Delegate Assembly gathers in Sacramento to plan for challenges ahead
Published: June 8, 2005
The 270-member Delegate Assembly of the California School Boards Association met in Sacramento May 14-15 for the semi-annual meeting of the policy-making body.
Dr. Kerry Clegg reviewed events thus far in his year as President of CSBA, noting he was especially pleased that Congress seems certain to reauthorize the Carl. D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act, as CSBA and other school leaders had advocated. He called on local boards to investigate the career opportunities such programs offer students. And the state’s new career-technical education standards are extremely rigorous, he said, offering students a path to specific, high-demand careers – whether they go to college or not. “That should be the choice we provide our kids,” he said.
The governor’s puzzling shift on his agreement about Proposition 98 funding has coalesced the Education Coalition as never before, Clegg told Delegates. Although the labor and management groups in the coalition don’t always agree about some issues, the governor’s attack on Proposition 98 has caused “renewed vigor and camaraderie” among them, he said.
“There was love, love, love all around,” Clegg said of coalition members, who are of one mind when it comes to the “Protect Proposition 98/Protect Children” campaign.
Clegg urged Delegates to oppose the governor’s ballot initiative to “reform” the school funding formula, which would allow the governor to make unilateral cuts across the state budget, eliminate unpaid debts of school funding (the “maintenance factor”), and remove any minimum guarantee. With mid-year budget cuts allowed several times a year under those conditions, Clegg said, “I don’t know how any district in the state would be able to carry out its function.”
What a difference a year makes
Executive Director Scott P. Plotkin delivered a dizzying review of the year’s major developments relating to education, beginning with the realization that the governor did not intend to keep his word about restoring Proposition 98 funding. “I asked them, ‘do you understand the implications of what you’re doing?’” said Plotkin of a meeting with the governor’s staff in January. “It was clear that they did not.”
With the Legislature losing many members who remember the genesis of the Proposition 98 guarantee, Plotkin said it is now “open season” on school funding in the Capitol. “The assault is serious and has huge consequences for us,” he said. “It has thrown the Education Coalition together in a way that I have not seen in at least a decade.”
So legislators understand how severely the proposed budget will hurt schools, Plotkin urged every school board in California to adopt and send to the governor and Legislature a resolution in support of Proposition 98 funding. (Copies should also be faxed to CSBA at (916) 372-3369.) More than 350 local boards have already responded.
Adding further “tumult” to 2005, Plotkin said, are the governor’s initiatives to “eviscerate” Proposition 98 in the so-called “Live Within Our Means Act,” and an attempt at teacher tenure reform. (Later in the day, the Delegate Assembly voted unanimously to oppose the governor’s budget initiative and also opposed the teacher tenure measure.) Interestingly, CSBA did not originally endorse Proposition 98 for the very reason that creating a formula for school funding eliminates the incentive for having a conversation about adequate funding for schools, Plotkin said. “But at least it creates a floor (for funding). The governor’s initiative would eliminate that.”
Plotkin went on to recount continuing efforts to “fix NCLB,” work on the state superintendent’s “P-16” council to improve preschool through university education, counter an initiative to allow city mayors to appoint school board members, press for adequate school funding, and cope with numerous other issues that crop up on an almost daily basis. Thanks to the officers on CSBA’s Executive Committee, however, each issue receives the “passion and attention” it deserves, he said.
Legal developments
John Bukey, CSBA General Counsel, said school districts are now facing more moral, political and religious issues than they have in years. For instance, court cases involving religious issues are now bubbling up: a Cupertino teacher charged with proselytizing, boards in Kansas and elsewhere that are deciding whether to include intelligent design in the science curriculum, and a case where a teacher used role playing to teach students about Islam. “I think this is something that is coming back as a serious issue and school board members all over the state ought to be aware of it,” Bukey told the Delegates.
Other legal issues the Education Legal Alliance is working on are summarized at www.csba.org/ela/.
Apprenticeship programs
Representatives from several trade unions described how working in the trades changed their lives and urged school board members to consider these little-known options for high school students in their districts.
Andy Berg from the National Electrical Contractors Association said recent high school graduates can receive free training and full benefits while they earn a decent living. College-bound apprentices can also earn college credit. Mary Lieser of the Carpenters Training Committee of Northern California, who drifted for years as a fine arts degree-holder, decided to try carpentry so she could earn a living wage. “Little did I know when I got the job how useful my math skills would be,” she said, adding that voc-ed programs that make practical application of math concepts “help inspire people.”
Bob Balgenorth, President of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, said their goal is to reach 10,000 students and educators with the message that the construction industry can offer great career opportunities to high school graduates. “We believe we have a message that will appeal to thousands of young men and women who might otherwise drop out of school.”