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Politics : Socialized Education - Is there abetter way? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (159)	4/3/2007 1:58:12 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1513

Why New Education Report Has California Quaking By Vicki Murray [Publisher's Note: The FlashReport is please to bring you this column from Vicki Murray with the Pacific Research Institute...] A new education report, the most thorough to date, has made Sacramento the epicenter of California's latest quake. The 1,700-page Getting Down to Facts report concludes what research and common sense have shown for a long time: pouring more money into California's dysfunctional public education system won't improve student performance. Thirty years ago the Golden State was a national education leader. Today it ranks a dismal 48th in basic reading and math skills, but such low performance does not come at low cost. Indeed, current per-pupil spending exceeds $11,000, a 27-percent increase in real, inflation-adjusted terms over the past decade. The new report rolled out March 14-15 represents 23 studies by 32 state and national experts from leading universities and research organizations. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation and the Stuart Foundation funded the $2.6 million, 18-month effort. Most impressive, Getting Down to Facts actually lives up to its name. Though not designed to offer specific reforms, several themes emerged. California's system of public education governance stands out as one of the most micromanaged yet least informed systems in the country since the state does not gather even the most basic education performance and spending information. The system of finance is illogical, inflexible, and inequitable, driven more by special interest politics than hard data. The inability to fire bad teachers also remains a major obstacle to school improvement. "Past experience and the research we review here indicate with some certainty what will not work if our goal is to make dramatic improvements in student learning," say Getting Down to Facts authors. "It is clear, for example, that solely directing more money into the current system will not dramatically improve student achievement and will meet neither expectations nor needs. What matters most are the ways in which the available resources and any new resources are used." [emphases original] "California schools are in need of sweeping, comprehensive reforms if the state is to raise the quality of education and student-achievement rates. The structural problems are so deep-seated that more funding and small, incremental interventions are unlikely to make a difference unless matched with a commitment to wholesale reform," the report concludes. That's got some Sacramento politicians shaking. Results were released in January to the handful of political leaders who requested the report. They include the Governor's Committee on Education Excellence, the President Pro Tem of the California Senate Don Perata, the Speaker of the California Assembly Fabian Núñez, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. Findings were supposed to be confidential until the mid-March public release. However, sensationalized leaks that California public schools are grossly under-funded sprung the week before. They ranged from $20 billion to more than $1.5 trillion, about 15 times the entire state budget. "Let's not...use the most sensationally high-cost estimates to torpedo efforts at real reform," O'Connell urged. But for opponents of reform, it was bombs away. Assembly Education Committee Chairman Gene Mullin (D-South San Francisco) said efforts to simplify the process of firing bad teachers, which averages five years, will be met with "a pitched battle." California Teachers Association President Barbara E. Kerr added, "Let's get over this part." She vowed the CTA will fight reform efforts unless accompanied by a simultaneous, "substantial investment in new education funding." Californians will likely endure years of aftershocks from Getting Down to Facts because some tectonic plates in the legislature are now up against the very hard data their own leadership requested. Here's one scenario. Armed with inadequacy figures well in excess of $1 trillion, which report authors themselves dismiss as unscientific, spending proponents' demands for mere tens of billions of dollars in additional annual education funding will look positively frugal. But with a billion-dollar budget deficit looming, the legislature is unlikely to go along. The public is also unlikely to approve another tax increase, so big spenders are probably gearing up for a massive adequacy lawsuit against the state. That way, special interest group lawyers can get a judge to order the legislature and taxpayers to spend more on education without having to enact any substantive, but politically unpalatable, Getting Down to Facts recommendations. Hewlett Foundation Education Program Director Marshall Smith cautioned, "If we do not get our house in order by making significant reforms to the state's governance and finance systems, I fear that new resources will make little difference." Given initial rumblings about Getting Down to Facts, be afraid, Mr. Smith. Be very afraid. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vicki Murray is a senior fellow in education studies at the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. She can be reached at vmurray@pacificresearch.org. pacificresearch.org