Education Reform Bills Move Forward

Gov. Gray Davis’ education package again received strong endorsements Wednesday, although not without glimpses of eroding Democratic support.

As kinks in four school reform bills moving through the Legislature continue to be worked out, concerns are focusing on several central philosophical divides:

Is it fair for the state to withhold funding from districts that don’t launch a teacher peer review system? Does a public ranking of schools by performance motivate or discourage the most troubled? And do programs that reward students for good performance increase the results gap between poor and middle-class schools?

“What’s woefully missing in all four bills is [recognition] that kids come to school different--some have no English, some have no parents,” said Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara). “We’re acting like they’re all coming to school equally.”

In his first public comments on the legislation since he outlined his reforms in January, Davis said he is encouraged by the bills’ rapid progress, describing the legislative hurdles they have overcome and will still face as “a mountain to climb.”

Changes in the four bills continued as they were approved Wednesday by Senate and Assembly education committees and headed for appropriations committees in both houses.

* Added expenditures have left the original $444-million price tag inching closer to $500 million, although final tallies have yet to be reached.

* School boards could now lose governance powers over only those schools that fail to improve after two years of intervention, as part of a bill on ranking and accountability. Previously, the board’s powers over the entire district could be usurped by the state based on the poor performance of one school.

* The administration gave districts an extra year, until 2001, to implement teacher peer review programs, but added $25 million in incentive funds for districts that meet the original deadline of July 1, 2000.

That did not go far enough for teachers unions, nor for the state legislative analyst’s office or even Senate Education Committee head Dede Alpert (D-San Diego). All pushed for a totally voluntary program instead of tying the program to teacher training money.

Davis’ education secretary, Gary Hart, says that the governor views a financial penalty as vitally important to ensuring statewide compliance. “Peer review has been an option for some time and it has not become a reality,” Hart said.

Asked about the peer review controversy at an afternoon news conference, Davis said the continued opposition is understandable because “nobody wants to change themselves; they want somebody else to change. . . . We are breaking ground here.”

As is often the case in legislative negotiations, the larger debate about what plagues public education erupted over one of the smallest components of the governor’s plan: the seemingly benign Governor’s Reading Award Program, which sets aside $2 million to be doled out in $5,000 grants to schools where students read a yet-to-be-determined quantity of books.

The governor has characterized the program as a way to give a nod to good schools, a respite from the more dispassionate measures of test scores that underpin much of his plan.

But several Democrats objected, saying that children in poor areas are not going to be able to read enough books at their grade level to qualify, while middle-class schools will obtain the grants with ease.

“We can cut the bull: The issue is the poor kids,” said Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar). “I don’t care if we spend a dime on the kids who can already read.”