The Governor Needs New Advisors

April 26, 2007 by dave

What is it with the position of Secretary for Education? We've had some great people in that position such as former LA Mayor Richard Riordan or former San Diego Superintendent Alan Bersin and yet the Governor continues to bow to Superintendent O'Connell on nearly every education issue. The Governor insists that he cares about public education and wants genuine reform, yet all he talks about is Career and Technical Education (think vocational education), physical education and the arts. After his defeat in the special election at the hands of the California Teachers Association (CTA), he hands truckloads of cash to California schools (and through union dues to CTA) every chance he gets. As evidence, I offer this press release about the PPIC poll released today:

Secretary of Education David Long released the following statement about the "Californians and Education" PPIC Statewide study that was released today.

"Governor Schwarzenegger firmly believes that the key to real education reform requires bringing people to the table early to discuss solutions in the same spirit of cooperation we have with other major issues.

"California's highly regarded academic standards will continue to be the cornerstone of our K-12 system. Recent studies have confirmed that pouring more and more money into a broken system will not improve student achievement. Our focus must first be on these necessary changes before we can determine where additional resources may be needed. The Governor has said, and I agree, that students and schools benefit from a strong accountability system, teachers and administrators need more flexibility and parents need more information about how their children are performing."

"This year, we invested unparalleled money in arts, music, and physical education programs and now many more students have access to those programs at their local school. The PPIC poll backs up the importance of this investment with 60% of those polled saying that arts and music curriculum are important in their local schools. In addition, funding was also provided for counselors in middle and high schools, which reduced the counselor to student ratio. I look forward to working with the Governor to ensure that every Californian receives the best possible education."

Public confidence in schools is tied directly to making education relevant and putting kids on the path to success. According to the PPIC poll, 67% of those interviewed indicated that it is very important for their local public school to include vocational or career technical education as part of the curriculum. The Governor is committed to giving students a pathway to postsecondary education and careers, which is why he has increased the investment in career technical education, allowing students more access to these key programs. Supporting the arts, music, physical education and career technical education demonstrate that when we provide resources focused on students, all Californians benefit as our 6.3 million students continue their studies and enter the workforce.

The Secretary points to findings about CTE and the arts as proof of their efforts rather than mentioning the more important finding that 80% of Californians "believe the quality of the state's K-12 education system is at least somewhat of a problem, with about half (52%) calling it a big problem." This is such an obvious attempt at spinning the report results that it saddens me. I had high hopes for David Long given his record of being an actual educator, but it appears that he's just as impotent as his predecessors.

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