Schools Back Cutting Mandates, Not Funds

Here’s a simple quiz: You’re the governor of California facing a $26-billion to $34-billion, 18-month budget gap. Would you:

(A) Make $5.4 billion in across-the-board cuts to education and then financially penalize local school districts that fail to meet the state’s costly, paper-drowning mandates, pushing them to the brink of bankruptcy?

(B) Cut back on state programs and mandates for personnel, supplies and equipment that waste local school district money and devote fewer resources to teaching?

The governor’s current proposal indicates that the answer is “A.” However, most local school districts and school boards, charged with keeping the schoolhouse doors open and top-notch programs available for children, are seeking more local control and flexibility. They say the answer is B.

Gov. Gray Davis’ proposal, unveiled Jan. 10, chops $5.4 billion from education, one-half coming in the middle of this school year. As indicated by the state legislative analyst’s office, the governor’s across-the-board approach assumes that all existing programs have equal value. This is not the case for most California schools.

Orange County superintendents, representing half a million schoolchildren, have set forth a series of detailed recommendations that deserve serious consideration. These ideas, while helping the governor make his cuts, also keep much of the impact away from classrooms. The solution: Relax state mandates that drain time and money from students.

Just in the area of state testing, schools are required to administer the following alphabet soup. See how many of the tests you can identify (answers below): CAHSEE (three days), CAT 6 (six hours), CELDT (two hours), SABE (seven hours), CST (five hours) and PE (three hours).

Optional exams include GSE, AP, IB, SAT and ACT. The state imposes 70% more testing than required by federal regulation -- onerous by any standard.

Another area of concern is the rigidity of the present class-size reduction program for kindergarten through third grade. The program has never been fully funded.

Now Davis’ proposal further reduces that funding while maintaining unrealistic and inflexible formulas with expensive penalties for the slightest variance. Right now, schools that participate in class-size reduction--which means most schools in California--must keep classes to no more than 20 students.

That means principals must set the class sizes at 18 or 19 maximum to make room for the extra students who are sure to show up during the year. And then maybe a couple more students show up, forcing the school to open a new class and hire a new teacher.

This rigidity also has led to a large number of mixed-grade classes, some of them with strange ratios, in order to find a place for the extra students. The need to teach two grade levels in one classroom cancels out much of the benefit of having that smaller class.

Superintendents ask for increased flexibility. Allowing a 22:1 districtwide student-teacher ratio -- rather than a rigid cap -- maintains small class sizes yet saves millions of dollars.

Finally, eliminating nonessential paperwork would be a tremendous relief in both time and money. For example, the Coordinated Compliance Review process takes 50 hours of principal and staff time to document that they are meeting state and federal mandates.

All school districts devote reams of paper on reporting requirements that are not directly tied to instruction. Superintendents recommend eliminating these unnecessary mandates.

The across-the-board cuts proposed by Davis force school districts into a tough choice. Comply with the state-ordered requirements and paperwork or keep valuable programs such as art, music and class reduction. Superintendents believe that relaxing the state mandates and giving back to local school districts and parents the choice to make decisions for their students will result in savings without resorting to drastic cuts.

With time and money running short, it is critical that Orange County residents speak up to the governor and their legislators and direct the path they want their schools to take: state decisions or more local control.

Repeatedly, Orange County residents have shown that public education is high on their priority list. Who has a better picture of the needs of the students and the educational programs essential to serve them well?

To do so, superintendents of school districts throughout Orange County ask for local control and greater flexibility.

Our children cannot afford the wrong answer.

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Answers:

CAHSEE: California High School Exit Exam; CAT 6: California Achievement Test, 6th Edition; CELDT: California English Language Development Test; SABE: Spanish Assessment of Basic Education; CST: California Standards Test; PE: Physical Education; GSE: Golden State Exam; AP: Advanced Placement; IB: International Baccalaureate; SAT: Scholastic Assessment Test; ACT: American College Test