Education the Path to Excellence
Expectations, Accountability, Commitment
Helping Students, Teachers,
and Schools Meet the Challenge
From the first day of this Administration—when he called a special session of the Legislature to enact education reform—Governor Davis has said that nothing is more important to California’s future than improving our schools. With enactment of key reform legislation and major investments in classroom instruction, school facilities, and teachers in the 1999-00 Legislative Session, the Governor and the Legislature have developed a clear framework for achievement and success:
With these and other recent reforms, California is fully engaged in addressing our most important challenges: improving student achievement, training and supporting our teachers, and holding schools accountable.
We have set our expectations higher, and we must continue to ensure that our children and teachers have the tools they need to meet those expectations. In addition to major increases in funding for instruction in critical subject areas, such as mathematics and English language arts, the 2000 Budget Act provided the largest increase in general purpose funding for schools in the history of the State. This funding erases years of deficits from the recession of the 1990s, and gives schools the resources to reach the overarching goal of improved student achievement.
The Governor’s 2001-02 Budget continues on the path to higher achievement and greater accountability by focusing on the core areas of need:
The Budget also contains funding for expanded after-school instruction, new "High-Tech High Schools," mathematics and science challenge grants, and continuation of the performance bonuses for schools and teachers who meet their achievement goals.
With this Budget, the Governor proposes to augment K-12 education funding for a total increase of 30 percent over the last three years. This funding level provides $7,174 per pupil in K-12 Proposition 98 spending, an increase of $1,418 per student over the last three years. More than 60 percent of these new State funds are available for discretionary purposes. Further, the settlement of the 20-year old special education mandate case provides an additional $270 million in the current year, as well as $125 million in the budget year for school districts. While these funds are for special education, they reduce pressure on district general purpose resources.
The Governor’s Budget proposes initiatives in the following areas:
Increased Instructional Time—Longer School Year—If California is to maintain its leadership position both nationally and on the world stage, we must be a leader in education. Other nations demonstrating high student achievement, such as Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, provide 20 to 40 days more instructional time each year than California. If we are to expect more from our students and teachers, then we must provide them with a greater opportunity to learn.
The Governor’s 2001-02 Budget proposes a $1.45 billion, three-year initiative that would add 30 days of additional instructional time to the school year, beginning where the need is greatest: California middle schools. Scores on State and national standardized tests suggest that students in middle schools have not progressed as rapidly as in primary grades. SAT-9 reading scores drop dramatically after the 8th grade and remain consistently low until the 11th grade. It is critically important that students—particularly those who enter the middle grades without having mastery of basic skills—achieve grade-level competency in reading and mathematics before they enter high school.
The Budget provides funding increases of almost 17 percent per student (about $770) for middle schools with at least two of grades 6, 7, 8, or 9 to add 30 days of instructional time (or the time-equivalent in multi-track year-round schools) to the school year. Funding for this expansion would be provided to schools that agree to align their textbooks to California’s rigorous standards.
Intensive Professional Development in Reading and Mathematics—The main ingredient in a quality education is a teacher well-trained in standards-based practice. California has adopted the most rigorous content standards in the nation, and the State Board of Education (SBE) is in the process of adopting K-8 textbooks that are aligned to those standards.
In the first two years of this Administration, the Governor has provided funding for 95,000 teachers to receive 40 hours of intensive training, with 80 hours of follow-up training during the school year under the Professional Development Institutes administered by University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), and private colleges and universities. However, more than 200,000 additional teachers need this intensive training to implement the standards, and they need it now.
To meet this challenge, the Governor’s 2001-02 Budget proposes a massive three-year, $830 million initiative to provide intensive professional development for every California public school teacher involved with mathematics and reading. Under this proposal, $335 million would be provided in 2001-02 and the following year, and $160 million in the third year.
Under this initiative, over the next three years, all 252,000 teachers of reading, mathematics, and related subjects will receive at least 40 hours of intensive, out-of-classroom training and 80 hours of follow-up training and in-school support. School districts will receive a $2,500 per teacher incentive for each teacher trained in an intensive reading, language arts, and mathematics professional development program over the next three years. Flexibility will be granted to schools to provide the training, as long as all training meets the high standards of UC’s Professional Development Institutes, and is approved by the SBE, using criteria developed by UC. Training will also be provided for 22,000 instructional aides, at $1,000 per full-time equivalent aide.
As a key condition of receiving this professional development funding, districts will be required to have standards-based materials in all classrooms within seven months of the approval of those materials by the SBE.
