Education in California

The following is form my notes during the Education Update meeting hosted by State Sen. Joe Simitian, for whom I intern. At the end of the meeting, I also had two members of the Fremont Union High School District come up to me to say that they were extremely happy to see high school students get involved with things like this, which put me in a very good mood for the rest of the day. I originally drafted the following for a youth group that might find some of the information relevant but I shall copy/paste that here anyway. There were a lot of things that I learned about the education system in California.

Who: California State Senator Joseph Simitian of the Eleventh District, member of the Senate ducation Committee, Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education, and Chair of the new Senate Select Committee on California’s Master Plan for Education

What: An Education Update meeting

Where: Palo Alto Unified School District Office Board Room

When: 10 AM – 12 PM, Saturday, January 28, 2006

Why: “To discuss the education aspects of the Governor’s budget proposal, and provide an update on K-12 policy proposals in California.

Topics

I. The Governor’s Budget

II. Policy Matters

III. Issues brought up by education advocates and school officials present

The Governor’s Budget

Governor Schwarzenegger introduced his Budget on January 10, 2006. The Legislature makes recommendations and submits its own version of the bill until May 15, when the Governor submits his May Revise of the Budget. In his budget, he has provided more than the minimum required by Proposition 98, increased categorical grants, as well as more funding for various education goals. He has also introduced bond measures of $68 billion in bonds over five successive election years. This will encourage long-term planning, especially with education bonds, but may also allow less flexibility.

Key points from State Senator Joe Simitian’s discussion of the education budget:

- No revenue will be taken from Basic Aid districts and the State of California will instead work to raise the standards to achieve equalization of schools.

- Equalization refers to the efforts made to make sure that schools receive money in such a way to achieve equally good education. The Governor’s Budget includes $200 million for revenue equalization, which affects low-wealth districts such as those in Cupertino and elsewhere.

- Politically, additional money for revenue equalization is good because it encourages raising the standards instead of taking money away from high-achieving Basic Aid districts.

- Money from bonds has previously been distributed equally between the UCs, CSUs, and Community Colleges. The senator mentioned the need to refigure this division of funds in order to best allocate resources. Nevertheless, the budget gives additional resources for community colleges.

- There is currently conversation about the importance of local control in education, which would allow local communities to make many of the decisions regarding education.

Policy Issues

The policy matters discussed during this meeting included the teacher shortage, information on schools and districts (SB 687), data on students and on teachers, standardized testing, and the economic impacts of charter schools.

Teacher Shortage

- With many teachers likely to retire, California will need around 100,000 teachers over the next decade. This brings up questions regarding how to attract able instructors, train them, and retain them.

- Even in affluent areas, younger teachers are difficult to find because of the relatively high cost of living in those areas.

- There is a shortage of specialized and/or trained staff to take on more challenging assignments.

School & District Accountability

- SB 687 changes the way that data is gathered through the Accountability Report Card for districts. Instead of collecting data on a district-wide scale, SB 687 proposes to also find out the average expenditure per student on a school-by-school basis, as well as for average teacher salaries.

- More focused data will pinpoint any disparities that may also bring up equity issues. For example, if one school in a particular district has a higher average teacher salary than another school in the same district, the causes of that disparity can identify problems and possibly suggest solutions.

Student and Teacher Information

- Students in California are highly mobile, and it is difficult to keep track of students in general and the individual needs of each and every student.

-California Student Information System (CSI) would allow better tracking of students in order to ensure that resources are being allocated in a way to benefit each student.

Standardized Tests

- While the state senator mentioned improvements in how the tests were designed and implemented, he also brought up the point that the goal of such tests should be to help individual students to improve as well.

- Later, when a Palo Alto High School junior asked about Exit Exams, Senator Simitian explained that pinpointing the problem early in a student’s high school career allows for teachers, parents, and the student to make necessary decisions to aid that student. The budget for such intervention programs has been increased as well.

Charter Schools

- Background: In the late 1990’s, a charter school movement argued for charter schools as a way of serving a diverse group of youth in California. The state senator felt that there needed to be a much more definite plan outlining the goals and roles of charter schools.

- There is much potential for these schools, since they proide alternatives for those perhaps not doing well under the current system. However, and an impromptu poll of the roomful of educators and education experts showed some discontent about the management of charter schools and their impacts on the local community.

- Charter schools affect local communities because it may lead to a decrease in enrollment in nearby schools, which in turn would affect that school or district’s budget.

- State Senator Joe Simitian believes that charter schools are the best “inoculation” from resorting to vouchers.

Questions and Comments

Health care coverage: Rising health care costs have led to debate on a single-payer program and SB 840, which is now in the State Assembly.

Local funding for schools

Aside from the 55% parcel tax measure (the requirement that parcel taxes for education be passed by a supermajority) and issues of fairness in allocation of funding, the issue was convincing the public for more local money. Senator Simitian encouraged not only showing accountability for finances as well as education, but also showing the community that schools provide valuable local resource. People tend to view schools as a state institution, although they should be a community-centered institution, with everybody asking “what does it take to get the work done?”

Need for vocational programs, which have been declining in number, especially technical training. This emphasizes the idea that students in California are very different and therefore have different needs.

The Senate Select Committee for Master Plan for Education seeks to highlight areas for potential legislation by working with the California State Senate and the government as a whole as well as local communities and districts.

No Child Left Behind

The federal government funds approximately 11% of the education budget in California. Therefore, the State of California cannot follow Utah’s example in passing on federal funds in rejecting the No Child Left Behind. However, there are two ways to work with the government in achieving the same goals of the No Child Left Behind plan. First, the state could try to get federal funds to back up the No Child Left Behind program to supplement the state’s expenses and therefore alleviate the financial cost. Second, the state, with many others, can also advocate for a more realistic expectation than the ones presented by this program.

Conclusion

State Senator Joe Simitian encouraged collaboration with his office (located in 160 Town & Country Village, Palo Alto) in order to foster communications between the education community and the state government. The challenge of educating 6.4 million students is divided mostly between the local community and the state government, and cooperation between those two groups may help achieve the ultimate goal of having a qualified teacher in every classroom and meeting every student’s individual needs.