Education
We
must ensure that students graduating from California schools know how to read, write, speak in English, and
have the math and computer skills that are needed now and in the future. As a
school board member in Davis, I worked to promote challenging classes for all
students and supported the development of programs for students that need
additional help. Based on this experience, I believe that the most important
state education reforms were put into place under former Governor Wilson,
when the State Board of Education adopted rigorous new standards and
established a statewide test so that local communities could determine how
well their schools are doing. Governor Wilson also succeeded in requiring
schools to set minimum standards for promotion between grades and providing
intervention programs for students at risk of being held back.
But
education is a hot issue where politicians can smell votes, so the
Legislature has continued to pile on bills that add a host of new state
mandates and strings on school funding. These include creating a new
administrative bureaucracy that skirts the edges of teacher performance
review, interfering with local district salary negotiations, and creating
unrealistic requirements for high school graduation that will only become
apparent after those who have put them in place are no longer facing
election. Another “reform” allows the State Superintendent of Schools (who
has no expertise in operating schools) to take over local school districts. And mismanagement of the state budget is
threatening the ability of schools to fund existing programs.
In
contrast, I believe that real reform will require returning the authority and
responsibility for school performance to local communities. Important steps
in meeting this challenge include:
- Supporting
local efforts to provide challenging coursework for all students and
intervention programs for those at risk of falling behind.
- Assisting local
districts in keeping drugs and weapons out of our schools.
- Increased
support for summer school programs for students in jeopardy of being held
back.
- Training for
teachers in applying the new state standards.
- Renewing our
commitment to vocational programs for the development of practical skills
that can be used at work.
- Continuing to
give a standardized test of student achievement so that parents and
communities have an objective measure of how well their schools are
performing.
- Reducing the
number state directives that are taking classroom time away from students and
teachers.
- Focusing state
efforts on guidelines and tools that local schools can use to meet their own,
specific needs.
- Taking the
state strings off of school funding to return control of schools to local
communities.
- Eliminating
state mandates and education code requirements that shift education spending
away from students.
- Keeping schools
focused on education, instead of social engineering.
The
bottom line here is that the Democrats now in charge of the State Legislature
are promoting centralized state control of our schools at the same time that
they have made a mess of school funding and curriculum. In contrast, I
believe that schools should be taking their direction from parents and the
local community.
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