Principal Training—In order to succeed, every school must have not only qualified teachers, but a strong, well-trained principal. The Governor’s Budget proposes $15 million to train California’s entire corps of principals and vice principals in academic standards, leadership skills, and the use of management and diagnostic technology.
Under this proposal, all of California’s 15,000 school-site administrators will receive training in critical leadership skills by 2003, with one-third receiving training in each of the next three years. Training will be focused on the following areas:
School districts will receive an incentive of $3,000 for each principal trained, to be matched with $1,000 from the school district. Training must be no less than 10 full days, with additional support throughout the year. School districts may use existing principal leadership programs, or develop their own, provided the training program is approved by the SBE.
Intensive Algebra Initiative—Algebra is the gateway skill to all higher mathematics, science, and technology courses. The State’s new academic content standards call for instruction of basic algebra principles in primary grades, and California has taken the bold step of requiring algebra for high school graduation. To ensure that students are prepared to meet this challenge, California will need to recruit nearly 1,300 additional qualified algebra teachers over the next three years.
The Governor’s Budget proposes a $30 million incentive program to attract and retain qualified algebra teachers to middle schools and high schools and to prepare all students for California’s new algebra requirement. Under this proposal, $50 will be provided for each student currently taking algebra and the algebra standards-based test, and $100 will be provided for each additional student beyond the current-year number of pupils who take algebra and the standards-based test. Districts may use the funding to attract and retain algebra teachers by providing salary incentives, training, lower class size, or to improve the pre-algebra skills of students falling behind in mathematics. These funding incentives are only available for students who take both algebra and the State’s standards-based algebra test.
Monitoring Student Achievement—California is now in its third year of a school accountability system that measures school-wide academic achievement, rewards improvement, and provides both assistance and consequences for under-performing schools. However, we are unable to monitor the effectiveness of various strategies because we are unable to measure the progress of each student from year to year.
To strengthen this system, the Budget proposes $5 million to be used for the establishment of a method to monitor student-level scores. The goal of this proposal is to establish a simple, incentive-based system that will monitor student performance across schools and districts from year to year while maintaining student privacy and confidentiality.
Using Assessment Data to Improve Student Achievement—While assessment data is necessary for a statewide accountability system, it is also particularly valuable in helping teachers and principals focus resources where students need the most help. To this end, the Budget includes $20 million in incentive grants for districts to purchase or develop software that will allow teachers and principals to analyze student test data to determine individual and classroom strengths and weaknesses. This data analysis will help both teachers and school administrators design instructional strategies to improve student performance.
High Tech High Schools Grant Program—California’s leadership role in the rapidly growing fields of telecommunications, biotechnology, and computer sciences demands that our education system keep pace with the needs of these industries.
The Governor strongly supports the full integration of technology and technology-related skills in the classroom. The 2000 Budget Act provided more than $396 million to improve access to computers and technology for students in the classroom, including enhanced student access to advanced placement courses on-line, expanded connectivity and network infrastructure for K-12 schools, and increased funding for professional development and technical assistance.
Collaboration between schools and private industry emphasizing the skills used in the high-tech fields have shown great success in helping students raise their achievement level in these special skill areas. In fact, students participating in "High Tech High Schools" in Napa and San Diego show test scores that substantially exceed the national average.
The Budget proposes $20 million in one-time funds to establish 10 new High Tech High Schools throughout the state. The program will provide $2 million grants for each of these new schools. Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis by the Secretary for Education and require a local match. In addition, these funds will supplement available seed money and other contributions from private entities for this purpose. Curriculum in these schools will be rigorous and college-preparatory, with a particular emphasis on science, mathematics, and engineering. Moreover, technology, a fundamental tool for both teaching and learning, will be integrated throughout the curriculum.
Mathematics and Science Challenge Grants—Consistent with his emphasis on mathematics, science, and technology in the classroom, the Governor’s Budget proposes $5 million for a new Mathematics and Science Challenge Grant Program. This new matching grant program is intended to support innovative public/private partnerships that work to increase the interest and performance of K-12 school children, particularly at-risk youth, in mathematics and science. Additionally, to ensure California public schools have available to them information on the "best practices" in mathematics and science, the program will provide matching grant funding for the thorough and systematic dissemination of that information to school administrators and teachers throughout the State.
Loaned Teacher Tax Credit—To assist in easing the shortage of qualified mathematics and science teachers in the state, the Budget proposes a 50 percent credit for employers who lend employees to public schools to teach these subjects. This credit would apply to mathematics and science taught in middle schools, high schools, and community colleges, and will result in a revenue reduction of about $1 million per year.
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