CCBE, San Jose lawmaker focus spotlight on supporting court schools
Published: February 28, 2012
Santa Clara County Office of Education trustee Leon Beauchman, who chairs the Alternative Education Task Force for the California County Boards of Education, presented recommendations for preserving essential juvenile community and court school programs during a special Feb. 23 panel discussion at the state Capitol. The discussion, “Alternative Pathways to Success: Community and Court Schools,” was sponsored by Assembly Member Nora Campos, D-San Jose, and organized with assistance from CCBE, a section of CSBA.
The two-hour discussion featured testimony from Beauchman, COE court school specialists from Santa Cruz, Sacramento and San Diego; policy experts from the state Legislative Analyst’s Office, Kern and Sacramento county offices of education as well as the alternative education teacher of the year and a student—once headed for trouble—who credits alternative education programs for helping turn her life around.
Beauchman outlined a number of specific legislative funding remedies and strategies for accurately measuring program effectiveness.
Community and court schools provide life-saving support for some of California’s most troubled and hard-to-reach students, Beauchman said, many of whom may “see the system as not being very caring.”
Court schools keep students in school who would otherwise drop out, increasing the chances these young people will stay out of jail and become productive members of society.
But these programs are expensive to operate and consistently run at a deficit, making it imperative that the state reform its formula for paying for these critical mandated services. His own COE, Santa Clara, operates its court programs at a $1 million deficit, Beauchman said, and deficits in Los Angeles are even greater. Average Daily Attendance funds don’t cover expenses; programs need funds for every student incarcerated at a given facility, not just money for students in class on any given day.
“This situation is not sustainable,” he said.
Beauchman said that 60 percent of African American males who drop out of school will be incarcerated at some point in their lives. Two-thirds of students who drop out will wind up using food stamps.
“Why are we here?” Beauchman asked. “Because too many lives are being wasted.”
He also spoke about the need to institute new accountability measures to ensure that students in alternative and court schools don’t fall through the cracks.
CCBE works closely with the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association to showcase best practices and effective programs, a number of which are highlighted on a website maintained by the San Diego COE. Wendell Callahan, director of student services for San Diego COE, was principal investigator for a joint project with the state Department of Education that examined continuation schools run by local districts as well as alternative and court schools run by county offices. Project findings are available on the San Diego COE website.
CCBE also includes model programs and other resources on the association’s alternative education task force page.