Wilson Signs School Bills

Cashing in on the state’s rebounding economy, Gov. Pete Wilson signed a number of bills Wednesday that will provide millions of dollars annually to students in the form of new textbooks, a longer school year, better teacher training and an improved after-school program.

“Right now, California is enjoying good economic times--it’s the envy of the rest of the nation,” Wilson told a group of youngsters at Alta Loma Elementary School in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles. “We have a responsibility, now that we can, to make these investments.”

Mayor Richard Riordan and other officials joined Wilson at a signing ceremony for legislation that allocates $50 million to statewide expansion of a local after-school program. The governor was warmly received, drawing loud applause from the children, their teachers and their parents when he put pen to paper.

In three other bills signed earlier Wednesday, Wilson agreed to extend the school year one week, to pay for teachers to go back to school to update their math skills, and to spend $1 billion over the next four years on purchasing new textbooks.

The governor conceded that more time in class might not be a hit with students but said it was important that California youths get added instruction to rival children in countries that have longer academic years.

Together, Wilson maintained, the bills signed Wednesday will improve California education and better prepare children for an increasingly competitive international marketplace.

“You’re every bit as bright as those kids growing up in foreign lands,” Wilson told the elementary school children, many of them immigrants. “We want you to have the maximum opportunity.”

Riordan has championed education in his second term as mayor, and he enthusiastically applauded Wilson’s moves Wednesday. In particular, Riordan expressed happiness at the governor’s support for the after-school bill, which will fund and expand a popular local program known as LA’s BEST.

The program--already emulated in some other cities, including Sacramento--provides young people with a place to learn and play between the end of school and the end of the workday, when their parents return home. It has been praised by educators, who say it helps students develop school skills, and by police, who say it helps keep kids out of trouble.

“I’m so proud of this program,” Riordan said. “It gives kids the tools they need to be successful.”

The mayor lobbied hard for the after-school bill, and Wednesday presented Wilson with two No. 2 pencils for signing it. The governor took the pencils but signed his name with a pen.

Although the assembled politicians relished in their triumphs during their tour of the tidy elementary school and during an assembly capped by singers and a pipe-and-drum corps, Wilson and Riordan misfired a couple of times with their young audience.

Wilson delivered a long and detailed budget address to a group that included mostly second- and third-graders. They listened politely for a while, but began to squirm and yawn as the governor’s talk stretched past half an hour.

Parents and teachers corralled their attention to applaud at the appropriate times, but they joined in more enthusiastically when a group of classmates danced and sang Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.”

Meanwhile, Riordan observed a teacher instructing students on letters using a book illustrated with sea creatures. For the letter “L,” the picture was of a lobster.

“Do you like to eat lobster?” the multimillionaire mayor asked of the inner-city youngsters. One nodded; the others looked dumbfounded at the idea.

“Eat that?” one asked in amazement.