being unnecessary or duplicative. But she said the organization will wait until it has reviewed the proposal before offering a final opinion.

Observers expect Wilson’s measure to force the teachers union to divert campaign money they have traditionally spent on Democratic candidates to a fight against the initiative.

The education measure also piggybacks on another major ballot initiative that the governor has already adopted as a primary mission next year. That proposed measure would prohibit unions from making political expenditures without approval of the organization’s individual members.

Supporters of the education initiative also said their polling research has shown that its provisions are popular with voters. The issue of parental control in education is also expected to be a front-burner concern for conservative Republican organizations in the election.

“This initiative is the next logical step in school reform,” said John Nelson, a consultant to GOP U.S. Senate candidate Darrell Issa, who is also planning to run the education initiative campaign.

The proposal to create parent majorities on school councils may divide parents. “I think it would be extremely beneficial for schools,” said Jonathan Lantry, a Woodland Hills parent on the LEARN council at El Camino Real High School.

But David Eagle, who is a member of the governing board at Marquez Elementary School in Pacific Palisades, said the parent-majority proposal concerns him. “It continues to foster this us vs. them mentality. What I’d like to see is just an even distribution . . . of teachers and parents.”

Lesher reported from Sacramento and Colvin from Los Angeles. Times Education Writer Elaine Woo contributed to this story from Los Angeles.

* WILSON’S STRATEGY: Governor plans next front in fight for education. A3

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Governor’s Initiatives

Main Elements of the Education Proposal

CLASS SIZE: Lock in state funding necessary to maintain maximum of 20 students through third grade. Funding could only be reduced by vote of electorate or four-fifths vote of Legislature.

MANAGEMENT: Create a management authority for each school that would make decisions about curriculum and spending issues. Panel would be two-thirds parents, one-third teachers.

COMPETENCE: Require every new teacher to pass an exam in each subject they teach. As of Jan. 1, 1999, teachers would also submit portfolio of lesson plans that meet state academic standards in order to be granted a teaching credential.

INSPECTOR: Establish chief inspector of public schools, appointed by governor and responsible for evaluating school performance individually and overall.

DRUGS: Require expulsion for students caught with illegal drugs on campus (expulsion now required only for selling drugs).

****

Main Elements of Juvenile Justice Proposal

* Subject gang-related murderers to possible death penalty or life imprisonment without parole.

* Impose life sentences on gang members who participate in home invasion robberies, carjackings, witness intimidations, drive-by shootings or extortions.

* Require juvenile murderers and rapists to be tried as adults in aggravated cases.

* Authorize prosecutors to file directly in adult court for some violent juvenile felonies if the minor is older than 16 or, in some aggravated cases, older than 14.

* Authorize wiretaps in felony investigations of street gangs.

* Create statewide criminal database on juvenile felons.

* Prohibit sealing or destruction of serious juvenile offenders’ records.

* Increase penalties for graffiti.