Brown delivers on most 2010 campaign pledges

Jerry Brown drew chuckles decades ago when he suggested that California launch its own communications satellite into space. He had a more down-to-earth proposal when he ran for governor in 2010.

He wanted to line the state’s highways with shimmering solar panels, an environmentally friendly way to pump clean energy into the power grid. But after he took office, the state transportation agency concluded that the idea wasn’t financially feasible and it was sidelined.

There were other goals that didn’t come to fruition, mostly minor items such as his intention to create an academy for training teachers to be principals.

But Brown has received praise on more significant vows: to increase local control of government functions, reduce public pension costs, keep a lid on spiraling university tuition and — the central promise of his 2010 campaign — stabilize California’s finances.

When he took office in January 2011, the governor faced a $26-billion deficit that was erased with a mix of budget cuts, tax hikes and luck. Brown continued reducing public healthcare and other services, as his Republican predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, had done. Then he persuaded voters to pass a temporary increase in sales taxes and new levies on high earners.

Those moves and the economic improvements that followed the recession buoyed state finances, creating a surplus for the first time in years and bolstering his prospects for a fourth, final term.

Although Republican lawmakers opposed Brown’s tax increases, they have given the governor credit for spending less on government programs than his fellow Democrats would prefer. Connie Conway, who led the Assembly’s Republican caucus for much of Brown’s term, often called him “the adult in the room.”

Schools

Brown has taken much more criticism for his education policies. His Republican opponent, former U.S. Treasury official Neel Kashkari, has accused the governor of being too cozy with teachers unions and failing to help minority children in struggling schools.

However, by the benchmarks Brown set for himself four years ago, he’s had a number of successes.

He fostered legislation to give school districts more flexibility in their use of state money, part of his drive to push more power from Sacramento to local jurisdictions — “closer to the people,” as he said in 2010.

As part of the legislation, more funding is being sent to districts with high numbers of English learners and low-income families.

Student testing has been overhauled in line with goals he outlined for a greater emphasis on the understanding of concepts over rote memorization. The new system begins next spring, conducted largely on computers, allowing faster tabulation of results.

California’s high school graduation rate has been climbing, cracking 80% in 2013. English proficiency has increased slightly.

Other results are more difficult to measure.

Brown said he wanted to recruit more teachers who placed in the top third of their high school classes, but neither the California Department of Education nor the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing tracks such information.

Higher Education

More than five decades ago, state leaders drew up a “master plan” for higher education that assigned specific roles to the public institutions. It included giving the University of California dominion over doctoral degrees and granting open access to community colleges.

During the 2010 campaign, Brown said the outline was outdated and needed to be replaced. That hasn’t occurred, but he’s taken steps to encourage more cooperation and to make it easier for community college students to transfer to four-year universities.

Cal State enrolled 28% more transfer students in the 2013-14 academic year than in the year before that.

In 2010, Brown said rising tuition was pricing Californians out of their public universities. Those costs have not increased in the last few years as he has sent more state money to universities.

Experiments with online education, something Brown also championed, yielded mixed results. A high proportion of students flunked online courses when they debuted at San Jose State in spring 2013, but grades improved during a summer session.

Energy

Brown said California should require a third of all energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, and he signed legislation to put the mandate on the books. The state was at 22% as of last year, according to the California Energy Commission.

Officials say that utilities are reaching enough contracts with renewable sources for the state to meet its target.

Though the “solar highway” stalled, the energy commission said the state has nearly hit Brown’s goal of adding 8,000 megawatts of large-scale renewable energy to the power grid by 2020.

The governor also wants 12,000 new megawatts of localized renewable energy — such as solar panels delivering energy to adjacent buildings. So far, 4,800 megawatts are online with nearly 5,000 more on the way, according to the commission. For example, the prison system has installed solar panels at five facilities, mostly since Brown took office, and there are plans to double the number.

“The governor has been a catalyst,” said Robbie Hunter, president of the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California.

Brown also said his focus on renewable energy would create 500,000 new green jobs by 2020.

The California Employment Development Department estimates that there have been 102,000 new green jobs created in the last four years — for example, environmental consulting positions or jobs building energy-efficient products such as clean vehicles.

Brown promised to appoint a “czar” to oversee renewable energy and job growth, but instead the governor chose an advisor to handle job growth issues more broadly.

Pensions

Brown vowed to rein in pension costs if he was elected. Many of his proposals were wrapped into a measure approved by the Legislature and signed into law in September 2012.

It reduced benefits for employees hired after the law took effect in January 2013. In addition, local and state governments can no longer take “pension holidays” — skip their contributions when the stock market boosts investment.

Unions resisted the legislation, and some of Brown’s ideas didn’t make it past the Legislature.

Requiring some employees to rely partly on 401(k)-type investments for retirement — which Brown proposed after taking office — was not included. Nor was his campaign pledge to increase oversight by creating a seat for the governor’s finance director on pension boards.

“It’s not perfect,” Brown said when he signed the pension measure. “We’re taking as bold a step as the process would allow.”

Keeping costs from ballooning could prove difficult.

For example, the legislation curtailed “spiking” — boosting a pension with a salary increase in a workers’ final year on the job. But the board of California’s primary pension system recently approved 99 bonuses that can increase retirement benefits. Brown has asked administration officials to review that decision.

Legislation enacted this year created a 30-year plan to patch a $74-billion shortfall in California’s teacher pension system, which has suffered from lower-than-needed contributions. But no steps have been taken to address $64.6 billion in long-term healthcare costs for retired state employees.

Controller John Chiang, a Democrat now running for state treasurer, said the issue could become the “next big fiscal threat.”

Brown has asked for patience.

“I can’t do everything in one year, or even four years,” he told reporters in the summer. “That’s one of the reasons why I’m running for another four years.”

chris.megerian@latimes.com

Twitter: @chrismegerian