Bills Would Aid Neediest Learners

Even as Gov. Gray Davis tries to sell an extension of the middle school year, lawmakers prefer other means of rescuing the state’s neediest learners: 1.4 million California children who attend more than 1,300 schools ranked in the lowest two levels of the Academic Performance Index.

Influential policymakers in both houses want to ensure that those students have everything from toilet paper in their bathroom stalls to more credentialed teachers in their classrooms.

“We have not done enough for the lowest performing schools,” said Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh (D-Los Angeles). “They start at an enormous disadvantage.”

All of the schools in his East Los Angeles district rank in the lowest two levels of the API, Firebaugh said. He added that only about 70% of teachers at elementary schools in the index’s lowest level are credentialed, compared with 96% in the highest level.

Legislation introduced to improve low-performing schools includes:

* AB 481, by Firebaugh and Assemblyman Manny Diaz (D-San Jose), which would provide $500 million in grants for struggling middle and high schools. The money could be used for tutoring and after-school programs and to reduce class sizes.

* SB 466, a $500-million proposal by Sen. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) that would allow struggling school districts to collectively bargain for credentialed teachers so that they can offer them more pay. Districts would also be required to make improvements at their schools such as having full-time vice principals, counselors and nurses.

* SB 508, a multi-pronged measure by Sens. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) and Bruce McPherson (R-Santa Cruz) to get kids performing at grade level. The bill proposes spending $582 million to get better teachers working with low-achieving students and to get children’s parents involved in their education.

The California Teachers Assn. has also called for increased spending on low-performing schools and finding ways to attract credentialed teachers to them. Association board members are scheduled to vote today on which measures they plan to endorse.