Other Views: California schools need a shakeup

The state has avoided facing the shortcomings in public schools long enough. California legislators should use the upcoming special session on education to make the sweeping reforms the state's school system urgently needs. A legislative focus on grabbing more federal funds misses the point: California education requires fundamental changes in operation and governance.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last month called a special session of the Legislature to help the state qualify for a share of $4.35 billion in federal schools money. The governor wants to link student test scores to teacher evaluations, a requirement for landing the federal dollars. Schwarzenegger also would lift the statewide cap on the number of charter schools and give parents more freedom to choose which public school their children attend, among other suggestions.

But the Legislature should be thinking in far larger terms than the governor's narrowly tailored proposals. California's schools are overly regulated and inefficiently financed, with muddled lines of authority and conflicting incentives that hinder improvement. A few extra federal dollars or more charter schools will not cure those endemic ills.

Schwarzenegger had declared 2008 to be the "year of education," only to see the onset of a massive budget crisis as the economy soured and revenue tanked. Legislators used the financial squeeze as an excuse to postpone addressing school needs; apparently, politicians define reform as increasing spending.

But a 2007 series of academic studies led by Stanford University noted that pouring more money into California schools without first making fundamental changes to the system would achieve little. And a financial crisis should spur legislators to build a school system that uses money more efficiently.

The 2007 studies, along with a report by the governor's Committee on Educational Excellence last year, offer the state a good road map for navigating reforms.

The Legislature should start by giving local districts more power to make decisions, instead of setting policy from Sacramento. The state needs to streamline an overgrown education code that puts more emphasis on administrative paperwork than good education practices.

The state also needs to change an education financing system that dispenses money without regard to needs, costs or educational goals. And the Legislature should give districts more flexibility to use school money to meet local needs, instead of dictating spending priorities from the state Capitol.

Districts also need the power to offer differential pay and incentives to teachers, so that struggling schools do not always end up with the least capable instructors. And California should discard policies that make ousting ineffective teachers nearly impossible.

A legislative package that leaves those systemic flaws intact is merely empty posturing. California's school system needs a thorough overhaul, not a cosmetic touchup.