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Education Wins and Losses in the California State Budget for the 2007-08 School Year
By Jack O’Connell
California Superintendent of Public Instruction
I am so pleased that California now has a spending plan in place for this fiscal year that protects the Proposition 98 guarantee and provides a cost-of-living increase for school programs. I applaud the Governor and the Legislature for making education a priority in what was a very difficult budget year.
I am glad that the budget includes a much-needed 4.7-cent increase in the school meal reimbursement rate aimed at improving the nutritional quality of meals served to students through a ban on trans fats and deep-fried foods. For many students in our state, the meal they get at school is the one healthy meal they can count on each day.
I appreciate the increased funding in the budget for career technical education programs and will continue to work with the Legislature and the Governor to ensure that the CTE programs offered in our state also provide academic rigor needed to truly prepare all students for a range of opportunities once they leave high school.
I remain very disappointed that the final budget agreement did not include funding to support local districts for collecting and maintaining the quality individual student data that our state needs to track graduation and dropout rates and to better measure student performance over time. While the budget does include an appropriation to develop the technical infrastructure for CALPADS - the state's developing longitudinal student data tracking system - school district participation in CALPADS is vital for the program's success. I will continue to advocate for funding to support local data collection and maintenance to improve the accuracy of student data. This information is needed to effectively evaluate the success of education programs and target our state's resources most effectively.
I am also deeply concerned that the Governor vetoed $7 million for District Assistance and Intervention Teams (DAITs), which work with local educational agencies facing sanctions under federal school accountability systems. As a number of districts in Year Three of Program Improvement will soon have to implement sanctions, the work of DAITs is vitally important to systemically improve student achievement.
In addition, I am very disappointed that the Governor has vetoed funding allocated in the previous fiscal year for full-day preschool and family literacy programs. Many of these program providers already have made preparations to offer full-day preschool services for students and their parents. This veto will leave many families who were counting on sending their child to full-day preschool without access to these services. I will work with the Legislature to restore the appropriation of these funds."
Comments
The Governor’s vetoes of money for CALPADS, and to technical assistance teams is a problem. Also, last year in SB 1209, the legislature imposed a significant new cost on teacher preparation for “teacher performance assessment”. No funds are in this year’s budget for this assessment. And, the budget next year looks at least as restrictive.
A group of us working with California Faculty Association tried to limit this unfunded mandate through AB 750 (Carter) which did not survive in the Assembly.
A basic issue is in a budget this tight, should the state be imposing yet another unfunded mandate? And, should the state be imposing a $6 – 9 $ million cost for a high stakes testing system with no limited validity.
Duane Campbell
Professor of Education. CSU -Sacramento
Posted by: Duane Campbell at August 25, 2007 11:34 AM
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