New State Board acts on SIG, charter regulations
Gov. Brown expounds on education during unannounced visit
Published: January 18, 2011
An old hand—Michael Kirst, president of the State Board of Education during Gov. Jerry Brown’s first two terms in office decades ago—wielded the gavel again when the 11-member panel met in Sacramento last week. Brown, who appointed Kirst and six other board members in the first week of his new term in office, made an unannounced visit to the board to discuss his views on education policy.
The 11-member panel elected Kirst, a nationally recognized education expert and a professor emeritus at Stanford University, as its president as the first order of business Jan. 12. Many items on the three-day agenda that the new board inherited were postponed to give the new board members time to study the issues, but the board did approve charter school revocation and appeal procedures and the state’s application for a second round of federal School Improvement Grant funds.
The charter regulations developed through three years of consultation with stakeholders, including CSBA. They clarify the process for school districts or county offices of education to revoke charters they granted for schools that fall short of the goals established in their charter petitions, and for the State Board to revoke academically low-performing charters whether established under local authorizers or the State Board itself. The Administrative Office of the Law still must review the procedures before they become final.
School Improvement Grants
The SIG application for federal fiscal year 2010 prompted considerable controversy, just as the state’s application for 2009 funds had last summer. Each involves a list of 188 “persistently lowest achieving schools” that was developed by the California Department of Education under state legislative provisions and State Board direction. Critics continue to question the list’s fairness, but CDE staff warned that a new list could not be authorized and developed before the application deadline.
If the federal government approves California’s bid, 96 schools will be able to compete to be one of approximately 30 schools sharing a $69 million grant by agreeing to institute one of four reform models—transformation, turn-around, restart or closure—over three years. CDE sought to structure the grant application to stretch awards of up to $6 million each to just 10 schools or so over three years in order to ensure the costly changes can be completed, but federal regulators favor one-year awards to a larger number of schools. Under that plan, each school could receive up to $2 million to embark on the changes, but without any guarantee that future funding will be available under the program.
The board approved the plan 7-3, with Kirst and fellow new board members Ilene Straus, Carl Cohn, James Ramos, and Patricia Ann Rucker joining Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointees James Aschwanden and Yvonne Chan in the majority. Schwarzenegger appointees Ruth Bloom, Gregory Jones and Jonathan Williams dissented, and student board member Connor Cushman abstained.
Bloom and Williams will be replaced by Aida Molina and Trish Boyd Williams at the State Board’s next scheduled meeting March 9-10. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointees Jones, Aschwanden, Chan and student member Connor Cushman will remain on the panel.
Unexpected guest
Gov. Brown paid an unannounced visit to the State Board during an orientation session Jan. 13. Speaking casually, he reflected on charter schools, including the two he started as mayor of Oakland, along with education reform and other topics. He bracketed his comments with two acknowledgments of the fiscal issues facing public education.
“I’m interested in doing whatever we can for schools. I know money is a problem,” Brown said near the outset of his 13-minute soliloquy. “If you need anything that doesn’t cost me too much money, let me know,” he joked to board members at the end.
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