Legislators on Tuesday passed two education reform bills, including a cutting edge proposal that allows parents at failing schools to force wholesale changes. But overall, the trumpeted bills could fall short of their key goal: making the state competitive toward billions in federal education dollars known as Race to the Top.
Lawmakers are scrambling to reform the state's education code in the face of a Jan. 19 application deadline for a share of the $4.35 billion stimulus pot. The state Assembly passed SBX5-1 and SBX5-4 to help qualify California for the funds after daylong hearings and debates Tuesday. The bills will go back to the Senate today and, if approved, then to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk.
"These and other reforms clearly set the stage for the governor to submit a competitive application for California to bring home a coveted Race to the Top grant," Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said in a statement.
Many of the proposed changes — including updating data collection and standards — would help California meet the basic eligibility requirements for the grants. But a few states that have adopted more aggressive reforms are better positioned to win the funding, experts warn.
"Unless we are willing to step out in front, we're going to be left behind," said Linda Murray, former superintendent of San Jose Unified and now superintendent-in-residence Education Trust-West, an Oakland-based reform advocacy group.
Even
the state education leaders seemed to acknowledge the challenges. "We're happy it appears we're going to have legislation that at least minimally qualifies us" for the funds, said Hilary McLean, spokeswoman for state Superintendent Jack O'Connell.California appears to be staking its application on an unorthodox reform measure: a so-called "parent trigger" that would let parents at failing schools demand changes in staff, leadership and operation, even inviting a charter to take over from a local school district.