Building consensus, finding solutions

“Getting Down to Facts,” the 23-study package by 32 of the nation’s top education researchers, is just one aspect of an ambitious project to fix public school finance so the system supports—rather than hampers—student success.

Attracting much less attention, but equally important, is the public engagement work now under way by CSBA in collaboration with the California PTA, League of Women Voters and Children Now.

The “School Finance Exploration Project” is underwritten by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, one of the public-spirited groups that paid for “Getting Down to Facts.” CSBA and its partners have spent the last two years asking more than 70 educators, business leaders, elected officials, parents and community activists what they expect from schools and what strategies they would support to increase public investment in public education.

No preconceived agenda

During the initial phase of the project, interviewers sought a range of opinions from disparate individuals. “Each of us went into these conversations without any preconceived agendas but with lots of leading questions, so we could draw out these people from business, the community, politics—school board members, administrators, parents—everyone you could imagine from a very comprehensive list,” says Scott P. Plotkin, CSBA’s executive director. “We wanted to find out if there’s any synthesis out there that could be brought to bear in a productive conversation about our public schools.”

Those familiar with the first two years of the project said participants have identified broad areas of consensus.

“There is a lot of common ground, despite the extreme rhetoric that can sometimes emerge from different interest groups,” says Abe Hajela, CSBA special counsel. “Business didn’t say, ‘The system’s a wreck that no amount of money will fix.’ Educators didn’t say, ‘Just give us tons of money and leave us alone.’ Various stakeholders aren’t that far apart.”

Hajela and Plotkin say most of those interviewed said they believe schools need to be accountable and to be able to prove they use resources efficiently. Just as important, though, the people surveyed generally recognize that schools need stable and adequate funding that’s tied to the costs of educating every student to master certain academic standards.

Consensus is critical

CSBA and other public school advocates say it’s critical that lawmakers, the governor, parents and business recognize that quality schools and well-educated citizens are the keys to a prosperous future for all Californians—whether or not they have school-aged children. That’s one reason that CSBA and its partners in the School Finance Exploration Project are focusing so hard on public outreach and coalition building.

Begun in 2005, the project received another two years of funding from Hewlett in 2006 to continue its work. CSBA and others involved in the project will spend the time helping their respective memberships organize public forums and workshops to both educate constituents about what’s wrong with the system and solicit their ideas for making things better. The organizations will also train school leaders, community members and other local partners to do grassroots lobbying.

“Building a support system for whatever agenda emerges as a result of the research is going to be very, very difficult,” Plotkin says. “We’re going to need leadership from both the legislative and executive segments of the government to help us pull this off. We need to build a constituency of people outside Sacramento for this work. Otherwise, we’re just talking to each other.”