Davis Issues a Call to Arms for Better Teachers, Schools

Invoking wartime images, Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday issued a “call to arms” to young people to become teachers, proposing everything from cash bonuses to breaks on tuition and mortgages if they agree to work in lower-performing schools.

Outlining his goals for 2000, Davis devoted half of his second State of the State speech to education, the cornerstone of his administration. Expecting a budget surplus of $3 billion, the Democratic governor pledged to spend the bulk of the windfall on public education.

“The war for the future will not be fought on some distant battlefield, but right here at home,” Davis told a joint gathering of the Senate and Assembly. “It will be fought school to school, classroom to classroom, desk to desk, one qualified teacher at a time, one motivated student at a time.”

Among his ideas, all of which require legislative approval, Davis called for expanding preschool to include 100,000 4-year-old children, spending $200 million on computers for schools and creating three University of California research institutes to develop new technology that will aid business.

The Democratic governor is expected to win approval of most of his ideas, given that there is a strong Democratic majority in the Legislature--and that Republican lawmakers lauded many of his ideas.

“Senate Republicans will embrace most of his proposals,” Sen. Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga) said. In somewhat backhanded praise, he added: “At least seven of them are proposals we made ourselves over the past month. . . . If we had copyrighted our ideas, we could sue him for plagiarism.”

Still, legislators’ response to the address was reserved, with mostly mild applause and occasional yawns among those in the audience.

While Davis offered no new tax cut proposal, he attempted to reinforce his image as a moderate, suggesting that he has no plans to push California’s spending on public schools up to the national average. That idea, pushed most aggressively by teachers unions, could cost $6 billion a year, and can’t be attained without tax increases, the governor believes.

“To those who propose education measures that would require massive tax hikes beyond the record revenues already flowing to the state,” Davis said, “I remind you that I believe in working within the revenues the economy provides us.”

Seeks $26 Million More for Medi-Cal Probe

On other topics, Davis called for a $26-million spending increase for Medi-Cal fraud investigation. That is enough to hire 250 more investigators and staff. An FBI investigation has resulted in charges against at least 78 businesses accused of submitting millions of dollars in phony claims for Medi-Cal equipment and services that were never provided.

“Although we’ve launched the most widespread attack ever on these crooks,” Davis said, “we’ve only scratched the surface. And to those so-called doctors, lawyers, and businessmen who are defrauding the state: We’re coming after you next.”

The investigation has been a priority with Davis, who led a similar probe when he was state controller. However, the first request by health officials for more money to fight fraud was rejected by Davis’ Finance Department. Sources in the health services department said their new director, Diana Bonta, appealed directly to the governor, hoping for a few extra million. What she got instead was an offer from Davis to provide whatever she needed.

Davis also proposed state spending to help elderly people remain in their homes, and avoid placement in nursing homes. Additionally, Davis proposed hiring 200 more investigators to look into nursing home violations, and increasing fines to $100,000 against nursing home operators whose negligence leads to a patient’s death. Fines rarely exceed $10,000 now.

But while Davis, speaking for 45 minutes, went on to call for more transportation spending and more police, he was elected on a promise that he would improve public education. As he did last year, Davis used his speech to underscore the importance of that issue to him.

Specifically, he emphasized what he sees as the social importance of teachers, and urged young people to enter the profession. Davis will be seeking money for five “teacher recruitment centers,” and wants to aggressively recruit teachers from other states.

“After parents, teachers are California’s greatest force for social good,” Davis said. “They are exceptional people doing extraordinary things. They represent the foot soldiers in the most important battle we face: the war on mediocrity in our public schools.”

Education experts say that California must recruit and train 25,000 teachers a year for the next 10 years to cope with growing enrollment and retirement of veteran teachers.

While California ranks below the national average in per pupil spending, the state pays its 269,000 teachers an average of $45,400, above the national average of $40,600, and 10th highest in the nation.

However, California also has large numbers of teachers who lack full credentials. The problem is particularly acute in low-performing schools. Statewide, one in 10 teachers lack full credentials. One in four teachers in Los Angeles don’t have full credentials.

