[NormsRevenge]

Student chefs prepare a white sauce at San Juan High's Culinary Arts Academy. The state monitors such academies to ensure that career programs are useful.

Sacramento Bee/Jay Mather

	Mary Hudler and Alice Parker of the state's Special Education Division are on a mission to improve accountability. Sacramento Bee/Jay Mather

	From left, Kuu Lee, Zoua Lo, Joua Vue, Neng Lee and Tai Cheng learn English at Fairbanks Elementary. The goal of the Community Based English Tutoring program is for parents to then teach their kids. But records have been sketchy on whether that is happening. Sacramento Bee/Jay Mather

	Hmong students gather for a traditional dance at Martin Luther King Jr. Junior High School. The event was funded by an Economic Impact Aid grant to the Grant Joint Union High School District, which has had money withheld for failing to deliver adequate services to students. Sacramento Bee/Jay Mather

[Thud]

Most of my contact with State oversight of schools comes from lawsuits over school construction contracts. The state-mandated building inspectors are rightly hard-nosed about construction and earthquake safety as the buildings are filled with children.

This is a success story and other states should emulate it. I've seen some scary looking school buildings in other states. Lots of California schools may be run-down, but structurally they are damned tough, and the safety standards increase as knowledge about construction techniques and earthquake hazards increase.