School plan comes amid fiscal crisis - Governor's education panel recommends new outlays, merit pay and other reforms. But lawmakers are facing a $10-billion deficit.
SACRAMENTO -- A blue-ribbon panel is poised to propose a multibillion-dollar plan for overhauling education in California just as the state has become immersed in a fiscal crisis that could make its recommendations dead on arrival.
The 15-member committee, appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, concluded after two years of study that state schools are "hobbled in red tape, riddled with inefficiencies and impossible for parents and students to understand," according to a draft of the plan obtained by The Times.
The Governor's Committee on Education Excellence says in its 40-page report that "California's K-12 education system is broken. It is not close to helping each student become proficient in mastering the state's clear curricular standards, and wide disparities persist between rich and poor, between students of color and others, between English learners and native English speakers."
It proposes $6.1 billion in new spending and some controversial changes, including performance-based pay for teachers, special resources for students who primarily speak a language other than English and a stronger role for the elected superintendent for public instruction -- who now has little say in how school systems are managed.
The report was intended to provide a blueprint for Schwarzenegger's next legislative initiative: a restructuring of the state's education system. But it arrives as revenues are plummeting in the wake of a housing crisis, and lawmakers face a $10-billion deficit that experts predict will grow.
Officials who were hoping that next year would bring major improvements now say any significant efforts costing money will have to be shelved.
"Without any added revenues, it looks like we will be holding in abeyance any bills . . . that provide for comprehensive education reform," said Assemblyman Gene Mullin (D-San Mateo), chairman of the Education Committee.
The governor's education secretary, David Long, hopes some reforms would be possible but is pessimistic about changes requiring significant new financing.
"There will be some things, because of the fiscal picture, that we won't be able to do," he said.
Although the governor has ordered state department heads to draw up plans for 10% cuts for next year, he has sought to keep alive the chance to fix a system in which fewer than half of all ninth-graders end up with a high school diploma.
- 63 Advisory Panels, Committees Dropped Jul 02, 1993
- The Davis Cabinet Jan 04, 1999
- Study to Examine Public Schools Mar 31, 2006
