Consistent with the goal of shifting power over education decisions away from Sacramento, the Local Control Funding Formula law creates a new agency to work with, not dictate to, local districts on how to meet their improvement goals. In the first step toward launching the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, the Legislature this month determined that a teacher and two superintendents will form the majority on its governing board.The passage of a bill designating the makeup of the five-member board should enable the agency to be in place by early next year, said Rick Simpson, deputy chief of staff to Speaker of the Assembly John Perez. The group’s purpose is to “advise and assist” school districts and charter schools in achieving the goals of their annual accountability plans that the school funding law requires. The collaborative is also charged with helping to improve the quality of teaching and leadership in a district or school.
Perez will name a teacher as one of the five board members. The other four members will be