Education Bills Pass Committee Hurdle

All four of Gov. Gray Davis’ education reform bills cleared their last committee hearings Wednesday, with a handful of changes long sought by liberal legislators and school lobbyists that conservatives say yanked the plan’s few remaining teeth.

Alterations to the school accountability bill, which would rank all schools and help some of the poor performers, came under the greatest attack Wednesday.

The bill, which would have required the listing of schools from best to worst, was amended to rank them instead by groups--from top 10% to bottom 10%--which teachers’ and administrators’ unions said would remove the stigma of being last.

“This does the worst thing we can do: It gives the hope of accountability but then it doesn’t deliver,” said Assemblyman George Runner Jr. (R-Lancaster), who objected to changes made by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

New concerns also arose Wednesday that costs of implementing the governor’s plan could escalate far beyond the estimated $470 million--up from an original $444 million--as school districts seek to bill the state for the extra work involved.

By law, the state must pay for anything it mandates, and a representative of the Department of Finance conceded that costs could increase by “tens of millions of dollars.” But Education Secretary Gary Hart suggested that the higher costs will not occur because the bills merely encourage a redesign of existing programs and a resetting of priorities.

Davis’ plan, announced two months ago, includes a high school graduation test, a reading improvement program, a teacher peer review system and the school accountability measure.

The governor’s proposal is on track to receive final votes from the Assembly and the Senate before the Legislature’s spring break begins next Thursday, effectively ending the special session.

Debates over the special session bills have been conducted in verbal shorthand, especially in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where Chairwoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) routinely cuts off her colleagues before they finish their sentences.

There, with scant discussion, the accountability bill was also amended Wednesday to delete a requirement that school improvement plans document progress toward meeting state standards.

Sen. Dede Alpert (D-Coronado), who is handling that bill for the governor, said she wanted to afford the state Department of Education more flexibility in assessing those schools.

Hours later, in the Senate Appropriations Committee, another significant adjustment was not debated. Originally, schools were to compete for a $5,000 reading award from the governor, based on number of books read.

Now they will compete with schools of similar socioeconomic status, after Democrats publicly worried that poor schools would start out handicapped. In essence, that means richer schools will have to read more books than poorer ones to gain the same recognition.

Democrats commended the governor for his open mind about the bill revisions. But during the afternoon hearing, Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) cautioned the public against inflated expectations.

“There are no panaceas here,” he said. “This is just one of the reforms we have to engage in to improve our public schools.”

Assembly Minority Leader Rod Pacheco (R-Riverside) said he was so disappointed by the last-minute changes that he was amending his past stance that the reform bills would be better than nothing.

“I can’t say that anymore,” he said. Davis “has the opportunity to do it now--the public wants this system fixed, I know Democrats want it fixed. To sacrifice really fixing something in order not to upset someone, I just don’t understand.”

Pacheco declined to be specific about whom he believes the governor is protecting, although the committee hearings have featured a steady stream of education lobbyists and civil rights advocates, ranging from unions to classroom teachers and even students.

Their objections were abundant and often conflicting, but most consistently testified that the absolute ranking of schools would serve to humiliate rather than motivate. Several even criticized the Los Angeles Unified School District for publicly announcing its lowest 100 schools two years ago.