School-Centered Campaign

Education is the No. 1 priority among voters, and that places the subject squarely in the minds and hearts of politicians. Gov. Pete Wilson and most of the Democrats and Republicans who seek to replace him in November each are presenting ideas on how to improve the state’s public schools. Each set of recommendations should be evaluated on this basis: tougher academic standards; greater accountability for administrators, teachers and students; an increase in flexibility for local school districts, where more decisions should be made. School reform, which this state badly needs, has to extend past stump speeches to realization.

Democratic candidates--Lt. Gov. Gray Davis and businessman Al Checchi--as well as potential candidates--state Sen. John Vasconcellos and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein--have put forth education reform plans. All have something to offer, and the presumed Republican nominee, Dan Lungren, is also expected to present his ideas on how to make the schools better. State Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin has put her own plan on the table, including several ways to hold teachers and their students more accountable.

Who gets credit for making the schools better isn’t what’s important; most of the proposals being put forth today have been around in some form for years. What should matter is how well the state’s political leadership, Republicans and Democrats, can come together and get this job done.

Legislators can start with common ground in the various proposals, such as expanding preschool, requiring more teacher training, lengthening the school year, providing funds for more textbooks and computers, continuing class-size reduction, funding mandatory remedial summer school and ending “social” promotion (in which students are passed to the next grade even if they are not doing passing work). The differences are mainly in the details.

Thirty years ago, California boasted the best public schools in the nation. In national rankings released last week, our students scored poorly, teacher quality fell, the physical environment of campuses declined and school financing failed to keep pace. A return to the golden age of public education is possible only with strong political leadership in Sacramento. What we have had instead, writer Peter Schrag says pointedly, is the “Mississippification” of California.

* STANDARDS: A renaissance should start with higher expectations, building on the rigorous new standards approved by the State Board of Education. From there, the bar should be raised. Graduation requirements should be toughened to include more English, algebra, geometry, a lab science, a foreign language and art, as Eastin has proposed. The Legislature can do this by approving SB 194, introduced by Sen. Dede Alpert (D-Coronado). A high school diploma should mean something.

Californians must expect more from their public school teachers and be willing to give them more if they deliver results. Proposals from Wilson, Feinstein, Checchi and Eastin should prime the Legislature to improve the quality of teachers. The number of teachers who hold emergency credentials should be reduced by providing the help they need to get fully certified. Every beginning teacher should have a mentor teacher. Teacher training, especially in the core subjects of reading and math, should be increased. And, finally, teacher unions should stop resisting the notion of some form of performance-based pay.

A commitment to higher standards should apply also to the physical environment of schools. Schools should be in good condition. Meeting that goal as the state enrollment soars will require a school construction boom at a cost of at least $20 billion, split between the state and local school districts. Gov. Wilson and state Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) both rightly support new state general obligation bond measures, though the two officials differ on the details.

* ACCOUNTABILITY: Higher standards are meaningless without greater accountability. The new statewide tests will determine how many students measure up. Students who are failing in their schoolwork should be held back and get remedial help after school, on weekends and during mandatory summer school.

Every student gets a report card, and so should every school. Twenty other states publicly warn schools about low performance. Rankings based solely on test scores give an incomplete picture; California schools should also be rated on improvement in attendance and the percentage of children who transfer from bilingual classes to classes taught in English. Feinstein suggests including teacher quality and qualifications in the rankings, a good way to hold teachers more accountable, given union protections. Eastin is also pushing the Legislature to establish a system of rewards for good schools and sanctions--along with extra help--for failing schools.

Fiscal accountability also needs strengthening in local school districts. One sensible proposal comes from Lt. Gov. Davis, who proposes a chief financial officer, one with solid finance credentials, for every school district.

* FLEXIBILITY: A partisan delay in Sacramento would encourage voters to approve ballot initiatives to improve California’s stumbling schools. Wilson and Feinstein are each offering a ballot measure intended for November. An inflexible initiative is almost never the best way to make law. School districts need flexibility to determine what is best for their children. Ballot initiatives freeze everything in place with a one-size-fits-all dictate that doesn’t allow for that local decision-making. The Legislature should do its job: provide a framework and set basic standards for improvement, then allow local school districts some leeway to respond to their most pressing needs.

As in every election year, politicians are waving the flag of education reform, and 1998 promises more of that than usual. But talk is cheap. Let this be the year that Californians demand that public education reform take off in a big way. Without it, the children will look back in scorn and wonder how we all just sat around idly talking while Mississippi moved well ahead of California. Without action now, “Mississippification” will soon look good to California’s schools.

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What matters:

* Standards

* Accountability

* Flexibility