More of the Same
I noticed this San Jose Mercury News story about the results of the report from the Governor’s Committee on Education Excellence. The committee was supposed to analyze the mega-report, “Getting Down to the Facts” and come up with specific recommendations. Apparently, they’ve been sharing copies of the report with the media, so the first details are beginning to emerge.
As someone who has seen these sorts of report before, I had two expectations:
- Whatever they recommend will require lots more money.
- They will recommend many of the same reforms that we’ve been discussing for years.
And the article says:
- Billions more to be spent each year to educate English-learners and other low-income students who are lagging behind more affluent peers.
- A sophisticated new data system to better track students’ successes and failures.
- A school “inspection system” similar to those used in New York City and several European countries. To increase the accountability of schools, the results of the inspections would immediately be made available to the public.
Setting the stage for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Year of Education,” a panel he appointed has proposed a sweeping set of reforms that will help define the debate, including performance-based pay for teachers, universal preschool and full-day kindergarten.
A blueprint of the recommendations obtained by the Mercury News also calls for:
Critics – and even supporters of the ideas – immediately pointed to the obvious obstacle in ushering in a major change to how California educates its children: a state budget crisis and a budget deficit estimated at $14 billion.
The proposals from the Governor’s Committee on Education Excellence would cost an estimated $6.1 billion annually, but the panel maintains they could be paid for with anticipated school-funding increases in the coming years.
Right on both accounts. Most of these strategies have been widely discussed before and the $6.1B price tag is one that will make CTA giggle with glee. Given our $14B budget deficit, it is going to be interesting to see how the Governor is going to maintain existing services while cutting expenditures and simultaneously providing health insurance for all and adding $6.1B in public education expenditures. Somehow I think something is going to have to give. I’m afraid that this report will end up on the shelf next to the latest K-12 Education Master Plan created by Senator Alpert’s joint legislative committee. Nothing came of that report either.
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