Posted on 01/24/2005 6:56:40 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO – Saying funding for public education is "bottoming out," Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said Monday he will focus on increasing state money for schools and will campaign to reduce the threshold necessary to pass local parcel taxes.
In his State of Education speech to education advocates, O'Connell criticized Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's spending plan, saying it was wrong to frame the budget woes as a choice between cutting health care for the elderly or public education.
"It is a choice between tax relief for the wealthiest Californians – those who have benefited most from federal tax policies – and funding for health and schools," O'Connell said.
It's another sign of growing opposition to Schwarzenegger's $111.7 billion budget plan, which would provide $2.9 billion more for public education – just enough to keep pace with growth and inflation. Education advocates say the $36.5 billion education budget still shorts schools nearly $2 billion in unanticipated revenue from the current year.
"I do not believe the citizens of California are willing to sacrifice the future of their children" to close the budget gap, O'Connell said.
He also took on the governor's proposal to switch teachers from a tenure-based system to merit pay. Schwarzenegger called his plan a way to "reward good teachers and expel those who are not."
But O'Connell, who still holds a valid teaching credential, rejected the idea that "all we need to do is get rid of some ineffective teachers, and somehow student achievement will improve.
"The problem with our schools is not our teachers," O'Connell said. "The problem is that education is significantly underfunded in this state."
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
The rest of the article.
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A spokesman for Schwarzenegger's finance director didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
Another way to get more money for schools would be to lower the threshold needed to pass local parcel taxes from the current two-thirds to 55 percent of voters, O'Connell said. Parcel taxes are flat fees charged to landowners, levied by local governments.
Proposition 39, which voters approved in 2000, lowered the threshold for some school construction bonds to 55 percent of the vote, has led to voter approval of $10 billion in new bonds, O'Connell said. The threshold had originally been two-thirds.
Other issues the superintendent highlighted during his address included working toward universal preschool for all 4-year-olds, better nutrition and physical education for students, and creating standards for students who are going into the trades, instead of heading to college.
The career technical education standards will largely include the same skills as college-bound students, O'Connell said, since so many trades require training in advanced math skills and technical reading and writing.
O'Connell said he expected to present those standards to the Board of Education in March.
On the Net:
The state Department of Education: www.cde.ca.gov
More, more, more, as one tries to squeeze more out of the dried out juiceless bankrupt prune, sans any real reform. Just say no. I am still so pissed about that initiative borrowing 3 billion to do its own stem cell research that I just want to scream. No, I am in favor of stem cell research, but not by bankrupt California free lancing with money it does not have.
This is what Howie Carr would call a "standing head" (e.g. a headline that is always typeset and ready to run because it is used so often).
Just for once, I'd like to see a reporter ask this clown exactly how much money he needs to "improve the schools".
50% of the state budget? No, more than that, since that's what they get now. 75%? 110%?
I'd love to see the response.
It's a fantasy, I know.
Well, we now know where California's priorities are.
Arnold's proposed education budget is 7.1% higher than last year and the largest increased line item in the budget (Info from Roger Hedgecocks radio show), yet the CTA is running ads decrying the "massive cuts" that will "harm children". Nice that people responsible for educating children are blatant liars. The CTA and the other public unions are absolutely shameless in playing on people's emotions to keep their gravy train going.
I work there and they don't need any more money. They have too much money!
These high paid consultants (hippies from the 60's) have so many emotional problems AND they make policy for your children! Parents should be very scared.
What happened to the lottery money that was supposed to solve the schools' problems so many years ago? At least that's why we voted for it, when I lived there.
You are on to something...the classroom is a joke when it comes to management and behavior. Some of these kids are so disruptive that you spend a majority of your time trying to get them to work on an assignment. I believe if the school could paddle again many of the discipline problems would disappear and real learning could take place in an orderly classroom.
Denny Crane: "I look to two things. First to God and then to Fox News."
Schools chief (O'Connell) offers 'P-16' plan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1328126/posts
You would have thought that reducing the percentage of votes needed to pass bond issues to 55% would have sufficed for them.
But no. Now we need to reduce the vote needed to increase parcel taxes as well.
I guess that when O'Connell talks about "rich" people, he means people that are still able to own their own homes.
Well, they won't be able to for much longer, if he has his way.
California's priorities are getting 4 year olds into the education system to keep union teachers from being laid off.
Add to that the two meals a day we extend all of our south of the border friends.
And the $3 Billion on stem cell research, $1 Billion in aid to Asia, .....
exactly how many 1099s will you not be filing this month?
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