Action Guide November 3, 1998

DESCRIPTION

This is an initiative statute making permanent the existing K-3 class size reduction funding for districts, but only if they establish governing councils composed of 2/3 parents and 1/3 teachers in each school in the district. Those councils would have the power, in consultation with school principals, to make all curriculum and expenditure decisions for their school, within the budget provided by the district. Procedures for setting up the councils and establishing their rules are not spelled out, but would be established by each school district. Teachers would be responsible for drafting an educational plan each year, which could then be modified by the school site council. Principals would make personnel decisions, and would have added power to do so for their school.

The measure sets up a whole new state bureaucracy under an education czar called the Chief Inspector of Public Schools to evaluate and report on school quality. This person would be appointed by the Governor for a ten year term, not be subject to approval by the Senate, and could be removed from office only by a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature. There are no educational or professional requirements for the appointee to this office. The Inspector would have broad authority to hire, fire and set compensation for the employees of the office as well as for him- or herself. Funding for the office, which the Legislative Analyst estimates could be $15 to $20 million annually, would come from the approximately $34 million annual budget of the State Department of Education.

The measure adds some additional requirements for examinations for teachers to receive credentials and assignments to teach particular subjects, and provides that pupil performance would be used in teacher evaluations. It makes minor additions to requirements for expulsion of students for possession of drugs. Overall, the measure creates up to $60 million in new state programs, with a significant portion probably coming from the existing education budget. The potential costs to local school districts could be in the high tens of millions of dollars.

BACKGROUND

This measure was sponsored by Governor Wilson as a response to low comparative test scores for California's students. It gives parents a greater role in running the schools their children attend. It is also intended to provide greater state oversight of the schools and reporting on the performance of individual schools.

IMPORTANT POINTS

• Passage of this measure would shift responsibility away from local school boards elected by and answerable to the whole community to councils of parents and teachers at each individual school.

• This division of authority would make it difficult to assure that there was a common core curriculum and consistency from school to school, making it difficult for children or teachers changing schools to adjust. The provision that each school governing council could revise its educational plan each year could mean that curriculum was inconsistent from year to year even in the same school.

• The broad interest of the community in how their schools were run might not be reflected in individual schools.

• K-3 class size reduction is already in place and funded.

• The provisions regarding teacher credentialing and assignment make only minor substantive changes to existing practice, but set in place numerous procedural requirements.

• There are already problems resulting from conflicting powers of the existing Secretary of Child Development and Education in the Governor's cabinet, an elected Superintendent of Public Instruction and an appointed State Board of Education. Adding an entirely new and independent bureaucracy to the mix would only complicate the situation.

Resources

Parents, Teachers, Cops and Taxpayers Against Prop 8, 111 Anza Boulevard, Suite 406, Burlingame 94010, 650- 340-0470, fax 650-340-1740, www.noprop8.org

An excellent impartial analysis of Proposition 8 is available from EdSource, a nonpartisan, nonprofit education policy research organization. The report is posted on the Web at www.edsource.org, or you can call (650) 857-9604 to purchase a copy.