CSBA, Children Now, LVWC, and PTA find that California leaders are ready for both reform and investment in public schools

This announcement comes in anticipation of the release of a series of education reports, requested by Governor Schwarzenegger’s Committee on Education Excellence and other state political leaders

SACRAMENTO – The omnibus studies due for release this week on California’s public schools will help set the stage for results from a separate, in-depth and comprehensive study of what it would take to unite California’s broad array of interests behind a comprehensive package of reform and investment in K-12 public schools in California.

The California School Boards Association, Children Now, the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund and the California State Parent Teachers Association report they are nearing completion of data analysis from their survey of key leaders in business, education, government and community-based organizations. Insights from that research may provide the catalyst for transforming the wealth of studies directed at the state’s schools into consensus for action.

Begun in 2006, the survey project is independent of the studies ordered by the state’s political leaders last March and coordinated by Stanford University, which are due for release March 14 and 15. The project, which received support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, sought out opinion and education leaders around the state to gain a more clear understanding of their thoughts on school funding and structural reform in K-12 public education. A variety of constituency groups were invited to participate in this outreach process, including education and grassroots organizations, business leaders, child advocates, researchers, and policymakers.

“It is our hope that the package of K-12 research released this week reinforces what we have heard over the last year from the key opinion leaders we surveyed,” said Dr. Kathy Kinley, president of CSBA. “There are so many different opinions and ideas as to how best to reform education in California, but our survey results point to there being some shared principles that can bring divergent groups together.”

“We’re in the final stages of reporting on a year-long process of talking in depth with a large sample of leaders from across the state,” said Jacqueline Jacobberger, president of LWVC. “The preliminary results are telling about the fixes people desired by the people who can actually make positive changes happen for children.”

“Of those interviewed, the vast majority placed a high premium on ensuring that K-12 schools continue to be accountable for the academic achievement of students and for being good stewards of our taxpayer’s dollars,” said Ted Lempert, executive director of Children Now. “But this wasn’t enough. On the whole, our survey participants faulted a severe breakdown in communication with the public about how students are doing and how resources are spent.”

“The idea of striking a balance between reform and investment was another prominent theme cited by survey participants,” said Brenda Davis, president of PTA. “We can try and implement reform after reform, but if we’re not all willing to invest the necessary resources to make these reforms work, they’ll never get off the ground.”

CSBA, Children Now, LWVC and PTA encourage state leaders to come together and develop a comprehensive package that includes new investments tied with structural reforms in California’s public education system.