A Business Hand for Education

Business executives led by Ross Perot initially drove the Texas education reforms that have lifted test scores for all groups of students, including the lowest achievers. Now, Gov. Gray Davis is trying to replicate that improvement in California with targeted legislative reform. He is also remaking the State Board of Education by putting in place several appointees who know firsthand what employers need.

The 11-member board, whose members are subject to Senate confirmation, sets policy for California public schools--adopting standards, approving textbooks and managing the new state school accountability system. It was, for instance, the board’s recommendation several years ago that returned phonics-based reading instruction and math fundamentals to classrooms.

Reed Hastings, a Silicon Valley software entrepreneur whom Davis appointed a year ago, chairs the board. He has pushed the state to increase the number of charter schools and raised millions of dollars for a successful November 2000 ballot proposition that reduced the vote requirement for local school bonds from a two-thirds margin to 55%, a change that will allow more districts to build schools.

Two recent nominees are notable. Suzanne Tacheny is an education policy wonk who tracked the Texas reforms while a consultant with the Los Angeles Unified School District. She is executive director of California Business for Education Excellence, which was formed in 1998 at the urging of Hewlett-Packard, Boeing, IBM and Pacific Bell to convey strong business support for standards and accountability. Donald G. Fisher, founder of the retailing giant GAP Inc., was a major contributor to the campaign to lower the threshold needed to pass local school bonds. Though he has been deeply committed to school reform, Fisher may face some opposition in the Legislature because of his support for Edison Schools Inc., a for-profit company that privately manages public schools. Active in the California Business Roundtable, he would be an asset on the state board. Both Fisher and Tacheny deserve Senate confirmation.

Other Davis appointees include board Vice President Susan Hammer, who while mayor of San Jose encouraged businesses to help wire schools for computers and fund homework centers; Nancy Ichinaga, who while principal of Bennett-Kew Elementary School in Inglewood raised scores of the largely minority and bilingual enrollment; Robert J. Abernethy, president of Self-Storage Management Co. in Manhattan Beach and a trustee of Johns Hopkins University; Carlton Jenkins, a dot-com executive and the former CEO of Founders National Bank in South Los Angeles; Monica Lozano, president and chief operating officer of La Opinion newspaper in Los Angeles; Vicki Reynolds, the mayor of Beverly Hills and a former member of that city’s school board, and student member Jacqueline Boris.

Only one appointee of former Gov. Pete Wilson, phonics champion Marion Joseph, remains. Wilson strengthened the board during his second term as the state began to focus on the weaknesses of public schools. Davis thus builds on a board that went from being a rubber stamp for education fads to an entity that wields real power.

If business wants an abundant supply of skilled workers, it must buy into statewide reform. The state board is now well situated to bring other business leaders to this view.