Encouraging Young Teachers

Davis called for legislation guaranteeing that retired teachers could maintain full pension benefits if they return to the classroom. But his focus was on convincing young people to enter the profession, even if only for a few years before going on to other careers. To encourage them, Davis suggested several incentives:

* Teachers will be eligible for $10,000 home loans that would be forgiven if they teach in the schools for five years. Treasurer Phil Angelides proposed a similar plan, giving teachers tax breaks if they work at poor schools.

* Teachers in lower-performing schools will be eligible for $30,000 bonuses if they obtain national board certification in their specialty. Currently, they can receive $10,000.

* The state will forgive $11,000 in college loans for people who teach in schools ranked in the lower half.

* Top college graduates who obtain credentials will be eligible for $20,000 if they teach in such schools.

“To borrow a phrase from Uncle Sam, I intend to say to our young people, ‘I want you to be a teacher,’ ” Davis said.

The governor also called for increasing teacher training by more than tenfold, sending as many as 70,000 teachers to institutes where they would be instructed in reading, algebra, and other skills. He said the program would be the largest and most rigorous teacher training drive in any state.

“The whole tone he had about teachers and schools was very gratifying to me,” said Wayne Johnson, president of the California Teachers Assn., which gave Davis $1.2 million during his 1998 campaign.

But Johnson, who is planning an initiative to boost school spending to the national average, added that if Davis’ budget proposal to be released next week does not address the larger issue of under-funding education, “then we have a real problem.”

On other issues, Davis proposes to:

* Create three research institutes based at University of California campuses, at a state cost of $225 million. The nine UC campuses would compete for the centers, which would conduct research in medicine, space, telecommunications, agriculture and other sciences. Private enterprise would spend an additional $75 million in what he envisions as a partnership to help develop new technology that could be used by business.

* Add 100 more parole officers who would focus on people who have been convicted of felonies twice, and face the prospect of a sentence of 25 years to life if they commit a third felony. The extra officers would reduce caseload for each parole officer to 40 parolees, down from the current level of 70.

* Create a boot camp for 160 juveniles, primarily those who bring firearms onto campuses. They could go to the camp for a year and receive intensive education and counseling, or they could spend a year in jail. Davis said Sheriff Lee Baca, Orange County Sheriff Mike Corona, and others helped him develop the idea.

* Threatened local agencies that the state will spend $1.7 billion in money earmarked for local projects, if local government fails to spend it.

* Grant tax credits and increased pay for care givers to help older Californians remain in their homes, and avoid going to nursing homes. He called for $20 million to expand community centers, residential centers and facilities that care for elderly people during the day.

* In a plan outlined by his aides on Tuesday, Davis called for giving as much as $5,500 to California’s top high school students, to be used for college tuition. Public high school freshmen, sophomores and juniors would receive $1,000 toward tuition if they score in the top 10% statewide, or in the top 5% of their schools, on the annual Standardized Testing and Reporting exam.

Ninth-graders who attained such scores for three years would qualify for $3,000, to be deposited in a trust for tuition at the college of their choosing. Students who score a 5, the highest possible grade, on Advanced Placement tests in science and math could receive $2,500 toward tuition.

Democrats generally were approving of Davis remarks, though their comments were reserved.

“The governor clearly understands that education has to be our top priority, along with improving our infrastructure,” Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) said. “But I know he’s not done unveiling his ideas.”

Assembly Republican Leader Scott Baugh of Huntington Beach criticized Davis for failing to offer a tax cut, and was skeptical of the education ideas, saying: “You will end up with more teachers at an increased cost but no increase in test scores.”

Times staff writers Miguel Bustillo, Virginia Ellis, Amy Pyle and Jenifer Warren contributed to this story.

Gov. Gray Davis’ E-mail address is: graydavis@governor.ca.gov.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Highlights

In his State of the State speech Wednesday, Gov. Gray Davis’ proposals included:

EDUCATION

* $10,000 home loans for teachers, forgiven after 5 years

* $30,000 bonuses for some teachers

* $11,000 in forgivable college loans for some teachers

* Expanding preschool to include 100,000 4-year-olds

* $200 million for computers in schools

*

OTHER ISSUES

*

* 100 more parole officers and reduced caseloads

* Boot camp for 160 juvenile offenders

* Tax credits and increased pay for caregivers to the elderly

* $225 million for new research institutes at UC campuses